De Da
2 Yun nan Road
Shanghai, China
PRICE: ???
RATING: **

De Da is, apparently, a “Western restaurant”. You can liken it to those “Chinese restaurants” in the USA or Australia that serve “sweet & sour fish” or “black pepper beef” or whatever other dish that is apparently “Chinese” but isn’t. De Da gives it a pretty good shot on the Western food front though – but it is a little hit and miss. It’s cheesily decked out with garish floral sofas and random artworks, and everyone in there is Asian, so I guess they’re not fooling the Westerners 😛 Still, it gives a cute, kitschy feel to the place.

I popped by for a quick lunch and immediately decided on the Lamb chops with chutney and veggies, because I am a sucker for lamb. I should have probably chosen something else, because the lamb chops were really thin, not the normal fat and juicy kind that we get in Australia. They also left on the fat instead of trimming it off, but the lamb itself was pretty tender and not too bad. The boiled brocolli it came with was entirely tasteless and useless, and they gave TWO FRIES (?!?!!?!). I know it’s an economic recession and all, but come on. At least give a decent helping of mashed potato or a tumble of fries, don’t count out TWO fries and stick them on the plate like you’re so generous.

The Borsch russian soup was delicious, however – light and with a great tomato flavour. The vegetables in it were tender and there was a generous amount in it. Slurped it all up. I’m not sure if I’ll dare to return to a restaurant that bombed on a main meal though 😉

De Da

Borsch russian soup

Lamb chops with chutney and veggies