It's loud, lurid & kitschy, but Puchong's new Grand Shanghai Food Theme Park in the Setiawalk complex feels irresistible in its own inimitable fashion.
This is a warren of restaurants in a setting that's supposed to evoke the streets of 1930s Shanghai, complete with rickshaws & vintage car replicas.
The food here feels like a mishmash of Chinese favourites, with numerous shops serving everything from dim sum to bak kut teh, roast duck rice to claypot pork belly noodles.
The most popular is probably the dim sum tea house. But it's debatable whether this siew mai is worth the RM7.50 price tag (before taxes), all things considered.
Several items are well-prepared enough to please; we liked the deep-fried prawn rolls with seaweed & shredded bean curd skin (RM8.40), served hot & juicy ...
... though the char siew pastries with spring onions (RM6) tasted like they had been sitting on a counter somewhere for at least 10 minutes too long.
Crab meat xiao loong bao (RM12). Sounded more memorable than it turned out to be.
Deep-fried carrot pastry (RM7.20), too bland to recommend.
Steamed glutinous rice with chestnuts wrapped in lotus leaves (RM7); also could be better.
Still, it's not all hopeless here; the steamed custard buns with salted egg yolk (RM6.60) were fine ...
... while the prawn & pork dumplings with wolfberries & Chinese spinach were entirely edible ...
... & the fried prawn dumplings were enjoyably executed.
Deep-fried avocado rolls with kataifi (RM9), as near-perfect as any we've ever had.
Another worthwhile one: Starch noodles with Chinese parsley (RM8). Quite addictive.
Mini egg tarts with pandan paste (RM6) brings this meal to a mediocre close. So ultimately, there are both hits & misses here.
Grand Shanghai Food Theme Park
Level 4, Setia Walk, Puchong
Park in the basement at Zone E and take the elevator up
Level 4, Setia Walk, Puchong
Park in the basement at Zone E and take the elevator up
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