2 Michelin starred flagship restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel, Shanghai

Yi Ling Court is the premier restaurant at The Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai which is on ‘The Bund’, the West side of the Huangpu river and represents the older part of Shanghai where most of the historic banks are located (whereas the newer buildings are all on the East side in ‘New Town’. This restaurant is also 2 Michelin starred, but regrettably, this does not mean much in terms of the quality line for Aisa in my experience so far and even less in terms of service. The Peking duck was however, expertly carved at the table and is probably the most instagramable example when presented to the table that you could think of, but overall was hard to appreciate as much as I had done in the non-Michelin starred Made in China in Beijing (see full review button). An elaborate restaurant with caring, albeit slightly service made me thankful of the $100 credit you gain when booking some hotels with American Express Platinum as they include this in the stay, meaning the price tag for here was effectively half price at £80 as opposed to £160.

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Some follow up notes to explain further are that the chilli prawns were a disappointment – the prawns were succulent but effectively ruined by the near-tomato ketchup taste of the sauce. The cod was actually very good but just very small for the price and I didn’t really like the way the remaining duck meat was chopped into small pieces as this completely took away the texture of what could have been lovely duck.

In the first portions of duck pancakes, the skin was great and the meat underneath very nicely done, but there simply wasn’t enough duck meat to compliment the skin inside the pancakes and I was surprised at this choice of presentation. Nevertheless, this was good to have at half price to see, but I wouldn’t run back to this restaurant in a hurry, let alone pay much attention to its Michelin grading of 2 stars.

What I would run back for and recommend is the rooftop bar at The Peninsula, Sir Elly’s which has the perfect view of the river and the New Town from the perfect vantage point on the Bund – well done, Peninsula, well done for securing the location for your hotel many moons ago. I have included pictures of the area from Sir Elly’s so that you can get a sense of why this is one of the most picturesque spots, probably in the world.

Food Grade: 73%