Thumbs-up for local cuisine: QUAY

The mango and spice crumble [Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

But my lunch mates appeared satisfi ed enough with the spices from the herbs and chilies atop the fi sh. The steak piccata with noodles is the perfect example of East meeting West.

A derivative of the Italian traditional veal piccata, the steak, a fi ne-quality grass-fed meat from Cape Grim, Australia, is unusually juicy and tender, and tastes already flavorful after being coated and sauteed in egg and light cheese.

The typical Shanghai noodle with soy sauce is over-served, especially after two palm-sized rump steaks. But the good thing is the shallot spread and the tomato salsa have made it light and delightful for another few bites. The dessert, mango and spice crumble with fresh cream, arrives "disassembled" and barely "neighborly".

It’s more like a visitor from abroad. As we assemble the dessert ourselves, pouring the dairy into the pan-like bowl fi lled with crunchy crumbles and stirring the mangoes from below, chef Song explains in haste about this "alien visitor", before any one of us asks: How does this tropical dessert sneak into the Shanghai- neighborhood-themed menu?

"It’s not like we cannot make an appropriate local dessert, like jiuniang yuanzi (glutinous rice balls in fermented rice wine)," says Song, half jokingly. "We would just like to make the neighborhood a little more international and embracing, just like the city. And we cannot think of anything better than a dessert using the fruit of the season."

Address: 6F, Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund, 585 Zhongshan Road E2, Huangpu district

Telephone: 021-3302-9999

The set menu is available until the end of June. Lunch is priced at 230 yuan ($36.80) per person for three courses and dinner costs 330 yuan per head for four courses. Some of the courses will still be available after June.

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