(That's Shanghai )
Updated: 2006-05-05 10:23

Dining at a Chinese restaurant is generally an affordable exercise in democracy. Everyone chooses their favorite dish and everyone goes home happy. No surprise there. Unfortunately, a poorly thought out menu is just as commonplace. At FXY, however, the enormous and well-planned bill of fare is a rare treat.

With more than 200 dishes, including entries from Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan and Zhejiang, the only real difficulty is choosing a favorite. After some debate, one of our party opted for Ningbo fuyi huangyu juan (fish with vegetables wrapped in bean curd, RMB 26), a dish that proved selection by committee is sometimes wise. But two Shanghainese dishes: xiaren jihuozhu gansi (shredded bean curd with shrimp, chicken and Chinese ham, RMB 18) and waipo hongshaorou (Grandma's soy braised pork chunks, RMB 26) proved to be exceptionally good choices-as individually appealing as the company. 

Location: No. 558, Yuyuanlu, by Jiangsulu
Opening time: Daily 11am-2pm, 4pm-2am. No cards. 
Cost for two (excluding drinks): RMB 92
Tel: 021-52393116