Eating in Shanghai - South Beauty Sichuan-Cantonese Restaurant

If you are going to have a dinner at Xin Tian Di, be sure to check out the prices before making your choices. Prices at most of the outlets here are high even by International standards, and you could get a sticker shock. I was going to try out one of the highly recommended fusion restaurants, but the Prix Fixe Menu and most of the mains were so overpriced that I changed my mind. I finally settled on South Beauty which is off a beautiful courtyard in the complex.


South Beauty is a huge chain of Sichuan-Cantonese restaurants based in Beijing. The cuisine is traditional Chinese but prettied-up for the modern palate. The emphasis is on style and presentation, but the food is not bad either. I think they are onto a very successful formula here.

Spinach La Mien with seafood. The noodles were very ?Q? ? al dente. The seafood broth quite well done with tasty bits of fish, squid, sea cucumber and mushrooms.


I had the "Seng Chian Bao" ? steamed buns that are then pan-fried to give it a crispy crust. The bun was a bit soggy, and the filling wasn?t very tasty.


Deep-fried Pork ribs. These were very well marinated and tender.


Deep-fried Fish and Eggplant in Batter. I regretted ordering this dish as the batter was very heavy, and the sauce was too sweet and overwhelming.


Prices at South Beauty are not cheap, but not exorbitant either. My dinner came to about RMB 100, about what we would pay in a similar restaurant in Malaysia.