Saturday, June 5, 2010

Ningbo Cuisine @ Feast Modern Restaurant, Ningbo

On our recent visit to Ningbo Robbie took us out for dinner at Feast Modern Restaurant. Located in a 200 year old Qing Dynasty Merchant House, Feast is the best decorated Restaurant I've been to in Ningbo. The restaurant housed a cobbled courtyard that leads into a beautiful dining room that reminded us of an 18th Century European House. We were fooled into thinking that this was an expensive French Restaurant until we saw the menu. Flipping through the pictures the food was Chinese with an emphasis on Ningbo Cuisine.

Feast Modern Restaurant
Restaurant Courtyard
Restaurant Interior


Our meal began with a variety of cold dishes beginning with Pickled Radish, which I quite enjoyed. It was crunchy in texture and had a nice sweet and sour taste.

Pickled Radish


Robbie also ordered a plate of Raw Cucumbers that were simply eaten as it is or dipped into a hoi-sin based sauce.

Fresh Ningbo Cucumbers


Oddly enough Salmon Sashimi which isn't Chinese at all was also on the menu. The salmon was surprising fresh and the slices were generous.

Salmon Sashimi


Our last cold dish was Drunken Shrimps. This wasn’t the usual drunken shrimps I’ve eaten. Here they were served alive. The shrimps were still jumping in and out of the bowl as they slowly became drunk from the alcohol mixture that contained sugar, vinegar, garlic and chili.

Drunken Shrimps


Hot Dishes soon followed with a Local Crab steamed with Soy Sauce and Onion Oil. Despite its small size the crab was really sweet and went well with the pungent and aromatic onion oil.

Steam Crab with Soy and Onion Oil


Steamed Cured Local River Fish in Rice Wine was a first for me. Because of the curing process the fish was a little salty and had a dryer texture than steaming fresh fish. What I liked however was the rice wine. It had a hint of alcohol and was very fragrant tasting similar to white wine. The wine help cut the saltiness of the fish.

Steam Fish with Rice Wine


Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts with Eel was quite good. The Bean Sprouts were crunchy and the overall dish wasn't too salty.

Stir-Fry Eel with Bean Sprouts


I'm not a fan of Cauliflower but Robbie's order of Stir-Fry Cauliflower was really good. The Cauliflower was tossed in a Soy Sauce Dressing that was quite good!

Stir-Fry Cauliflower


We were already stuffed but Robbie ordered another dish of simply Steamed Peanuts, Sweet Potatoes, Taro and Corn.

Boiled Peanuts, Sweet Potato, Taro and Corn


For dessert we had some Durian Puff. Although fried, the Puff Pastry wasn't very oily and the durian flavor was a little mild.

Durian Puff


The food overall was pretty good especially the Crab and Drunken Shrimps. There were a lot more dishes that looked interesting on the menu that I would like to try if I ever come back to Feast.

Food: 3.7/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: $$$ (Under $30 USD per person)

Contact Information:
Address: Huaishu Road, Ningbo 315020, China
Tel: +86-574-87351111
Map:

View Larger Map

1 comment:

Ka Lo said...

Hi

Do you have an email?
I have an query for you, can you please email me at chukalo@gmail.com

Thanks!
Ka Lo