Etcetera | Dec 5, 2011 | 0 Comments

The Cook Sunday Brunch

Kerry Hotel Shangrila in Shanghai has catchy names for their three outlets – The Cook, The Brew and The Meet. We’ve tried them all. The casual dining experience at The Cook, a communal dining concept where dish is shared with friends at the table. Packed on most weekends, I find it nice to go there past the lunch hour rush. Simple comfort food but done to perfection, just what my asian palate is looking for.

The spicy shrimp belachan is pretty spot on. Still, the all time favorite is mee goreng fried noodle and malaysian laksa from the noodle station. Vibrant yellow color of the laksa broth dashed with bright red chili patches, half immersed swirl of egg noodle and plump juicy prawns firm to the bite sends you to a street food hawker somewhere in Malaysia or Singapore. A bowl of perfection. I love my Laksa.

The Brew is another part of the outlet, but still very much connected to The Cook. The Meet, on the other hand, is a damn good steak house. DH and I used to be on a hunt every weekend when we used to live in Inner Mongolia, searching for the best steak in town. Now we have The Meet. We celebrated our wedding anniversary there. A couple of steaks, a bottle of bubbly, a platter of desserts and a talkative chef to keep us company during dinner. Next time you’re there, ask for Tobias  :D

 

 

The three of us (now five) are quite religious Sunday Brunch goers. There’s usually a favorite place that we hang out for sunday brunches, but we’re always welcome any invitation to explore — and possibly wipe out their bubbly stock — new places. Anything with sexy food, free flow, free drinks, pile up on seafood buffet, we’ll be there….

Out of nowhere, we just felt like going to a new place for brunch. The best offer in town this week is Kerry Hotel. New place, free flow bubbly and the selection seems good. So off we went. We were like kids in a candy store…  or like foodies in a food heaven. Buffet selection was very good, not disappointing at all. Good balance of everything. A bit of Asian, a bit of Western, a bit of South East Asian, threw in seasonal food – I spotted rows and rows of hairy crabs in their Chinese food station.

We’re not sure about other people, but for us, a good sunday brunch buffet is pretty much like this. Great selection of fresh seafood  —   btw, the fresh oysters are yummy! they’re oz —  check out the selection of dips they have there.  Attentive staff to quickly refill the empty champagne glasses, which went down pretty quickly I must say. Succulent steak and ribs that fell off the bone. Noodle station with selections of sambal + the hard-to-find jeruk limo to go with the sambal, which is important for me. And the whole area, not just a section, for desserts – bakery, cocktail stations, cheese room and coffee bar. If only I can station my bed and live there. Candies and candies everywhere. Briana went wild there. And so did Daddy and uncle David.

 

 

 

 

Overall experience: very happy, great quality of food, good service and kids friendly

Brunch price: 438rmb for all you can eat and drink beers from the BREW, soda, juices. 538rmb or all of that plus Moet & Chandon champagne and house red and white wines. 168rmb for children 12 and under. All prices subject to 15 percent service charge.

 

The COOK

The Kerry Hotel,
1/F, 1388 Huamu Lu,
near Fangdian Lu
6169 8888  ext. 6321