Shanghai Terrace
The Peninsula Chicago
108 East Superior Street
312.573.6744
chicago.peninsula.com
ITLC's Overall Rating: A-
Cuisine: A-   Ambiance: A   Service: A-

Shanghai Terrace offers a most civilized space for very good Asian food, with seating for 55 guests and additional outdoor dining during temperate weather. Smart casual attire is the norm for diners. The absence of piped-in music makes the understated elegance of the room very conversation friendly. The primarily Asian-American servers move quietly, dressed in custom-designed, Oriental-inspired , honey-color crepe tunics with wine-color Shantung sashes and palazzo pants. As one would expect at The Peninsula, the room offers welcome respite from more pedestrian settings often associated with Asian cuisines.

The dinner menu reflects the convergence of Asian subcultures found in Shanghai, revealing largely Chinese, Thai and Japanese culinary influences. It offers dim sum ($6-10), appetizers ($10-18), main courses ($14-34) and desserts ($9). An amuse of steamed buns is ethereally light and delicate, served with a tasty dipping sauce. Among the dim sum, the turnip cake with Chinese sausage and the Shanghai steamed pork bun provide inspired openings to the meal. Other twists on traditional favorites include crystal shrimp pot stickers, crispy fried scallops, peeky toe crab wontons and more. Among the appetizers, Shanghai rice dumpling soup with pork dumpling and mustard greens is composed of a light and savory chicken broth with a finely crafted and delicious pork dumpling. The Peking duck salad is served in a crispy-fried rice flour shell with microgreens and an allusive hint of plum sauce. Giving evidence of wide-ranging influences are such dishes as Thai red snapper sashimi, scallop ceviche and a roll of hamachi, smoked salmon and tuna.

Main courses provide diners choices of traditional favorites with modern elements, such as: fried rice with a choice of red, organic brown or risotto rice; five spiced duck with stir-fried vegetables and mushrooms; and steamed walleye pike with a fricassee of mussels, clams and tofu-stuffed scallops. Dishes less commonly associated with Asian fare also abound on the menu. Roasted squab with Hudson Valley foie gras, pea leaves and Asian barbeque sauce hints of Iron Chef invention. Braised veal cheeks with preserved mustard greens, as well as spicy beef tenderloin and vegetable stir-fry, will appeal to meatier appetites.

Desserts are equally inventive: chocolate wonton with strawberry soup; oven-roasted pear with star anise ice cream; an exotic gratin of passion fruit sabayon and lychee sorbet. An international wine list (with many by the glass), sakes and Asian beers, plus a commendable list of proprietary and premium loose-leaf teas served by the pot, round out the extensive and appealing menu. Shanghai terrace has much to recommend it, not the least of which is its serene space of understated elegance.

Lunch: Monday-Saturday 1:00pm-2:30pm
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 5:00pm-11:00pm