Bund Shanghai in Las Vegas

While Kirk is overseas and Cathy is overworked, Ed (from Yuma) has worked up a post about a place he and Tina enjoyed last June.

On our vacation, we did a lot of lazing about and some good eating. After having modern Japanese food and our splurge meal at Twist, we were in the mood for something more basic, like Chinese, so we took a chance on Bund Shanghai, which seemed like the best bet off the strip.

It occupies a sizable space on South Decatur not far from W. Spring Mountain Rd.:

The dining area with its high ceiling is spacious and attractive:

We shuffled through the large menu, and with some input from our friendly and helpful server, decided on a handful of dishes

The first dish to turn up was an old favorite, called here drunken chicken in clay pot:

The cool tender chicken soaked in strong flavored wine. Nothing subtle, but for my tastes, just right.

The pan fried pork buns, with their pale tops and tan toasted bottoms, looked amazing:

The contrasting textures were a nice touch though the skins seemed a little thick (but that may be necessary for the pan frying). The porky interior was juicy and mildly flavored:

We had no idea what vegetables to pick, so we rolled the dice and went with “asparagus fungus and fresh yam”:

Luckily, the asparagus and fungus were two separate items, but the yam was a white vegetable  (mountain yam?) definitely not like sweet potato. The ingredients looked pretty and presented a nice range of textures. The sauce/seasoning was minimal, so the dish was all about the veggies.

For seafood, we opted for Shanghai style carp fishtail braised in soy sauce:

It certainly tasted better than it looked, and that fishtail was huge. On the other hand, it was monochromatic in looks and flavor. Probably better with more folks at the table since the simplicity of the mild fish and the soy-based sauce got boring after a while.

Tina and I wanted to try just one more thing, so we asked the server what she would recommend. "Pork ribs in sweet and sour sauce." Since we asked her, I sort of felt like we had to order it – even though I haven't ordered anything like that in eons, ever since my tastes expanded beyond combination plates with fried shrimp, chop suey, and sweet-and-sour pork.

So we were surprised when these dark pork rib chunks showed up, sprinkled with a few sesame seeds:

This was not your mama’s sweet and sour. No, these were more akin to pork crack. Addictive meat candy. The exterior had serious crunch. Inside, rich sweet, tangy, savory, piggy flavors. I felt like we'd hit the jackpot – and in Vegas that's a good thing.

Comments

[Nhbilly]

Nice little shop, the last dish sounds like a definite summer.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

It was fine, billy. Not great, not as good as we could get in SGV, but we were looking for low key and something we couldn't find in Yuma.

[Cathy]

We are always searching on Spring Mountain Road (and the side roads from it) for something unique. So good you found it. Vegas is a nice place; the locals have to eat, just like us.

[Nhbilly]

I feel y'all San Antonio ain't a place for good Chinese grub.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Better than Yuma, billy. Normally I would've had Thai,Cathy, but I'd had some medical treatments that left me sensitive to hot spicy dishes. Fortuately, that has gone away, but it was one reason for doing Shanghai in LV.

[Steve]

What a coincidence! I was just in Vegas last week with my wife and we went there too.

We ordered the yam with chinese spinach, which like the asparagus dish, was the mountain yam. This was both of our favorite dish of the night. The crunch of the yam was really nice.

We also got the smoked fish appetizer, which is traditionally served cold, which I like a lot. But, they served it warm and I was puzzled by this, so I asked the manager (maybe owner?) and she explained to us that, since they can't reliably get really fresh fish for the dish, serving it cold runs the risk of making it fishy tasting, so they decided to serve it warm. It was still good, but not what I expected.

We also got the braised fish tails and liked them a lot. That's a classic Shanghainese dish and they do it well!

Finally, we ordered the pork wontons, which we probably shouldn't have. They were ok, but nothing really special.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Glad you found the place, Steve. Odd about the smoked fish. Your overall experience seems a lot like mine.

[Didi]

that last dish sounds so good.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

It was, Didi. I'd love an order right now!