[Shanghai] 1515 West Chophouse & Bar at Jing’an Shangri-La
1515 West Chophouse & Bar | Dianping
Address: 延安中路1218号香格里拉大酒店4层(近铜仁路) – 4F, Jing’an Shangri-La, 1218 Yan’an Zhong Lu near Tongren Lu (静安区 Jing’an District)
Date visited: 2014.04 for dinner
Total bill: Ridiculous for two people (please note there is a 15% service charge.)
Will return: Yes
What to get: Just steak and maybe dessert, nothing else.
Also see: Review of drinks at 1515 West
Starters are worthless. Sides are worthless. Service is worthless. Steak is great. Just stick with steak and don’t get anything else. Really.
Service made a valid effort but this is the Shangri-La so I don’t care about effort if the end does not justify it. The servers were nice but there were little things here and there that were unpolished for a hotel restaurant of this caliber and with a 15% service charge tacked on.
Bread with olive spread (Complimentary)
New York crab cake (RMB¥88) with sweat pea remoulade
Recommend: no
One crab cake. Just one. And it was not big. Taste-wise, it was fine but seriously, RMB¥88 for one small crab cake is a little excessive even for me. That’s a one-person-sized appetizer… and appetizers are meant for more than one person.
Grilled asparagus, shaved truffle and parmesan (RMB¥50): useless.
Grilled corn and fresh lime (RMB¥50): equally useless.
Let’s cut the rubbish and move onto the steak. There are dry-aged and wet-aged cuts at 1515 West. I prefer a dry-aged cut myself for a beefier taste. You can see the meat hanging in the hallway on your way in.
I don’t really know which cut this is but it was randomly sitting behind my table for 5 minutes so I scored some photos. All that fat and marbling looks tasty.
We went for the dry-aged Porterhouse (RMB¥888) to share and it was magnificent.
Recommend: yes
Simply put, this steak is really good. Very flavorful and tender. While the steak comes with sauce (choice of: whiskey steak sauce, béarnaise, bbq, black pepper, horseradish, shiraz, forest mushroom), it absolutely does not need any. Roosevelt Prime is still the best steak in Shanghai for me but 1515 West is right behind it. Very solid. I will return for the steak, and the steak alone. Perhaps try a rib eye next time.
Medium rare.
Their knife does not cut well. When I asked one of the managers if they had a knife with groves, he said this was the best dining knife they had. And I said the best knife they have doesn’t cut well (sassy I know). He offered to bring it back to the kitchen and had someone cut it up for us. For RMB¥888 and service charge, I am not about struggling to cut my steak with a weak knife.
Coconut creme brulee (RMB¥88)
Recommend: yes
The creme brulee was very eggy, like a Portuguese egg tart, which is fine by me because I love egg tarts. Light on the coconut flavor, which I am also fine with. This creme brulee hit all the right flavors for me.
In conclusion, the steak is as great as everyone says it is and it is the kind that I want to eat again very soon. But everything is overpriced and service is definitely not worthy of the service charge. Listen to me, just get steak here (and maybe a dessert) and none of that “cold open,” “act one,” or “extras” appetizer/side shenanigans. Take the money you would have spent on those and spend it on another steak to share. Done.
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