Shanghai #1 Seafood Village :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Shanghai #1 2022

Nov09

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: April 17 & July 9, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The San Gabriel Valley is a veritable treasure trove of Asian dining, particularly regional Chinese. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village is the LA branch of a high end Shanghai chain specializing in banquet dining. Here in 2022 we returned for a pair of dinners to see how it was doing post pandemic.

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic. It is however, some 7 years after I first went here, looking a bit “shabby.” This is typical of Chinese establishments as they don’t seem to do a lot of maintenance. We had the private dining room tonight. Mysteriously, even though it was a Sunday night and the place was EMPTY, at first they gave us a table in the main area. We had to ask for the private room. It’s much better though.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

Smashed Cucumbers with Garlic. Good with some of the other sauces.

Jellyfish Heads. In a nice sweet and tangy sauce.

Pickled Turnips. Sweet and a tiny bit spicy. I like them a lot but some people don’t.

Black Fungus (cloud ear mushroom). I always like this.

Pork Jelly. Very clean version of this dish.

Cold Chicken. Fine, but a bit boring as always. Simple “hainan-like” chicken. Pretty good except for he bones. The sauce was good.

Oil Poached Crab. Very lovely with clean crab flavor. Not so large though (we ordered 2).

Tofu with shrimp and salty egg yolk. Very strong salty egg flavor, but quite nice.

Two Flavor Shrimp. The one with the shell is sweet.

Yellow Croaker with Green Onion. Brown savory sauce and a very nice oniony flavor.

Fried yellow croaker with tea leaves. Very fried but delicious with the sweet vinegar.

Yellow Croaker with Green Onion. Brown savory sauce and a very nice oniony flavor.

Jiggly Pork Hock. Delicious.

Tea Smoked Duck. Crispy and delicious.

Beef with Scallions. Okay but a bit bland and the beef was chewy.

Cumin lamb. They pretty much forgot the cumin and the peppers.

Peppers with pork. Good, although not that much pork.

XLB. Very good.

Vinegar for the dumplings.

Tofu with pork. Great flavor.

Shanghai Style Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings. Heavy, but yummy.

Shrimp fried rice.

Shanghai Noodles with pork and cabbage. Fabulous noodles actually.

Crispy noodles with seafood. Delicious. Great texture and nice flavor.

Caramel Double Chip Gelato — Base is Salted Caramel made by replacing the sugar with house-made Water Caramel. Laced with Valrhona Chocolate Chunks and Toffee Chunks — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #caramel #SaltedCaramel #valrhona #toffee

Overall, these were both really great meals, but the April one was spectacular and the July one just great. Shanghai #1 severs (on a good night) first rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. I’ve been here many times and finally enjoyed getting some “tricked out” dishes like sea cucumber. They were great. Service was good. The place is QUIET these days. Maybe they subsist on daytime dimsum, but it’s a shame as this Shanghai banquet food is delicious.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

They have a Karaoke setup in the private room!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists, SGV, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village, Shanghai Cuisine

SGV Style – Deferred Maintenance

Jul08

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: June 2, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

We had the private dining room tonight. Mysteriously, even though it was a Sunday night and the place was EMPTY, at first they gave us a table in the main area. We had to ask for the private room. It’s much better though.

Tonight we had a slightly more wine focused group — non of the non-drinking riff-raff — and an attempt to get some interesting menu items to go with it.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 96. The 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé is at once rich and refined, a simply fabulous Champagne Rosè I won’t soon forget. Intensely perfumed, with the Pinot Noir-derived red berry and cranberry flavors that are not just concentrated, but also remarkably pure. It is one of the better Rosé bubbles I have had in the last year.

Marinated sweet turnip. Delicious and crunchy.

Shanghai style smoked fish. Dry and smokey with a sweet soy glaze.

2009 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 94+. The 2009 Dom Pérignon is open, seductive and radiant, as it has always been. Soft curves, mid-weight structure and tons of plain allure make the 2009 impossible to resist in its youth. This bottle, the best I have tasted so far, offers a distinc citrus and floral-driven profile that adds a good deal of brightness. Above all else, the 2009 is a gorgeous Champagne to drink now and over then next few decades. This is the first time in the house’s history that a vintage was not released sequentially.

Vegan tofu “duck”. Not exactly duck like, but a delicious beancurd with a nice firm texture.

Bamboo shoots. Delicious and crunchy. Delicate flavors.

Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor. But a bit cloyingly sweet this time around.

2010 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 95+. The 2010 Chablis Les Clos is all about understatement and balance. White floral notes meld into white stone fruit in this utterly gracious Chablis. Clos can at times be fleeting and elusive, and there is certainly some of that in the 2010. Still, it is impossible to miss the wine’s textural finesse and sheer overall balance. I will not be surprised if the 2010 continues to get better in bottle.

agavin: singing!

Braised sea cucumber with brown sauce. Ever since I had good sea cucumber in Shanghai, I’ve been jonesing for it — and this was certainly delicious. Maybe not AS good as the one at Shanghai Tang, but still yummy.

Hot and sour seafood soup. I thought this would be more different. It was pretty much hot and sour soup (maybe with a bit of crab or something in it). Still tasty though and I do love hot and sour.

1996 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant. 92 points. A deep yellow/light gold center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose offered up ripe pear, tangerine, hazel nut, and some minerals. In the mouth, this wine had a lovely jelly-like texture. It was a bit heavy on the wood at first but this mostly blended in with time. It had good acidity and very good length after extended air. This developed extremely well. I know that this bottle got several hours of air before we started drinking it an it needed a couple more to show its best.

Lobster steamed with onion, garlic, and ginger. Very nice, light, delicious lobster prep that showed off the lobster without hiding it under a layer of fry.

Cabbage. I love Chinese cabbage.

House Special Stone Pot Fried Rice.

2013 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis. VM 90. Pale, bright red. Inviting perfume of raspberry, mocha, coffee, brown spices and wild herbs. Sweet and supple but vibrant too, with harmonious acidity framing the flavors of raspberry, pepper and fresh herbs. Finishes with nicely refined tannins.

Assorted Seafood in Abalone Sauce. There were whole abalone in here, jellyfish, more sea cucumber, a brown thing I have NO IDEA but with a beef-like texture (it was delicious), and quail or duck eggs. Interesting dish. Very Chinese (full of luxury ingredients). Not as good as the standalone sea cucumber, but still great.

2011 David Duband Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Thorey. VM 90-92. Dark red/black stone fruits, wild flowers, sage, tar, rosemary and leather are some of the many notes that flesh out in the 2011 Nuits St. Georges Aux Thorey. The 2011 is soft and sensual to the core, with a caressing, expressive personality that offers considerable appeal, even at this early stage. There is much to like here.

Shanghai style sweet and sour fried fish (squirrel fish). This was one of those goopy straight up orange sweet and sour sauces, but it was awesome. Particularly dripped over rice. And the method of flaying the meat out and frying it created a much crisper effect, even if the appearance is a bit horror movie.

2003 Marc Sorrel Hermitage. VM 90-93. Good full ruby. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, menthol and bitter chocolate. Extremely ripe and impressively dense (the alcohol is 15. 2%), with port-like flavors of black fruits and dark chocolate. Very rich but just this side of heavy. Finishes with powerful but fine tannins. Impressive for this classique bottling. This will be approachable early but has the stuffing to age.

Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!

Shanghai Whole Duck. Not what I expected, and kinda crispy and deep fried, but with a delicious smokey taste and very tender.

2016 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Corbeaux.

XLB (soup dumplings). Nice versions, always delicious!

Pan fried Shanghai Style pork dumplings. Have to order these here, the juicy meat inside is amazing.

String beans with XO sauce. Nice version of the classic.

Peanut Chocolate Caramel Ganache Reese’s Gelato -Sweet Peanut Base with house-made Valrhona Chocolate Caramel Ganache and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the ganache is delicious but the 80% Valrhona I used swamps out the caramel — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #reeses #peanutbuttercup #ganache #Valrhona

Blackberry Mango Amaro Sorbetto! — like a frozen aperitivo — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — although I do need to improve at decorating in the Pozzetti –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #blackberry #amaro

Mangoberry Cheesecake Gelato — raspberry/mango cream-cheese base with blackberry/mango ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mango #raspberry #blackberry #GrahamCracker #coulis #ripple #creamcheese

Chess Chocolate Oreo Gelato — Valrhona medium chocolate base with layers of Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate ganache and crumbled Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #chocolate #valrhona #WhiteChocolate #oreo #chess

The wine lineup.

Overall, this was a really great meal. First rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. I’ve been here many times and finally enjoyed getting some “tricked out” dishes like sea cucumber. They were great. Service was good. The place is QUIET these days. Maybe they subsist on dimsum, but it’s a shame as this Shanghai banquet food is delicious.

I flighted the food into waves and it was quiet successful in terms of pacing and size. We also had only 8-9 people which is perfect for both table spacing and dish sharing.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

They have a Karaoke setup in the private room!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, pork, SGV, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village, Wine, XLB

Banqueting at Shanghai #1

Feb19

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: February 16, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic.

As this is a Hedonist/Foodie Club wine diner, we prearranged a banquet and reserved the usual giant table.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

NV Peter Paul Wines Champagne. A nice, nutty mature champagne.

Marinated legumes (lima beans?). A very mellow sophisticated taste, and some of the best lima beans I’ve had.

NV Jean-Pierre Brouchard Champagne In florescence. 92 points. A brilliant Blanc de Noirs exhibiting a dense, yet crisp mouthfeel with subtle elegant mousse. The nose has a lot of mature red apples, lime zest and newly made French toast. The length on the finish is very nice. The wine is crisp and clean, still it shows all the best sides of the Pinot Noir varietal. Overall impression is that of a very good Champagne which drinks terrifically tonight but would not mind resting another couple of years.

This was much fruiter than the Peter Paul, but I liked the nuttier drier one better myself.

Roast duck in a heavy sweet soy. Bony, but very tasty.

Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.

Squid with a sauce not unlike eel BBQ sauce. Very tender and tasty.

1998 Monbousquet Blanc. Parker 91-93. Earthy, mineral nose; earthy, mineral palate; medium finish.

Some kind of meat enchilada. Well, not exactly, but meat and vegetables in a cold thin crepe.

Meat and gelatin (aspic?). This had a very pleasant texture (like jello) and a subtle flavor.

Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor.

2008 Ken Brown Syrah Rosie’s Rosé. Not bad, lot’s of strawberry.

Old Shanghai baked spareribs. Amazing Chinese-style ribs.

Chicken with scallions and soy sauce. It looked a little scary, but it tasted great (except for the requisite bone).

From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots. 94 points. Wonderfull intense colour, complex nose and pure Volnay fruit. Dark cherry fruits, wet forrest and just a little animal characters. Just right to drink now, no decline at all.

My favorite wine of the night, but I’m a Burgundy troll.

Crab dry cooked with coconut? Hard to say, but it tasted great. A dry, slightly spicy crab that emphasized the flavor of the crab itself.

2010 Westerly Vineyards Pinot Noir. 90 points. full bodied pinot with nice fruit, full mouth feel.

Roasted pig leg. This had to be the ham part, the rear? femur.

The sever just slices through the skin and fat to reveal…

All sorts of goodie tender pork. Really melts off the bone.

2012 Bread & Butter pinot noir. I actually liked this better than most American Pinots, as it wasn’t really oaked at all. Very fruity, with berries. A young fresh wine, like a pleasant Villages.

Pepper steak. This was lovely chunks of juicy steak with a black pepper and soy sauce.

2011 Pierre Gonon St Joseph. Parker 93. The 2011 Saint Joseph offers lots of olive tapenade, black currants, blackberry, tobacco and spice in a medium to full-bodied, supple and beautifully fruited profile. Filling in nicely with time in the glass, this chewy, rich effort has ripe tannin, excellent freshness and a big finish. Enjoy it over the coming decade or so.

Lots of rich fruit, but not at all overbearing.

Shrimp two ways. On the left, salt and pepper fried shrimp (extremely tasty) and on the right, white sauce popcorn shrimp (pleasant but mild).

2005 Radio-Coteau Syrah Las Colinas. Parker 91. The 2005 Syrah Las Colinas reveals floral, blackberry, and peppery notes, medium to full body, and loads of meatiness in a pure, richly fruity style.

Shanghai style sweet and sour fried fish. This was one of those goopy straight up orange sweet and sour sauces, but it was awesome. Particularly dripped over rice. And the method of flaying the meat out and frying it created a much crisper effect, even if the appearance is a bit horror movie.

1994 Stonestreet Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 91-93. I have been a fan of this winery’s Pinot Noir, but I have not seen the newest offerings. However, I do have enthusiastic tasting notes on Stonestreet’s other red wines. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be even more intense and powerful than the 1993, with an opaque purple color, and gobs of lavishly oaked, smoky, cassis fruit intertwined with aromas of roasted herbs and high quality toasty oak. This powerful Cabernet reveals plenty of tannin, low acidity, and outstanding concentration and purity. This large-scaled, remarkably well-balanced wine should drink well young yet last for two decades.

Our bottle was corked.

Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!

Mushrooms and bock choy.

Shanghai noodles. These are pan fried rice cake with scallions and sweet soy. Odd soft texture, but delicious.

2004 Colgin IX Syrah Estate. Parker 96. Aubert demonstrates a superb know-how with Syrah. These wines are macerated for 35-45 days, and given frequent pump-overs as well as punch-downs. They are aged completely in French oak. The floral-filled 2004 IX Syrah Estate (486 cases) offers super-pure blue and blackberries intermixed with hints of new saddle leather and meat. High but sweet tannins, powerful flavors, and an overall sense of poise characterize this stunning effort.

A strange Shanghai take on Ma Po tofu. It has peanuts, and a bit of spice, but the tofu is the firm kind instead of the silken tofu, and there is no yummy pork and mighty numbing Schezuan heat like here or here.

Crispy meat buns. A really great film skinned take on the soup dumpling.

On the right is a hard boiled egg that was underneath all that red pork belly. It’s saturated with sweetness and pork fat!

Fruit for dessert.

Overall, this was a really great meal. First rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. We didn’t have the totally tricked out menu with all the sea cucumber, shark fin, and the like, but I don’t love that stuff anyway. Nearly every dish was wonderful. Service was fine (for Chinese). They brought things a little rapidly, but it was fine. Great experience.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinatown, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, San Gabriel California, san Gabriel valley, Shanghai, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Dim Sum is Shanghai #1

Aug14

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: August 10, September 3, & November 10 2013 and June 19, 2022 (and more)

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The San Gabriel Valley is a veritable treasure trove of Asian dining, particularly regional Chinese. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village is the LA branch of a high end Shanghai chain. But today it’s time for dim sum!

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic.

This time around we have come for dim sum. Yum!

2011 Domaine Collotte Bourgogne Rosé Marsannay. This is one of my go-to roses, as it’s all Pinot Noir from Burgundy. A wonderful sunny weather wine, it paired very nicely with the sweet and sour tones of the Chinese. There were a few rose-haters as usual, but this really is a great wine, bright and full of strawberry flavors.

Delicious pickled radish (probably Daikon). Crunchy, sweet, extremely enjoyable complex flavors.

2010 Servo Suo Prosecco. Very nice.

Special pickled fresh cucumber. Crunchy, with a bit of heat.

Old Shanghai stewed duck in Soy Sauce. Sweet and very smokey/ducky.

Old Shanghai baked spareribs. Amazing Chinese-style ribs.

A different kind of pork rib, almost certainly the same cut as the above BBQ, but steamed. Tasty, but not AS tasty as the BBQ version.

Old Shanghai Smoked fish. Nice smokey tea flavor with a bit of sweet.

Chicken feet with Black Bean Sauce. Eeew!

1974 Beaulieu Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Georges de Latour. Parker 88. The wine’s color revealed amber at the edge, a roasted, herbal, sweet, spicy nose, loosely-knit, jammy fruit, and some hot alcohol in the finish. Lots of coffee and tobacco. Actually, although nearly gone, it was kinda delicious.

Peanut Pork & Chicken Celery Dumpling. Nice and fresh.

Beef ball with Orange Peel Sauce. Like a giant Chinese meatball, but almost tartar (on purpose). Very tasty and interesting.

2011 Prager Riesling Wachstum Bodenstein. A lovely dry riesling with a strong mineral component.

Cold chicken in sweet sauce. Not bad, but def tastes like chicken.

Deep Fried Turnip Pastry.

This is a kind of fried mochi stuffed with meat. Interesting chewy texture and a fairly tasty meat.

Baked chicken bun. The pasty has a light fluffy quality.

Here you can see the chicken, which was tasty, but pork probably would have been even better.

A sort of kung pao tofu (tofu and peanuts with a slightly spicy sauce). It was okay, with an unusual firm texture. I’ll still take a genuine Ma Po Tofu any day.

Shanghai rice cakes. These are pan fried rice cake with scallions and sweet soy. Odd soft texture, but delicious.

2001 Weingut Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Spätlese. 93 points. Apple, peach and apricot, zest of citrus, ginger, gunmetal and hint of straw. Very ripe and deep. Sweet, but balanced.

House No. 1 Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Wow! They are right about the House No. 1 bit, as these are the best pork buns I’ve ever had.

Shrimp dumpling with chives. Nice.

Squid with shrimp dumpling.

Broccolini. Very nice and not over cooked at all.

2009 Meyer-Fonné Pinot Gris. 90 points. Unfortunately, this bottle was corked.

Stone Hot Pan Fried Rice with Pork. Stunningly good fried rice.

Classic lotus leaf wrapped steamed sticky rice.

But this one has abalone (fresh from Santa Barbara) in it. As usual with this place, a top example of the type.

Special Taro Cake. This was the unanimous “winner” of the “worst dish” vote. I suspect it’s excellent for what it is, but taro is so bland and pasty.

Har gow (6/19/22). Classic shrimp dumplings.

Spicy shrimp dumplings (6/19/22). Nice bit of mala inside and squid ink dough.

Some other seafood and green dumpling.

And yet another seafood dumpling!

Steamed veggie bun.

Vegetarian dumpling.

Bean curd with sticky rice. The rice is inside. Very mild and pleasant.

Bean curd with vegetables. Very tasty.

Special Soup Dumpling. Quite the dumpling! Full of shrimp and other goodness in a very pleasant broth.

1974 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa.

Steamed Shanghai Juicy Pork bun. Full of juice and oh so yummy!

Pork and shrimp shu mai.

Shrimp and squid. Sort of a Chinese gefilte fish (plus shrimp).

Pan Fried Shanghai Style Bun. Wow again! These are tremendous.

Shanghai Style Pan Friend Noodles. Not my favorite, as they are sweet and a bit too soy-ish.

Simple pan fried noodles. The kid version.

More chicken feet! Double eeew!

Steamed rice noodle with Beef. Yum. The beef was again sort of medium rare — and very tasty.

Steamed rice noodle with Shrimp and snow pea. Good examples of this type.

Steamed rice noodle with tofu and scallop. Interestingly soft. Kind of soft on soft on soft.

Rice crepe with crab. Wrapped around imitation crab. Pretty good though.

Sweet baked bun filled with taro.

Shanghai sweet cake? Another fried rice ball with a bit of some sweet mild fruit in the center. All about the texture, with a pleasant mild flavor.

Macau Style Baked Egg Custard. Triple wow. Best custard buns I’ve yet had, like creme brûlée.

Mango Pudding. Pleasant, mild, sweet mango flavor.

Pineapple buns (6/19/22). Pretty yummy.
Sweet cake. This pound cake is striped with sweet bean paste, which was pretty mild.

Overall, this was another great meal. It’s probably the best dim sum I’ve had in LA, really first rate. Stuff was extremely fresh, cooked to order and not on the carts. Service was good. They did their best to slow down for us (Chinese food is usually a breakneck frenzy). [ NOTE: the above was written in 2013, but by late 2014 I’ve found 2-3 better places (Elite, King Hua, etc), still SH#1 is very good ]

Thoughts in 2022. The dim sum here is solid, but not amazing (there are much better places in the SGV). Dumplings are a bit thick and oversized. But you can also order the Shanghai dishes and it’s a nice room(s), so nothing too wrong with it.

Plus, there is a $15 an hour foot massage place right downstairs (NOTE: closed by 2022).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more crazy Hedonist meals, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (6)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, hedonists, Pinot noir, san Gabriel valley, Shanghai, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Apr18

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: April 13, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic.

As this is a Hedonist/Foodie Club wine diner, we prearranged a banquet and reserved the usual giant table.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

Our “appetizer” spread.

Marinated legumes (lima beans?). A very mellow sophisticated taste, and some of the best lima beans I’ve had.

Squid with a sauce not unlike eel BBQ sauce. Very tender and tasty.

Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor.

2011 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica. IWC 88. Pale yellow-straw. Sexy aromas of nectarine, ginger and nutmeg. Moderately sweet but not at all cloying, with nectarine, apple, pear and brown spice flavors complicated by a saline quality and perked up by white flowers and CO2. Not particularly gripping and very easy to drink. Finishes just off-dry, with a menthol nuance and a suggestion of crab apple that brought my score down.

Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.

Marinated turnips in a tangy chili oil. Really nice crunch.

Some kind of marinated mushrooms. Very earthly and delicate.

Classic smoked Shanghai fish. Smokey and crunchy.

Roast duck in a heavy sweet soy. Bony, but very tasty.

2004 Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg. IWC 90. Very pale color. Highly aromatic nose offers underripe pineapple, flowers, mint, stone and flint, along with a leesy nuance that reminded me of Champagne. Juicy and moderately sweet (12.5 g/l. r.s.), with pure peach and nectarine flavors firmed by a stony underpinning. This is precise and detailed, and long on the finish-and not nearly as austere as some past vintages of this consistently excellent bottling. But it still calls for at least five years in the cellar.

Shrimp two ways. On the left, salt and pepper fried shrimp (extremely tasty) and on the right, white sauce popcorn shrimp (pleasant but mild).

Chili fried scallops, with a little heat.

2000 Denis Mugneret Père et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru. BH 88-91. Black fruit and spice just explode from the glass. This is Boudots at its best with abundant Vosne spice and solid Nuits character in a classy, medium weight package that offers good power, density and quality length. While it doesn’t offer the size of the grands crus and it’s not classically structured, it is deliciously complex and fine. I like this a lot.

Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!

Chicken with scallions and soy sauce. It looked a little scary, but it tasted great (except for the requisite bone).

1995 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja. IWC 90. Good full red. Deeply pitched aromas of smoke, minerals, leather and truffle. Supple and silky but nicely penetrating, with ripe, intense flavors of cherry, minerals and oak perfectly framed by harmonious acids. Subtle, textured Rioja finishing with good grip and thrust.

Crab dry cooked with coconut? Hard to say, but it tasted great. A dry, slightly spicy crab that emphasized the flavor of the crab itself.

Chicken soup. Pretty much like moms’.

It came in this pot.

1985 Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy Dolcetto d’Alba. I’ve never had an old Dolcetto, and wouldn’t have assumed they lasted, but this was brilliant. It tasted very much of Dolcetto, grapey and all, but had a real depth to it.

Fried rice. Simply one of the best fried rices I’ve ever had.

2007 Tenute Niccolai Rosso Di San Gimignano Uno di quattro. A very nice Italian Syrah. Yeah, odd, but it is.

Shanghai noodles. These are pan fried rice cake with scallions and sweet soy. Odd soft texture, but delicious.

Crispy meat buns. A really great film skinned take on the soup dumpling.

The inside. These were great with vinegar poured in.

2010 Montirius Gigondas Terres des Aines. IWC 91-93. Bright ruby. Spicy cherry and blueberry aromas lifted by mineral cut and a floral overtone. Nicely focused and pure, with very good energy to its dark berry flavors and seductive lavender and spice accents. Finishes spicy and long, with a late note of anise hanging behind.

Beef ribs (short ribs?), with garlic, green and red peppers, etc. Tasty, but certainly not the best dish of the might.

2003 Maculan Acininobili. Parker 96. The 2003 Acininobili is utterly mind-blowing in its expression of candied apricots, orange peel and cinnamon. Constantly changing in the glass, it reveals superb intensity and a stunningly gorgeous purity, with superb length and phenomenal poise. Acininobili is a selection made from botrytised Torcolato fruit. It is aged for two years in new French oak.

Mango or some other fruit in a coconut yogurt like sauce. Nice and refreshing, and and absolotely brilliant pairing (not by any foresight) with the Passito above. Really first rate combo.