When you’re going to Chinatown, it always helps if you know someone who’s been there before, someone who knows where to go and what to eat. Luckily for me, I know someone who’s lived here for 30 years, and when he takes me to his favorite place for Cantonese food, I pay attention.
Thanks to the introduction by my Chinese food aficionado, I’ve been going to Shanghai Restaurant (9116 Bellaire Blvd at Ranchester) for several years now. What’s apparent every time I go in is that the patronage is primarily Chinese, the food that comes from the kitchen always looks mouthwatering, and the dishes are satifyingly tasty and delicious every time. In other words, this is the real deal. It's as close as you can get to authentic Cantonese food in Houston without flying to Hong Kong.
Owned and operated by Queenie Ng and her husband, Kwok Fu Ng, who mans the kitchen, Shanghai is widely recognized among Chinese patrons and those “in the know” as one of the best Cantonese restaurants in the city. The Fearless Critic is one of the biggest proponents of Shanghai Restaurant, giving it high marks every year. Shanghai's rating currently stands at 9.2 out of 10 for food, the highest current rating under the category "Chinese Cuisine."
It’s well deserved. Kwok Fu Ng learned how to cook as a teenager in Hong Kong, then came to Houston in the late 70’s and has been working in the kitchen ever since, opening his first restaurant as early as 1982. He and his wife focus on quality, using fresh meat, seafood, and vegetables.
"We don't use frozen meats," Ng tells me. "People will come and say, how come this other restaurant charges cheaper and gives more food, and I tell them, 'if you want that you can go there.' But they always come back to us," she says. Another key to quality is that Ng himself works hard in the kitchen, making almost all of the dishes himself. If he has a break, he'll come out to the front of the house to observe people eating and make sure they're enjoying their food. Shanghai opens every day until midnight, and later on Saturdays, when they close at 1am.
Now to the food. There are more than 200 items on the menu, and depending on your tastes, just about everything is good, from the fancy lobster items to the basic wonton noodle soup. When you've made your way through the regular menu, ask about the handwritten Chinese menu on the white eraserboard. These are specialty items that can't be found on their regular menu.
Their signature dish, which they’ve perfected over the last 28 years+, is the salted spicy spareribs, which they marinate overnight to give it a deep rich flavor. It’s a must-try, and when I brought Houston Chronicle Food Editor Greg Morago on a tour here, it’s the one he couldn’t get enough of.
Other notable dishes include the sizzling beef dish, served smoking hot on a black sizzling plate, with large pieces of beef that are so tender you can slice them with chopsticks.
The peking duck, served with steamed buns, is served with a delicious hoisin sauce that has been perfected over the years with the addition of pineapple. “It gives the peking duck better flavor,” Ng says.
A house special cold chicken, marinated and then steamed slowly over the course of several hours, is teeming with flavor. Served with a house special ginger sauce, Ng says it is a favorite among her Chinese patrons, who say that the sauce is good enough to eat by itself with some white rice.
Currently, one of the best seasonal values on the menu is the lobster. Ringing in at $18.95 for two lobsters in ginger and scallion sauce, you cannot beat this price. For $4 extra, you can choose other sauces, like their house special sauce with black bean, or their salted spicy version. For $8 extra, you can add your choice of noodles, like e-mein or chow mein. The last time I was in the restaurant, a couple I met ordered two lobsters each, licking their fingers while they ate, and boasting happily about how it would barely cost $40 for all for lobsters.
The best bargain occurs at lunch, however. From Monday through Friday during the lunch hour, the Ngs have a 20+ item $4.25 lunch special menu, one of the best bargains in Chinatown. And the food? The food is just as good at lunch as when you have it at dinner.
For a more in depth look and real-time view of the food, watch my Fox 26 news segment on Shanghai Restaurant, which aired June 17, 2011 on the 9pm news.
For more info: Shanghai Restaurant, 9116 Bellaire Blvd at Ranchester. (713) 988-7288
Mai Pham covers restaurants and fine dining in Houston. For up to date stories about food and restaurants in Houston, click on the "Subscribe" link at the top of the page. You can read her previous stories here. You can also follow her Twitter about food and travel.
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