Houston Hideaways: Shanghai forks over mediocre Chinese fare

By Sasha Schoch and Allie Schaich     3/29/12 7:00pm

There seem to be two main types of Chinese restaurants: the "Americanized" restaurants, where chopsticks are optional and the only Chinese characters you see are on the scroll of your fortune cookie, and the authentic restaurants, where the menu is in Chinese, pigs' feet are sold and there are only a few forks in the whole establishment.

Shanghai Restaurant, located in Houston's Chinatown, is definitely a model of the latter. Upon walking in, we could instantly tell that we were in the minority. Embarrassingly, our waiter set a few forks on our table and muttered, "In case you need them."

Shanghai Restaurant does not have special decor and is very casual. We were seated quickly; however, service after that took especially long.

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We ordered six egg rolls, chicken fried rice, cashew chicken, Mongolian beef and a noodle dish with assorted Chinese vegetables.

We started out with the egg rolls. Surprisingly, they were quite large for the cheap price. Although it is always difficult to tell exactly what an egg roll contains, whatever was inside was delicious. They were served to us hot, and the outside was crispy and fried in a delicious batter. The sauce served alongside was the typical sweet-and-sour flavor that added more variation to the plain taste of the egg roll.

The cashew chicken came with a large pot of steamed white rice and mixed vegetables. The chicken and vegetables were glazed in a brown sauce that was both tangy and sweet, and the sauce was what really made the meal complete.

Though the chicken was prepared well, the meat was of somewhat low quality. The cashews were a great touch; they provided a salty flavor that complemented the tangy sauce. The portion was relatively large but not too big for one person to eat.

The chicken fried rice was good, but it was not memorable. It came with the typical brown rice, bits of chicken, peas, carrots and fried egg. Adding soy sauce complemented the taste of the dish, although it was not necessary. We recommend this dish for patrons not looking forward to going out of their comfort zone when trying new food.

The Mongolian beef was served tender with onions and peppers. The garlic-flavored soy sauce added to the taste of the beef. Even though the menu said the dish was spicy, it was definitely not, which was disappointing. The peppers were very fresh and added a nice variation to the beef.

Our dinner at Shanghai was mediocre. The service was poor overall, as the waiter was slightly rude, and we waited a while for our dishes to arrive.

The dishes did not have extremely bold or unique flavors and were not memorable; they tasted like those in the majority of Chinese restaurants.

However, it is fun to experience Chinatown, and we recommend that students explore Houston local eats in that area of town.

Sasha Schoch and Allie Schaich are Wiess College freshmen. Houston Hideaways highlights local Houston restaurants beyond the usual Rice students' haunts.

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