[Shanghai Girl Eats] Xixi Bistro 喜喜小馆

Xixi Bistro 喜喜小馆 | Dianping
Address:  89 Wuyuan Lu near Wulumuqi Lu (徐汇区 Xuhui District) / 五原路89号(乌鲁木齐中路)
Date visited: 2016.01 for lunch
Price: Lunch set RMB88; dinner RMB100-150 per person
Will return: Yes
What to get:
– Avocado pidan doufu salad
– Ricotta cheese
– Smoked salmon rice bruschetta
– Pumpkin jiaozi
– Pesto fried rice
– Scallion oil noodles with mentaiko

Update (2017.05): Xixi Bistro has relocated to Xintiandi (see post here)

Xixi Bistro: cute Chinese food with an Italian twist. The first time I visited Xixi when it opened, I did not like it. Flavors were a bit off and so was execution. But I gave it another try recently and everything seems to be in a good place now. I am glad I came back.

Lunch set is RMB88 for choice of one cold appetizer, hot appetizer, pasta or rice, and entree. Four different dishes in one-person portions to maximize variety — good deal. A la carte menu is also very reasonable for dinner. Great ambiance, value, and location for a casual meal.

Avocado pidan doufu salad
Recommend: yes
A classic Chinese cold dish perked up with avocado, which makes it even better.

Ricotta cheese with orange jam and mantou
Recommend: yes
Great ricotta mixed with jam. I wondered what was Chinese about this dish until I realized the accompanying bread was cut up mantou.

Smoked salmon rice bruschetta
Recommend: yes
Not one for salmon dishes usually but this was good quality smoked salmon on crispy deep fried rice cake. The first time I was here, the rice cake was not fried enough but this time it was fried just right. Aside from smoked salmon as a topping, there is also shrimp bruschetta, avocado & salmon bruschetta, and parma ham & parmesan cheese bruschetta.

Pumpkin jiaozi
Recommend: yes
An Italian take on Chinese dumpling or a Chinese take on tortellini?! Both equations lead to delicious. Nice crisp on the bottom of the jiaozi. There are other variations on the menu including ragu jiaozi and spinach & mozzarella jiaozi.

Pesto fried rice with chicken and vegetable
Recommend: yes
I could not imagine fried rice with pesto at first but it worked. It was so good, so good.

Scallion oil noodles with mentaiko
Recommend: yes
The mentaiko touch makes this different from all the other scallion oil noodles in this city.

Slow-cooked pork ribs with rose BBQ sauce
Recommend: maybe
I haven’t found a main that I really like here despite the good stuff above. The pork ribs are not bad but the spices don’t quite hit the spot.

Crispy herbs roasted chicken
Recommend: maybe
Again, not bad but not wow in terms of flavor. Credit though for crispy skin and moist meat.

Look up on your way out.

Comments

comments