Cantonese dessert has an eternal popularity in the city. It can not only be a dish served following the main course, but also a good choice when you are looking for a decent afternoon tea.

The Xinwang is a Cantonese cuisine restaurant which was recently re-opened after nearly a year's worth of renovation. The restaurant was actually running a good business before the renovation and now it seems to be even more attractive. Located on the downtown Centra Huaihai Road, and next to the bar Babyface, the restaurant is usually filled with diners at meal time, sometimes even with people lining up at the doorfront.

But to be honest, I do not think the Xinwang Restaurant is as good as it appears to be, especially after I had several dinners there. Like many Cantonese eateries, it is very noisy and crowded at dinner time. The price is neither expensive nor cheap, but some dish prices have been apparently upgraded after the renovation, although the portions remain the same.

However, the situation might be a bit different in the afternoon when there are
less people and when a special afternoon-tea menu is available there. The
menu includes some packages combing desserts, fruits and drinks, and each is offered at quite a reasonable price. Among them, my favorite is the combination of a greentea Tiramisu, a small dish of fruit salad, and a cup of coffee, priced at 16 yuan. (In this package, the Tiramisu can be exchanged for a cheese cake.) The Tiramisu, of course, is an exotic dessert but it can have a magic flavor when mixed with the seasoning of Chinese green tea. The presentation was cute and the taste was pleasant and a bit bitter. Actually, the slight bitterness made the green tea Tiramisu more special and tasty than usual.

Radish rice cake is a typical kind of Cantonese dessert, which is hot and usually accompanied with sauces. The radish rice cakes (9 yuan) served at the Xinwang are also worthy of recommendation because of its hot savor and tenderness. The cake was properly fried on both sides and was later sprinkled with sesame. Thus it tasted a bit crispy outside but the interior was so soft than it could

easily melt in the mouth. The sauce accompanying the radish cake was sweet and spicy, which made the mild dish more flavor ful. However, the radish flavor seems to be absent in the cake.

Unlike the radish cakes, Yang Zhi Gan Lu (18 yuan) is a cool dessert, consisting of chilled cream of sago wit h mango and pomelo. Its Chinese name is poetic, relating
to plants and amrita. The dessert looked very nice and tasted both sweet and sour. Very refreshing!

I preferred to sit on the first floor of the Xinwang Restaurant to have my afternoon tea because the view is quite good. There are bamboos standing outside the window and, not too far away, you can see the large green area near the Yan'an elevated roads. Although the dining room on the second floor is much larger, you can hardly enjoy the view and the afternoon leisure as the space is mostly occupied by tables and chairs.

Xinwang Restaurant
Location: 138 Central Huaihai Road
Tel: 021-63756357