A touch of Shanghai
Popular Hong Kong restaurant Wang Jia Sha serves up contemporary Chinese fare
In Bangkok’s dynamically competitive restaurant scene, a roaring reception for a new eatery may be explained basically by two theories. One is that the restaurant has a prestigious legacy and diners have long awaited its arrival. The other is due to its heavy publicity and efficient marketing.
Neither case seems to fit Wang Jia Sha, a contemporary Chinese restaurant from Hong Kong that opened three weeks ago at Siam Paragon.
From the first day of operations in the Big Mango, the simply-decked out restaurant of more than 200 seats and no “stars” has constantly enjoyed brisk business. Packing its spacious, semi-open dining room is an international mix of office folk, families and tourists, who are there for the sake of profound gastronomy and not current craze.
Wang Jia Sha, although popular in Hong Kong, is a young face in the industry. Under the management of Gaia Group, the brand launched its first outlet in Kowloon in 2008 and over the years has expanded to almost 10 outlets in Hong Kong and China.
The restaurant labels itself as “a master of Shanghai-styled dim sum”. On offer are a substantial selection of Shanghainese fare, presented with culinary dexterity and subtle tastes that Cantonese chefs are treasured for.
Wang Jia Sha’s menu lists more than 100 items, from dim sum, appetisers and soups to main meat and seafood courses, rice and noodle dishes, and desserts.
For starters, I highly recommend the drunken chicken (250 baht). Served chilled in an earthenware soup bowl were neatly sliced, steamed boneless chicken slices soaked in a wine-infused sauce. The chicken, from a free-range farm, yielded a lean but succulent and tender texture enhanced by aromatic Chinese rice wine. It tasted marvellous with or without the Shanghai chilli-oil sauce, which sauce-addicts are recommended to try.
Another appetiser worth ordering is the chilled braised beef shank with garlic sauce (240 baht). The beef is cut in thin slices, showcasing its fine marbling, on a bed of thinly julienne courgettes dressed with soy sauce.
The restaurant’s signature roasted, tea-smoked duck with steamed buns (360 baht) proved scrumptious for its fragrant and truly flavourful meat that came with crispy red-brown skin. The poultry went perfectly with house-made sweet hoisin sauce and the cottony white buns exhibited a pleasantly soft and supple texture almost comparable to a marshmallow.
Of course, a meal at Wang Jia Sha isn’t complete without the restaurant’s speciality xiao long bao or Shanghai-styled steamed dumplings (150 baht for five). Arrived in a piping hot bamboo basket, the delicate, thin-skin dumplings encased a warm helping of minced pork soup offered a heavenly mouthfeel especially when eaten with ginger-seethed vinegar-soy sauce.
From a decent collection of dim sum, my personal favourites include swan-shaped, deep-fried mashed taro with mushroom and truffle (95 baht), deepfried pear-shaped glutenous dumplings with minced pork filling (95 baht), turnip pastry (100 baht) and steamed custard lava buns (95 baht).
The first, which is one of the current best-sellers, boasted a fluffy, crispy savoury pastry made with silky mashed taro and pork-truffle mushroom stuffing.
The second is one of the best ham seui gok (deep-fried sweet and sticky dumplings) I’ve had in my life. Served hot, the pear-like dainties were perfectly fried to form a slight bubbly crust and golden yellow skin that wasn’t heavy in consistency and revealing inside a delectable pork filling.
The turnip pastry is guaranteed to charm you with fine flaky exterior that enfolds a soft turnip filling while the steamed custard lava buns presented inside an orange-like bun with a rich custard filling.
True Chinese cuisine connoisseurs could never miss Wang Jia Sha’s baked rice with abalone in a clay pot (380 baht), a dish voted as the winner of the meal by our party of four.
If you can excuse my disregard to the abalone, which was by all means truly delightful, the dish tasted extremely delicious f or its subtly-flavoured, nice-grained rice coated with brown soy sauce.
Over my visit, the service staff suggested that we have steamed egg white pudding with mango in a coconut shell (160 baht) for dessert. A delectable finish if you’re a fan of the sweet eggy custard taste, quite similar to Thai coconut-cream sangkhaya.
Service was fine though it could be improved.