Shanghai Restaurant Review: FED Restaurant & Sky Lounge

By Tongfei Zhang, January 31, 2017

The Place

One of the best places to enjoy Puxi’s skyline (on less hazy days) is probably the Pullman Hotel – the highest five-star hotel in the city center, now also home to flower-themed restaurant FED (Flowers, Eats and Drinks). Opened by celebrated Chinese TV host Ma Dong in partnership with local florist brand July’s Flower Shop, the aim is to create a flower gallery against the backdrop of the Pullman’s spectacular cityscape views.

The Food

From the RMB147 lunch menu, we start with a boring salad doused with heavy dressing.

FED Restaurant Salad

Besides being salty, the following onion soup with oxtail jelly, egg drop and chrysanthemum leaves no other impression. A dry slice of bread floats forlornly in the soup, topped with a tasteless blob of oxtail jelly taking shelter from the salty mass of brown liquid beneath.

FED Restaurant Soup

Grilled Australian beef with seasonal veggies and shallot sauce is slightly better. The two thick pieces of beef are tender and juicy, but sadly overpowered by heavy sauce.

Fed Restaurant beef

Crispy poached eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, pancake and truffle cream was a big disappointment. Poached to the right temperature, both eggs were tempting and runny, but for some reason strangely encased in thick layers of deep-fried batter like two giant meatballs.

Crispy benedict

This imbues the thin smoked salmon slices with an unwelcome oiliness, which also makes its way to the pancake underneath. This is the first and last time we’ll try this dish.

The à la carte dinner menu highlights choices like pan-fried scallops with sea urchin and lobster foam (RMB137), steamed cod with Brussel sprouts, clams and pumpkin puree (RMB227) and chocolate lava cake with surprise filling (RMB77).

FED Restaurant Dessert

This dessert was a surprise indeed, though perhaps renaming it to raspberry jam muffin makes more sense. An initial prod with our spoon produces no promised molten chocolate; until at last bite it transpires there was never any filling to begin with. Surprise!

Food Verdict: 1/3

The Vibe

Big floor-to-ceiling windows along one side of the spacious hall provides an unbeatable panoramic view – definitely a plus for special occasions.

In contrast with the views are the waiters, who are obviously not well-trained. One chatted leisurely with his customer (or friend?) and didn’t bother to get us water until we asked him to, while the other seemed to have no idea what we were eating and couldn’t answer any of our questions. It might be a restaurant in a five-star hotel, but our FED experience suggests otherwise.

Vibe Verdict: 1/2