South Beauty Restaurant Review, Shanghai

Reviewer: Foodnut.com South Beauty 10/F Super Brand Mall, No.168 Lujiazui Xilu Pudong New District, Shanghai, China 021-5047-1817/1917 South Beauty Website

South Beauty is a very beautiful restaurant located in the Super Brand Mall in Shanghai’s Pudong district. The view of the Bund was awesome from this location making us worry about the quality of the food. You have to spend at least ¥200 per person to sit by the window. Dining on the outdoor deck is unparalleled. South Beauty, founded in 2000 by Zhang Lan, has over 40 high end restaurants throughout China including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Suzhou, QingDao, Shenyang. They also run Steam, LAN Club, and SUBU. We had eaten at this location about two years ago and had mixed results. South Beauty Was picked this time because the other restaurants in the Super Brand Mall had already closed. They serve a combination of Sichuan and Cantonese Chinese food in stylish environments.

Decor, Vibe – South Beauty occupies a circular space on the top floor of the mall. This restaurant has clean futuristic decor, with spotlighting, glass floors for the dining rooms by the windows, and a huge open kitchen. The restaurant was serving businessmen, families, across section of the city’s upper income residents. This restaurant has one of the most interesting bathrooms around.

Menu

South Beauty’s Menu had many beautiful pictures but was SUPER long, which made it hard to order. Many expensive items like abalone and sharks fin. We chose to emphasize small dishes and dim sum.

Signature Dishes – Spicy Sichuan dishes.

Website South Beauty Menu

South Beauty Full image set

Picks:

Indian lettuce mixed with peanut butter and sesame paste (¥18) was like a highly organized salad with a nice peanut flavored dressing. We probably should have worried about eating uncooked vegetables.

Cowpea poached and served in ginger juice (18) were served cold with a nice ginger soy sauce, making this a nice crunchy vegetable with a bit of a spice kick.

Fried sliced Beef tender with stones in hot oil (68) was cooked tableside in a weird oily concoction. There were even stones in the soup! Onions, celery, chilies, cilantro, rounded out this unusual, fun, and excellent dish.

Hong Kong style squab (38 each)was cooked well, making it crispy and full of good flavors. Better than most in the US.

Half homemade Crispy chicken (78) was a solid dish with some truly crispy skin and white meat that was juicy and flavorful. Included Sweet-and-sour sauce was very hot.

Sweet rice balls in Rice wine (6 each) dumpling soup was done very well. Not too sweet, and possessing medium-size dumplings, this soup was cooked to a lukewarm level. Strong rice wine flavor.

Pumpkin cakes (8 each) were nice and crispy with a very thin crust almost like a potato chip.

Sesame balls (3 each) were big, hot, and fresh. Thick-skinned with black very sweet sesame inside.

Steamed and Deep Fried mini bun or mantou (12) came with a sweet pineapple jelly dip. These were very good, crispy, and not very oily.

Shallot flavor pancake stuffed with braised pork (6 each) had a layer of meat between two small pancakes. Crunchy and full of sesame seeds, making this dish unusual.

OK:
Watermelon juice (¥88 per pitcher) was pretty bland, indicating how fresh and pure was.

Tea smoked duck (88) was okay. The duck was slightly moist, had crispy skin, but lacked good flavor. The buns were small and lukewarm.

Jellyfish (20) was the brownish type that is served in Asia. This dish was extremely spicy and had a little shredded chicken.

Glutinous rice rolls stuffed with red bean paste (12 per 6 pieces) was very ugly and very chewy. That covered with roast peanuts and flour, this was a weird dish.

Rib soup (32) with corn, potatoes, chicken, and celery was cooked in a homestyle flavorful meaty broth.

Asparagus stir fried with garlic (38) and topped with shredded ham were tiny perhaps because they are out of season, but still edible.

Deep fried (38) apples look beautiful and had a nice crunch but were on the starchy side and were so sticky that they were hard to eat.

Pans:
Four seasons platter Six appetizers (68) in one was more of a decorative dish than an appetizing one, with lots of traditional Chinese cold dishes.

Pan-fried pork bun with scallion and sesame (12 per six) had no juice inside and were not very tall. A fair dish that lacked crispiness and flavor.

Service – South Beauty had very good service probably because they had so many servers and helpers. We didn’t have to worry about ordering, plate changing, or refills.

Value – Prices were in line with restaurants of this quality in Shanghai. We spend about ¥530 for food that could feed seven or more adults.

Alternatives – Lots of Nearby restaurants include Shanghai Spring. (downstairs)  Fu1039, Jardin de Jade are much better restaurants.

Verdict – South Beauty surprised us with some pretty good food, but there are lots of dishes to avoid. Diners need to be very careful what they order, with a menu so large, so start with our suggestions. If you want for dinner with a spectacular view of the Bund, at a reasonable price, give this place a try. Otherwise, consider cocktails at a lounge with a view. 10% service charge.

Other Shanghai reviews: 2010 Shanghai mini Restaurant Reviews, Din Tai Fung, Fu 1039, Jia Jia Tang Bao, South Beauty, Yang’s Fry Dumplings, 6Sens Shanghai Expo.

Also at these Shanghai locations:

South Beauty Shanghai IFC
Shanghai International Financial Center F4-F5
HOTLINE:+8621 50120637/38

South Beauty STEAM 96 Plaza
Address: No. 101, 102 and 105, 1st Floor, Jiuliu Plaza, 796 Dongfang Road, Pudong New Area, Shangha
Tel.: 021-61632310

South Beauty Grand Gateway
Address: No. 167, 1st Grand Gateway, 1 Hongqiao Road, Shanghai
Tel.: 021-64076157

South Beauty Hongqiao restaurant
No.B7B8 Shanghaicheng Waiwei St, No.100 Zunyi Road, Changning District, Shanghai
Tel: 021-62372889

Shanghai Restaurant-City Square
3/F City Square, No.1168 Nanjing West Road, Jing’an district, Shanghai
Tel: 021-52925331

South Beauty Steam Restaurant
*Unit 02, No.18, Lane 181 Tai Cang Road, Lu Wan District, Shanghai
TEL:021- 5306 6678/9989

South Beauty Taojiang Road
No.28-1 Taojiang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Tel: 021-64452581/82

South Beauty Chef`s Style
Unit 02 & 05, No.2,3,5, Lane 181 Tai Cang Road, Lu Wan District, Shanghai
TEL:021-5306 2008/1608

South Beauty Shanghai Times Square
5/F, Shanghai Times Square, No .99, Huaihai Zhonglu, Shanghai
Tel: 021-63910100

South Beauty Laya Plaza
Building #2，Zone C，PLaya Plaza，No. 300，Fangdian Road，Pudong New Area，Shanghai.
TEL:021-61590298/9

The Shanghai World Financial Center-South Beauty
*307，No.100,Century Ave,Pudong New Area,Shanghai
TEL: 021-68776298/6299

South Beauty Bailian Shimao Plaza
East Wing F9, Bailian Shimao International Plaza, No.829, Nanjingdong Road, Huangpu district
Tel : 021-6352-8856/57

South Beauty Shanghai south beauty 881
No.881 Yan’an Middle Road, Jing’an District,Shanghai
Tel: 021-62471581

Restaurant Map: