- Rating:★★★★
- Cuisine: New American
- Price Range: Luxury
- Address: 3/F, 18 Dongping Lu, Shanghai, China Tel: (021) 6437-0136
- Website: www.madisoninshanghai.com
My past two experiences at the Madison were mediocre at best. Recently I found out that the Head Chef/Owner and I went to the same high school (his class graduation class was probably 8-9 years ahead of mine) so I decided to give my “big brother” another try.
New American is quite rare in Shanghai. Most American restaurants in Shanghai lean towards comfort food, bar food, ribs and burgers that sort of stuff. When I think of New American my standards are pretty high, I compare it to the experience I’ve had in New York with heavy weights like Aureole, Craft, Dovetail and Blue Hill. Yes, my standards are high.
Madison is far from shy; they have a huge bright orangey banner down at Dong Ping Lu. There entrance is adjacent to an almost empty teppanyaki restaurant that could close anytime and right above Azul who is way past its prime.
madison
The restaurant is situated on the third floor and by the looks of it floors 2, 4 and 5 seems deserted. Upon arrival we were greeted with a warm welcome, the waiter showed us to our tables and asked us if we wanted our coat checked. As soon as we sat down another waiter handed us the wine list and menu. Talk about efficiency.
The décor is what I expected a restaurant named “Madison” to be; bright and glamorous. The white flowers blended in quite smoothly with the white chairs and table cloth creating a sophisticated yet soothing atmosphere. With a white setting, wooden floors and a bright copper bar takes you away from shanghai and to classy midtown Manhattan for the night.
decor
table setting
table setting2
The open kitchen separated by two glass dividers, and four bright lights that shine down toward the food and ticket orders. This open kitchen setup is quite similar with The National in Lexington Street, New York.
open kitchen
Onto the food, there is a “pre-starter/snacky” cod cakes with saffron aioli that received our palates immediate attention. The ice tea was made on spot by the bartender who shaken with perfection, a nice balance between sweetness and that sour-lemon flavor.
cod cakes
ice tea
Kampachi tartare w/ shallots, cashew, radish appetizer kept our excitement rolling. The kampachi tartare had a fresh fragrant taste and the cashew gave it that crunchiness to contrast that slimy kingfish sashimi. We only hoped for a better balance of kampachi/cashew ratio, as the tartare was deeply infiltrated by the cashew and conquered the whole dish.
kampachi tartare
The Pumpkin ravioli – sweet potato, sage, brown butter was very refined and exquisite. Again it had a crunchy texture to contrast the softer pasta textured ravioli. The dish leaned towards the sweet side thanks to the sweet potato. It’s nice to see Madison’s kitchen staff being able to execute Austin Hu’s creativity and passion on a plate.
pumpkin ravioli
Snacky/Pre-starter came with our two appetizers at the same time. How is it “pre-starter” if it’s served at the same time as our appetizer? Was it a timing problem in the kitchen? When I’m paying a premium for a good meal I expect to enjoy my meal slowly and not to be rushed out of the restaurant. I was hoping to receive our appetizers 5 minutes after our snacky’s being finished which would allow some dinner-date conversation in between.
This timing issue became more and more minor when we were constantly dazzled by the food. The Chinese wagyu – potato puree, jielan, mushroom, balsamic shallot wasn’t the melt in your mouth type but had a lean juicy texture to it. Cooked perhaps 10% below medium that we ordered but nonetheless delicious. The wagyu beef had a hint of sweetness to it that we couldn’t quite comprehend where it came from, so mysteriously good. The Lamb duo – cauliflower, curry, raisins, and almonds had a reminiscent of authentic Indian flavors. It had that distinctive spice that worked towards its advantage. The garnish and seasoning was great. However, we felt that the quantity of our main was quite small. I was expecting to be 30%-50% more than what was served.
chinese wagyu
lamb duo
Normally we skip desserts, but we couldn’t get enough of the “Madison,” we didn’t want our night to end like this… So we decided to go for desserts. We’ve chosen the two more popular desserts suggested by the waiter. Panna Cotta w/ strawberries, black pepper and balsamic mint was absolutely divine. Like Gordon Ramsey says “panna cotta should wobble like a woman’s breast,” which it did, heck it even wobbled when I blew air towards it. The strawberry quality was not the best, because it was out of season. If I was a Michelin inspector and had to nitpick then I would criticize Madison for picking an out of season fruit to match the panna cotta. Pears and apples would do a much better job right now. The could’ve easily changed strawberry to an apple panna cotta perhaps infused with apple jelly or apple syrup to give it that finesse.
panna cotta
The cheesecake- orange marmalade, orange ganache, citrus sauce was rich, but not to the point where you get sick of it after a couple of bites.
cheesecake
Free Madison brownie to take home. Unfortunately, it didn’t even make it pass the restaurant exit.
brownie
Somehow I felt that the prices are lower than I remembered. Paying 400 rmb per person for a 4 course meal w/ drinks is not a bad deal for the Q/P ratio I’m getting. The overall presentation of the restaurant is definitely worth every rmb I’m taking out from my wallet.
Last Note: Madison would put up a good fight even against the “New American” heavy weights in New York. The food, service and décor matched to the restaurant concept of being a classy, glamorous and sophisticated fine dining restaurant. I saw a major improvement in the food and overall presentation of the restaurant. I went from being cynical prior to dinner service and walked out as a devoted Madison fan.
fattoro 