Suckling pig with red wine cooked apples, Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui, Shanghai

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Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui, Shanghai, lunch

ByQin Xie 31/10/201418/03/2016

Menu from an a la carte lunch at Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui in Shanghai, China:

[Assorted breads with new season olive oil]

Pan fried foie gras with fig sauce and passion fruit

Suckling pig with red wine cooked apples and PX jus

Santiago tart with lemon sorbet and mango sauce

Exteriors, Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui, Shanghai

Pan fried foie gras with fig sauce and passion fruit, Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui, Shanghai

Santiago tart with lemon sorbet and mango sauce, Restaurant Martin by Martin Berasatgui, Shanghai

I visited Restaurant Martin at lunch because I read they have a cheaper lunch menu, though this didn’t turn out to be the case and in fact was quite expensive for Shanghai.

I’m glad I went though because the food was really good. The foie gras with passion fruit and fig for example, worked really well in terms of the balance of the fattiness and the acidity.

What it fell down on was the dessert. The Santiago tart was a little overcooked and the sorbet should have been a rocher. I think it was an issue of training though and getting well-trained chefs in China for western cuisine can be very difficult.

Qin Xie

Qin Xie is a London based food, wine and travel journalist and trained chef.

When not infiltrating Michelin restaurants as a kitchen tourist, she writes about food, drink and travel. Her work has appeared on Yahoo, FT, The Times and CNN.

Her first cookbook, co-authored with YS Peng at Hunan Restaurant, is out March 2014.

According to friends, her watch is always set to UTC -- ready for the next big adventure. In reality, she is happiest at the dinner table or by the sea.