Shanghai2Taipei Restaurant: Authentic Chinese Food and Hotpot in Queenstown
If anyone wants to have some authentic Chinese food and good hotpot in Queenstown, then the best restaurant for that is Shanghai2Taipei Restaurant (the No.8 Noodle Bar near Queenstown Airport comes next to this). It was a small place that looked like a family restaurant and there was a blackboard written in Chinese characters outside (just like the Shanghai Restaurant in Christchurch).
A staircase led up to the restaurant. There were Chinese paintings on the walls and the lights were dim and inviting. I went up the steps and entered the dining area.
At the end of the room there was a bar and a bartender stood behind the bar, mixing some drinks. I could see an aquarium on one side. If someone wanted really fresh seafood, this was the restaurant for it.
I first ordered an ice tea. The pieces of ice were really cute and interesting. They were shaped like little animals. The tea was strong and full of great flavor and the glass was served with a straw.
Then I had a mocktail. The mocktail glass had a little ice teddy bear hanging off the edge. It was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen! The staff again provided me a paper straw so that I could drink it.
The hotpot had two different soup bases. One was really spicy and red with lots of red chilies and green onions. It had a lot of flavor and heat. The other soup base was a white colored base that was much milder. It had a strong gingery taste and pieces of ginger were floating in it.
The restaurant provided two trays of meat to eat with the hot pot. There were thin slices of beef and lamb. I dipped them in the soup base and let the meat cook in the hot soup.
There was a wooden container of different kinds of items. This included things like crab sticks, mushrooms and vermicelli noodles.
The dish was called Sudoku because the tray had nine containers and nine items.
There was also a vegetable set which contained a lot of greens, among other vegetables.
Finally, I ordered some scampi sashimi. It looked very fresh and was served with lemon wedges and micro greens.
Menu of Shanghai2Taipei
The menu for Shanghai2Taipei was very varied. It offered individual hotpot, which was quite unusual. People didn’t need to come in large groups to order hotpot and they could easily get sides like mussels, clams, bean curd sheets, beef, lamb and vegetables. They could even get the special A5 Wagyu beef.
If a customer didn’t want one of the set meals, they could make their own hotpot with sides like beef rump or pork belly, scallops, fish fillets or fish sticks and vegetarian options like lotus root slices or gourmet potatoes. The best thing about the restaurant was that there were a lot of options and everyone would be happy.
Other than that, there were several Chef’s specials on offer. Some of the options were spicy tiger prawn dry pot and Chinese cabbage and vermicelli clay pot with XO sauce. They also had venison and beef spare ribs.
All the menu items were written not just in English but also in Chinese characters. I was sure that a lot of Chinese people came to Shanghai2Taipei because the food and dishes looked very authentic.
Other than hotpot, some of the menu options included dim sums, spring rolls, sashimi and oysters.
There was also seafood like crayfish, different preparations of prawn, mussels, scallops, clams and poached fish fillets.
Meat options included chicken, lamb, pork, beef and venison.
They also had some interesting looking desserts. I was very intrigued by the dish called Creamy Bear Bath.
Finally, there were some set meals for one or two people which included an assortment of different items.
