Helmed by chef Frank Xu, Shang Palace serves a traditional, authentic menu of Cantonese dim sum and gourmet Chinese fare that makes no apologies or recipe changes to cater to Western taste buds.
There is no ‘nuclear chicken,' chicken balls lacquered in an unnaturally fluorescent orange, cloyingly sweet and sour sauce. Instead, the dinner menu offers dishes like wok-fried minced pigeon meat with diced vegetables in lettuce leaves or mushrooms stuffed with shrimp paste.
The dim sum menu also offers traditional favorites like Har Gow, or shrimp dumplings, and Siu Mai, shrimp and pork dumplings with crab roe.
Nor does the menu make any apologies for the gourmet prices — a foreign concept for most Parisians who are accustomed to cheap Westernized Chinese takeout for a late night snack or cook-free night.
An eight-course dinner meal, for instance, costs €128 (RM519.70), while four pieces of Siu Mai costs €16 or €4 apiece.
Another Shangri-La restaurant, L'Abeille, headed by Philippe Labbé, also earned a two-star rating this year.
Meanwhile, Shang Palace is only the second Chinese restaurant in the publication's history to earn a Michelin star. In 1999, Chen Soleil-Est graced the front pages of newspapers across the country when it earned a Michelin star, which it lost in 2007.
The first Shang Palace, meanwhile, opened in the Shangri-La Singapore in 1974. Its Parisian outpost is the Shangri-La Hotel Group's first in Europe. The chain also has locations in the Philippines, Singapore, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Canada.
Meanwhile, Shang isn't the only Asian-inspired restaurant to make this year's Michelin list. A Japanese chef who apprenticed under Alain Ducasse has also earned a single star for his eponymously named restaurant, Kei in Paris.
A fusion of Japanese sensibilities with French gastronomy, dishes are spiked with Japanese flavors like yuzu and green tea, or made with ingredients like shungiku, or chrysanthemum leaves.
The Guide Michelin France 2012 and the Guide Michelin Paris 2012 will be available March 1. — AFP-Relaxnews
