One Great Dish: Dim Sum At Shanghai Terrace

By Melissa Wiley in Food on Jul 3, 2013 7:20PM

We didn’t initially visit the Peninsula’s Shanghai Terrace for the dim sum—for that we could have gone to Chinatown and frankly felt more authentic—but for its sumptuous seraglio-like patio. Because sometimes you need to lie supine on a public couch with a curtain shielding you from the setting sun. You need that, but you’re hungry too, so you order a round of dim sum. And by the time you've emptied your bamboo steamer basket, you’re sitting up stick straight and deciding that the green leaves shrimp dumpling really was your favorite and you should have ordered two. The silk pillows and stone lanterns are nice, but the food is even nicer.

Sampling a variety is always half the dim sum fun, and a healthy variety there is here too, with upward of 10 different fist-sized dumplings. Next time we’re vising strictly to taste-test the seafood siewmai as well as the foie gras and duck, which we didn’t have room left to try. We’re happy, in other words, to sit in the cheap seats and leave the couches to someone who’s content filling up on cocktails.

Shanghai Terrace is located at 108 E Superior.