Xiang
Man Lou ('XML') is a tiny Shanghainese Restaurant located at Temple
street squeeze between the Temple Inn and a slimming studio. You can
be sure that you probably passed this restaurant a few times without
taking notice of it. I certainly missed it when I try to locate it,
not to mention the non-English or non Hanyu pinyi signboard. Yup, if
you have not figured it out until today, now you know Chubby Botak
Koala can't read Chinese :)
XML
served a traditional Shanghainese Cuisine. Quick research online, it
seems that Shanghainese Cuisine uses alcohol freely in their cooking,
from entrée to desserts. You basically can associate the drunken
chicken, drunken duck or anything soak / cook wine to the
Shanghainese cuisine. They are also known to be very bold with their
flavour, so be prepare to expect super salty, spicy, tongue numbing
and even nectarous flavor.
My recommended dish for
XML are drunken chicken (醉鸡),
braised pork knuckle(红烧圆蹄),
fried frog leg in a mini-pot (干锅牛蛙),
Chef's Golden fried rice (金沙炒饭),
and mini rice ball with rice wine (桂花酒酿小圆子).
For the drunken chicken
(醉鸡), XML uses the
bone-in chicken whole leg, which consist of drumstick and thigh. It
was soaked with rice wine over a period to time and the result is
tender, succulent and full of flavour meat with light aromatic wine
taste.
 |
| Drunken Chicken (醉鸡) |
The Braised pork knuckle
(红烧圆蹄) has a nice
brown colour and looks lean. It is easily cut to smaller part with
fork and spoon, due to the long cooking process. When you bite into
it, the skin seems to melts in your mouth and the meat is very
tender. The sauce is slightly salty, and it goes well with rice.
Yummy!
 |
| Braised Pork Knuckle (红烧圆蹄) |
 |
| Braised Pork Knuckle - in piece (红烧圆蹄) |
The fried frog leg in a
mini pot (干锅牛蛙) is
nicely executed. The frog legs are succulent and the combination of
the sliced vegetables and potatoes make this dish close to a comfort
food. The spiciness level of this dish was much lower compare to the
original version as we were blown off by the spiciness from the other
dishes.
 |
| fried frog leg in a mini pot (干锅牛蛙) |
 |
| Fried frog leg |
Chef's Golden Fried
Rice(金沙炒饭) is one of
the item not in the current menu. The nicely served round shaped
fragrant fried rice gives a al-dente texture with enough 'wok hei'.
The wok hei-ness combined with ingredients such as lap cheong and
prawn, gives a perfect taste and it is not oily at all. According to
manager, it is a very popular dish with Japanese tourists.
 |
| Chef's Golden Fried Rice(金沙炒饭) |
For desserts, mini rice
ball with rice wine (桂花酒酿小圆子)
is a must try, as it is a traditional Shanghainese dessert and of
course it nicely prepared. Ingredients consist of mini rice ball,
wolfberry and osmanthus flower. Slightly on the sweet side, but
combine well with a fragrant low alcohol rice wine.
 |
| mini rice ball with rice wine (桂花酒酿小圆子) |
The sweet and sour whole
fish (糖醋松子鱼) here
is a feast to the eyes. The meat was sliced skilfully, that when it
was fried, it come out looking like the pineapple skin. Although the
presentation was just gorgeous, it is a pity that it is slightly
lacking in taste. The fish is coated with too much flour and the
sweet and sour sauce was just too heavy.
 |
| The sweet and sour whole fish (糖醋松子鱼) |
If you really wanted to
tried some original Shanghainese spicy dishes, deep fried chicken
with chilli (歌乐山辣子鸡),
seasoned dry beef with pepper(干煸牛肉)
and fried Chinese cabbage in Mini-pot (干锅包菜).
The are just mind blowing spicy or tongue/lips numbing in some cases.
Furthermore, they are super salty too. However, these are the
flavours that you will get if you are dining in China. So for our PRC
friends, these dishes will remind them of home-cooked food.
 |
| deep fried chicken with chilli (歌乐山辣子鸡) |
 |
| seasoned dry beef with pepper(干煸牛肉) |
 |
| fried Chinese cabbage in Mini-pot (干锅包菜) |
This dish is considered
the lighter side of the cuisine, sauteed prawn served with vinegar
(清炒虾仁) is a good
option. The prawn is small in size, however it is very sweet and
crunchy. If you dipped it in vinegar, it will add the tangy flavour
into it, but made the prawn feel more crunchy.
 |
| fried Chinese cabbage in Mini-pot (干锅包菜) |
The restaurant is simply
decorated and very minimalist. Most of the tables catered for small
to medium size group (4 to 6 people). Service is all right and the
food came at a regular interval.
Overall, XML served
traditional Shanghainese cusine, they also provided some other
Chinese dishes that cater to the locals' and tourists taste buds. If
you are not used to heavy flavours, I suggest you inform the service
staff when you order. Ask for less salt and tone down on the
spiciness. If I am around the area, I won't mind coming back for
their drunken chicken and fried rice. I'll check out their Xiao Long
Bao next time as well.
Thank you very much to
OpenRice and management of Xiang
Man Lou for the tasting invitation. Cheers!!
Food
& Drink: 7/10
Value:
n/a
Service:
6/10
Ambiance:
6/10
Budget
per Person: $11 - $25
wahhh the fish looks awesome.
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