Buffet typically means mass servings of food. But Shang Palace's all-you-can-eat weekend lunch, launched a month ago, has proved to be so good it doesn't tarnish the 33-year-old Chinese restaurant's culinary prestige.
Opened since 1986, Shang Palace has been highly-treasured by connoisseurs of Cantonese cuisine for its prime-quality seafood, meticulously-crafted dim sum delicacies and Hong Kong-style barbecued meat.
Its newly-introduced feast, dubbed Saturday Dim Sum Brunch, offers to diners a free-flowing indulgence of the restaurant's best-sellers.
Priced 1,488 baht net per person, the lunchtime affair features unlimited serving of dim sum as well as a selection of non dim sum delicacies -- all crafted by the restaurant's executive Chinese chef Chow Wai Man.
Guests are to choose from a 46-item menu that lists the likes of ha gao (steamed whole shrimp dumpling); siew mai (steamed minced pork and shrimp dumpling); pan-fried chive dumpling; steamed rice rolls with barbecue pork; steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce; braised chicken feet in XO sauce; pan-fried turnip cake; steamed fish fillet with shrimp stuffing; crab claw rolls; steamed buns; and baked egg tarts.
Other entrées include jelly fish salad with sesame oil; hot and sour seafood soup; double-boiled mushroom soup; Sichuan-styled mapo tofu with minced pork; rice congee with minced pork and ash-cured egg; wok-fried chicken with cashew nuts and chillies, and some fried-rice and noodle dishes.
To ensure taste bud pleasure, all the steamed and fried items are cooked upon order.
I was super impressed by the steamed dumplings, which were plump, heavy and naturally flavourful, reflecting the chef's generosity and freshness of ingredients.
Each bite into these fine-skin dumplings, with or without a complement of aromatic roasted chilli oil sauce, yielded a juicy resistance that's so deliciously addictive.
The deep-fried delicacies, especially the prawn roll with crispy golden tofu skin; hum sui gok (glutinous rice dumplings with chicken stuffing); and the very popular deep-fried mashed taro puff with seafood stuffing, tasted superlative.
The selection of barbecued meat and poultry is offered from the live-carving station. There you'll find char siew (honey-glazed barbecue pork loin) flame-broiled to perfection and showcasing succulent meat that's neither too fatty nor dry nor overly sweet.
Each serving of Peking duck comes with both meat and skin of roasted duck all rolled in a soft, thin and warm Chinese pancake with spring onion, cucumber stick and sweet hoi sin sauce.
The suckling pig here is, for me, the best in the world. It showcased a delicate meat of the rotisserie pork with its glossy caramel-hued skin that's super thin and brittle. The pork is matched nicely with soft steamed bun and sweet dark soy sauce.
Those who are a fan of crispy three-layer moo krob will be satisfied by the impeccable quality of the charbroiled pork belly, which went marvellously with Chinese mustard.
Dessert options range from signature chilled mango pudding; sago with cantaloupe in cold coconut milk; and black sesame dumpling in hot ginger tea; to house-made mango ice cream.
The buffet is inclusive of hot or cold jasmine or chrysanthemum tea.
I highly suggest that you spare three dim sum dainties: the sweet egg tart, steamed custard bun and ma lai go (super fluffy and springy Chinese steamed sponge cake) for last. Having them with hot tea or coffee is a heavenly way to end the meal.
Such a luxurious smorgasbord, which on that day was partaken by an international crowd of regulars, tourists and families, has strengthened my confidence that Shang Palace will always stay at the peak of Bangkok's Cantonese cuisine scene.
The restaurant, decked out in subtle hues of crimson, fawn and gold with a prodigious crystal chandeliers to lend a contemporary glamour to the Chinese setting, can accommodate up to 300 guests. Four private rooms are also available.
