Sheyan — Restaurant in Jerusalem

The location is rather good, very historic, it's inside the old mill house. Walking in the interior is well put together, and when seated the table setup, cutlery, plating is very nicely done. All of this leads you to have high expectations, which is only increased by the English speaking, well trained, and curtious staff. This is where the disappointments begin. The menu is not well organized and as you look through you can't quite figure what this place is. Is it Chinese? Thai? Japanese? Korean? So weird version of an Asian pot lock? The prices are fairly high as well, but I'm not so worried about that. We ordered the dimsum to start, wonton soup, I had the "Thai curry" chicken and my wife some other chicken dish and we also ordered a dessert.

Dimsum were served rather quickly, great, but then we tried them. The dough was dry and rubbery and the meat inside was also dry and flavorless. Then we had the soup ... Were really not sure what kind of soup it was, but it wasn't wonton. The flavor was OK, passable for a soup, but nothing special. We then had our main. For a 90 shekel main I would have expected at least some effort in execution. It was served on a childish plate, not size, but intent, I.e., cheap plastic with some run of the mill design. The chicken and some vegetables were cut roughly and doused in the most amateur unrefined sauce I've had in years. There was no flavor to speak of, someone just put pepper or chili powder, a bit too much of it and said "well that should do it". It literally had one flavor, unrefined spicy. Your corner hall in the wall Chinese place does better. My wife's chicken was about the same. She couldn't even be bothered to finish more than half of it. We decided to get the desert, some chocolate and peanut butter thing. The theme of amateur horrendous execution continued. There was no chocolate flavor or peanut. It was nicely presented, but there just wasn't anything underneath.

Under any other circumstances I'd give a place like this 3 stars, not awful, sort of edible, and overall good service, but because the price is about 1.5x of a similar place, they lose a star for that. If your going to charge that much above market for a meal, you need to execute above market as well. The execution was way below your average Asian place, and that's why they...

So here is a review from a southern-Chinese Jew... This is as close as you can get to kosher authentic pan-Chinese food in a Jerusalem restaurant. The chef is specialized in Northern Chinese food, which is heavier tasting than Southern.

Since the level of seasoning and menu are reasonably adapted to Israeli preferences, if you are Chinese and know in advance what to order off the menu, that'd be even more authentic. Otherwise, stick with what they have.

The wontons were good. The soup base was saltier than I'm used to. We ordered their best selling chicken nuggets with pineapples in a sweet sauce. They could consider adding more sauce and making the taste a little stronger. It is quite well fried, not oily at all. In Hong Kong, this dish is also made with bits of red bell peppers and green bell peppers for colour. I ordered 水煮牛肉 off the menu which is kinda like the idea of Moroccan fish, but it’s Chinese beef. Basically beef pieces in a spicy sauce. I took home the leftovers and mixed the sauce and the beef with thick rice noodles - it's PERFECT, despite a missing spice which they didnt have in the kitchen. Don't order it if you're not ready for spicy and oily, that’s just how this Northern Chinese dish is. (Thanks to the owner and to the chef for accommodating the request. You rock.) The fried rice that comes with the business lunch is pretty regular, it's steamed and mixed with certain ingredients, not "actually fried" rice, from what I can tell. But I suspect that the fried rice that you can order as a main dish is actual fried rice. Update: they no longer provide the not-fried rice. Only real fried rice main dish. They have a great ginger ale that's not artificial. If it weren't so hot in Jerusalem i wouldve liked a tea, just like in any Chinese meal. I wish they had more authentic Chinese desserts but I was full by then anyway. Overall, I'm glad to have paid multiple visits, lunch was a good time to go. I wouldn’t judge it by real Chinese standards, but it’s 5 stars considering what's...

In Jerusalem to reacquaint myself with family I haven't seen in 38 years and all their new family members that I've never met, I suggested that we all meet for dinner my treat for the great hospitality that they showed me during my stay.

Our party consisted of 16 adults and 2 children. My first cousin told me that there were lots of dietary exceptions so that he and I should arrive a little earlier to let the manager know.

From an expense purpose, I asked the manager if they had a catering menu for such a large group which might provide for some discount but was told that they did not.

He took notes as to all the dietary restrictions such as gluten-free or vegetarian and suggested that he would order for us enough that everybody had a taste of a few appetizers and enough entrees to feed everybody.

I should have taken notes as to everything he brought, but there was just too much food. He didn't disappoint. There was more than ample variety and everybody's dietary restriction was met. This is a kosher restaurant so that was not an issue.

The service was exceptional and the food delivered hot.

My only suggestion, is that if you like doughy dumplings, then order them. Otherwise find a different appetizer.

Based upon my credit card exchange rate, dinner came to $503 for 16 people and two children with appetizers and entrees. In that total included two Diet Cokes for me and everybody else drank water. Gratuity was additional.

Worth every penny. High quality ingredients, hot food, excellent service are always worth paying for. It was so good, I would definitely go back on my next trip...