Shanghaiist: Our new favourite restaurant: Lǎo Kè Lè - 老克勒

guest

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:01:09 +0800

This is guest #4 again, I tried out this place with a friend. Anyway I am more sympathetic to guest #2 after going to the restaurant - it's not Panda Express, but it's certainly not some mystical 1920's Shanghai cuisine once lost and only now being brought back to life, as the gushing review implied. Really it's a Chinese take on Western food, it strongly reminded me of California fusion restaurants, except it didn't have an (inevitably embarassing) take at Pad Thai, and it left the bones intact with the meat. But really, this is a very good restaurant with high quality ingredients, where a smoothie+appetizer+dish will cost 30 or 40 kuai. It's not fancy, you wouldn't go there to impress a date or a client, but it's a very good everyday sort of restaurant, only a couple minute's walk from the line 2 subway. Shanghai food in the price range between 10 and 100 kuai/person is full of gimmicky, underwhelming restaurants - particularly the takes on Western foods, even the best of which I would never even consider eating at if I was in the US and they had a chain there. This restaurant is an obvious exception. I'm sure this place will do great business and I hope Shanghai gets a hundred places like it, all around the city. So I guess the restaurant deserved a gushing review, I just don't think the author gushed in an accurate manner.

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:52:33 +0800

The picture, and the description of "high quality all-purpose flour, milk, eggs, mashed carrots and spinach as basic ingredients for the noodles." doesn't at all remind me of Panda Express though. The blog has a good enough track record with food recommendations, with a general bias towards local street food that I think people should be inclined to believe the author isn't full of shit. It is true that the anti-MSG message sentiment is pretty much entirely a manner of marketing and psychosomatic response.

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:01:14 +0800

last time i checked, mr. elliot was not american.

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:33:33 +0800

Yummy! MSG free Panda-Express-o-licious cuisine made for the refined American palate. Or for those who ever wondered what a Chinese person could do with hamburger helper. Is this a joke? Or is Mr. Elliot getting kickbacks from the restaurant? or does Shanghaiist just need to be more careful about who does its restaurant reviews?

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:02:47 +0800

this looks really good. i live only 10 min from the place, so i will check it tomorrow and will let you know ...