There are high end Fine dining restaurants in Shanghai but nothing really like Hakkasan. The restaurant fills a unique niche by catering to a crowd that wants a trendy spot to eat high end Chinese food, which serves high end cocktails and western style desserts. The detractors of this restaurant will say it’s not authentic. Those views are missing the point of the restaurant. Hakkasan is a place for a special occasion, a big night out on the town, or to experience and to have Chinese food prepared with unique ingredients.

My rating is based on the following:

Food: 4 stars Environment: 5 stars Service: 4.5 stars Value: 3.5 stars Recommended dishes: crispy duck with cavier, lemon pot, stir fried A3 Wagyu beef

I have been here twice. Once for dinner and once for dim sum. The dim sum was good but not great. There wasn’t anything to innovative or anything that blew my mind. The quality is good and the price is high. I preferred my dinner experience over the dim sum. One thing to avoid is the fried noodles. Really disappointed by this dish.

The signature dish at Hakkasan is the crispy duck. This dish is delicious and you can think of it pretty much as Peking Duck with cavier. The real star for me is the lemon pot. I think this is close to a perfect dessert. It is fun and whimsical. A joy to look at and tastes amazing. You get sweet, tart, fat and crunch with this dish. The merengue pairs nicely with the richness of the cream in the pot. The richness of the dish is balanced out by the acidity coming from the lemon. I would come here just to eat this dessert.