Hengshen Cafe

I was really lucky to run into a fantastic coworker at the hotel.  It turns out, he is from Germany and is very personable.  We decided to go out to dinner.  I guess he didn't know better, so he let me pick the restaurant.  I chose Hengshen Cafe. 

Once again, those of you that follow the Asia Chowhound board, will know, that Hengshen Cafe is one of the places on every one's Shanghai hit list.  So of course, I needed to eat there.

Hengshen Cafe serves Cantonese food, most commonly known as Hong Kong style.  This is the food most normally adopted to American palettes and served looking oh-so shiny. 

Well Hengshen Cafe did not disappoint. 



Mushroom salad



The mushroom salad was three kinds of cold mushrooms in a vinegar sauce.  There were woodear, king, and some other mystery type of mushroom.  Overall, it was tasty, but I think I could have ordered better.

More food

Next we giver some tofu dish.  I think I may have ordered this by accident, in my crap-tastic Mandarin.  It was a warm dish.  It had a slightly sweet brown mushroom sauce, that had penetrated the tofu fully.  It was pretty flavorful.

One tough thing about eating in China is that you don't order a meal, your order dishes.  So you have to make sure that you order a main, a vegetable, and rice.  There are no combos up in this joint.  If you are not careful, you'll end up like Benjamin Franklin, having GOUT!  Above you will note that I did not wish gout upon myself, so I ordered mystery vegetables.  These were a lot like zucchini.

Overwhelmed by the H-U-G-E menu, my coworker ordered, the first picture that looked appetizing, a beef and cashew stirfry.  It was very tasty.  The meat was well cooked, and the sauce was balanced.  It was nothing like to goopy beef dishes in the United States.

Alright, now for the piece de resistance (read in a French accent), the roasted meat platter.  That's right, Hengshen Cafe loves humanity enough to bless us with three kinds on Cantonese roasted meats on one plate.  Ladies and Gentlemen, for your viewing (but not eating) pleasure, I give you, roasted duck, pork belly, and pork.

  

Hengshen Cafe, doing god's work

Yeah, it was awesome to say the least.  All of the meat was perfectly roasted.  it was cooked all the way through but still very juicy.  The duck did have bones in it, but it was cut in a way that still made it very easy to eat. 

For dessert, there were mango and creme crepes.  They were the perfect end to the meal.  Light and airy, and not too sweet.