Sweet Willie
Aug 30, 02, 10:28 pm
After treating my parent's on their 40th anniversary to HI, they wanted to take my wife and me out for our anniversary. Being duck lovers and having read about the Peking duck dinner at the Shanghai Terrace in the Peninsula Hotel, It was an easy choice to make. Shanghai Terrace Restaurant is located in the Peninsula Hotel, 108 E Superior in Chicago phone: 312-573-6744
Arrived at 5pm for our 6pm dinner reservation, so we went to the bar at the Peninsula (yes it is called "The Bar"). Ouch! My one Sam Adams beer and wife's dirty martini ran $18+
Met the parents in the restaurant at 5 minutes to 6pm. Mom decided against outside dining on the terrace, even though it was a perfect summer night. The terrace is also a great place to have drinks, it is out on the open and is almost the same height as the top of the old watertower on Michigan Ave. A very neat perspective for me because I have only viewed it from street level or "on-high" in the Hancock building.
I had pre-ordered the Peking Duck when I made the reservation, the duck courses were split amongst the four of us (and the servers were happy to do so)
The first course if the duck are crepes that are made tableside. They start by wheeling out a whole Peking Duck on a cart, slicing 1/4 of the top portion of the skin and shredding a bit of meat. The skin and meat is then rolled up in a light crepe with scallion and hosin sauce. The four of us received one crepe apiece. We also ordered an appetizer of Ahi tuna and smoked salmon tartar with citrus wasabi tobiko. Both the duck and the ahi/salmon tartar were terrific.
The second Peking Duck course is Peking Duck salad, this was an incredible dish. The salad of baby organic greens and fragrant Peking duck was served in a crisp edible wonton salad bowl. This was also a terrific dish.
The third Peking Duck course was wild duck soup. The broth was very intense with pieces of duck and veggies in the soup. We also ordered the Sweet/Sour Peekee(sp?) toe crab soup. Had a great crab flavor, but lacked the punch that most sweet/sour soups I've had posses.
The fourth course consisted of two separate dishes, stir-fried roasted duck and fried rice or stir-fried noodles. Both very tasty, but I give the nod to the noodle dish.
Other entrees ordered were: the lamb, stirfried w/veggies in a "spicy lemongrass sauce". The lamb was top quality, yet the sauce lacked the punch I was looking for, it was very toned down. I think perhaps I will request a spiced up version next time.
The Cantonese steamed fish was sea bass served with chopped lemongrass on top over a soy/ginger sauce. It was good, but I make better at home very easily.
The Peking Duck dessert course was sake marinated exotic fruits with coconut sorbet, sesame snap and passion fruit foam. There was also the Chinese plum wine panna cotta with plum wine jelly, shaved mandarin-orange ice, Indian gulab jamums and cointreau syrup. The shaved ice was very refreshing on our summer eve dinner.
If you are a duck lover, you will really enjoy the Shanghai Peking duck. Our bill (with 3 bottles of wine) came to just slightly over $400, so not a cheap duck experience.
Arrived at 5pm for our 6pm dinner reservation, so we went to the bar at the Peninsula (yes it is called "The Bar"). Ouch! My one Sam Adams beer and wife's dirty martini ran $18+
Met the parents in the restaurant at 5 minutes to 6pm. Mom decided against outside dining on the terrace, even though it was a perfect summer night. The terrace is also a great place to have drinks, it is out on the open and is almost the same height as the top of the old watertower on Michigan Ave. A very neat perspective for me because I have only viewed it from street level or "on-high" in the Hancock building.
I had pre-ordered the Peking Duck when I made the reservation, the duck courses were split amongst the four of us (and the servers were happy to do so)
The first course if the duck are crepes that are made tableside. They start by wheeling out a whole Peking Duck on a cart, slicing 1/4 of the top portion of the skin and shredding a bit of meat. The skin and meat is then rolled up in a light crepe with scallion and hosin sauce. The four of us received one crepe apiece. We also ordered an appetizer of Ahi tuna and smoked salmon tartar with citrus wasabi tobiko. Both the duck and the ahi/salmon tartar were terrific.
The second Peking Duck course is Peking Duck salad, this was an incredible dish. The salad of baby organic greens and fragrant Peking duck was served in a crisp edible wonton salad bowl. This was also a terrific dish.
The third Peking Duck course was wild duck soup. The broth was very intense with pieces of duck and veggies in the soup. We also ordered the Sweet/Sour Peekee(sp?) toe crab soup. Had a great crab flavor, but lacked the punch that most sweet/sour soups I've had posses.
The fourth course consisted of two separate dishes, stir-fried roasted duck and fried rice or stir-fried noodles. Both very tasty, but I give the nod to the noodle dish.
Other entrees ordered were: the lamb, stirfried w/veggies in a "spicy lemongrass sauce". The lamb was top quality, yet the sauce lacked the punch I was looking for, it was very toned down. I think perhaps I will request a spiced up version next time.
The Cantonese steamed fish was sea bass served with chopped lemongrass on top over a soy/ginger sauce. It was good, but I make better at home very easily.
The Peking Duck dessert course was sake marinated exotic fruits with coconut sorbet, sesame snap and passion fruit foam. There was also the Chinese plum wine panna cotta with plum wine jelly, shaved mandarin-orange ice, Indian gulab jamums and cointreau syrup. The shaved ice was very refreshing on our summer eve dinner.
If you are a duck lover, you will really enjoy the Shanghai Peking duck. Our bill (with 3 bottles of wine) came to just slightly over $400, so not a cheap duck experience.