- Gorgeous ambience - go out for a posh night in this Art Deco setting.
- Good French food - don't expect Paris Michelin stars and enjoy a very good meal.
- Lovely bar and lounge - a great place to stop in for a drink.
- Lunch! Head over from a Bund walking tour for a relaxing meal.
- Excellent service, really, some of the best we've experienced in Shanghai.
- Uninspired wine list, at least on the red side.
- Hard to get a table on a Saturday night (not a bad thing I guess) but frustrating nonetheless.
- Location: Hamilton House is located near the Bund at 137 Fuzhou Road at Jiangxi Road.
- Reservations? A must: 021 6321 0586
- Open: Daily noon-10pm for food, the bar is open from noon until late.
- Payment: Eventually (surely) they will get their credit card machine installed but right now, it's cash only.
- Kids? Perhaps if they are of the older and well behaved type but this is definitely a babysitter place.
Most recently I went with my writers group, a group of women of various ages, backgrounds and tastes but we all enjoyed the experience immensely and vowed to become regulars. After taking our coats (hello? how nice!), we were seated and offered drinks. The wine came quickly and polite staff kept checking in for probably thirty minutes while we pretended to look at the menu but caught up instead. Finally hungry we settled on doing a bit of sharing combined with our own mains. I can't promise these dishes will be around for your visit because the chef changes the menu but I'm sure you'll find something equally delightful.
We started sharing the goat cheese gnocchi (large dumplings that melt in your mouth) and blue cheese soufflé (light, fluffy, amazing and not overly blue cheesy). We continued on and one of us got lamb, the others ordered salmon. The one with the lamb (yours truly) was very happy with her order since it came nice and rare with a delicious accompaniment of ratatouille. The salmon folks were equally as delighted and we finished off sharing a chocolate cake with whiskey ice cream. It's hard to do a bad chocolate cake but who would have thought of whiskey ice cream? Yum.
HH, located a few minutes walk from the Bund is just the perfect place to enjoy a really nice meal without the whole frequently overdone Bund restaurants. Go and enjoy. Go again and enjoy again. I'm off again tonight!
