The Dining Room, located in Hysan Place, is a great restaurant to come to for a simple Shanghainese fare. Located on the 12th floor, it's really easy to get to - simply go to the 2nd floor and walk to the lifts opposite Hollister. Two of the lifts are express lifts to the 12th floor. The other two stop at the 7th and the 12th floor, which is still pretty express!
Although it's a Shanghainese restaurant, the place seems to give off a sort of western or fusion-ish vibe. The name of the restaurant sounds like a cafe-type restaurant (sounds like a member of The News Room/The Common Room/The Press Room group!) and the open, airy feel of the interior makes it kind of look like a diner. There aren't really any traditional Chinese decorations at all. At first glance, you would never think that it's a Shanghainese restaurant!
Two friends and I were here the other day for lunch. It was a Saturday, so we had to line up for a fair bit before getting a table. We ordered a couple of dishes to share - the stir fried sticky rice cakes, jellyfish with cucumber, dumpling noodles in soup and of course, the xiao long bao.
The food came pretty fast. My favorite dish was the jellyfish - it was really refreshing and I loved the chewiness of the texture. I hate jellyfish that's really soft and soggy! The rice cakes were not bad too, although a bit on the salty side. The noodles were typical - nothing spectacular, though I quite liked the dumplings. There was a good amount of meat in them and the dumplings weren't tiny. The xiao long baos were good too - the soup was nice and hot, not too salty, and the meat was tender. I would've preferred if the skin was a little thinner, but all in all I was satisfied with the food.
I can definitely see myself back here again. The quality of the food was good and was reasonably priced as well. Service was prompt and waiters were polite. I know Hysan Place has a ton of restaurants and anyone looking to have a meal here is spoilt for choice, but I highly encourage you to give The Dining Room a go! read more