The Shanghai Cafe

Introducing:

145 E 1300 S #145, Salt Lake City, UT 84115

   The Shanghai Cafe is located in a strip mall, but only a short distance away from State Street. Their genre of food includes Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. This time around we had four members of our group attend and Matt will lead the way with his review!!:

Matt

The BBQ Noodle Salad with Beef

(Transcript):
Allan: Since you finished your food first--tell us, what did you get tonight?
Matt: I got the uh, BBQ Beef Noodle Salad, which is also known as "Bun" in Vietnamese, (and upon seeing my skeptical look says:) it actually is!. And the BBQ Beef Bun, it was really good. This is my first time ever having it and I have flirted with the idea of having it before. It was super light, it wasn't heavy--that's the kind of interesting thing about it. It has a rice noodle, the BBQ Beef is really good, it has a kind of like a fish sauce that you poor over the top of it, which is almost a fish sauce/rice vinegar dressing you put over the noodles. It's very light, but also at the same time filling--it's very good! I liked it a lot, it was my first time having it and I think I'll have it again.

Allan
The BBQ Noodle Salad with Pork And the Spring Roll

Allan: I got the same thing as Matt did, except I got BBQ Pork and I have to agree with him, it was very light, the rice noodles: very good. The (looking to Matt), you said it was like a fish and vinegar-type sauce? like a rice vinegar, almost--you just pour it over the top, it helps mix everything together well and I kind of just stirred everything up. I took the sprouts out, not a huge fan of sprouts, too closely textured and taste-wise to celery--not a fan of that, usually. But yeah, it was very light, it had some interesting textures, interesting flavors--I really liked the texture of the rice noodles, it went really well. And the pork, it wasn't absent, but it wasn't non-existent either, there was just enough to complement the actual meal itself.
   (The Spring Roll): Alright, we got a Spring Roll here, it has lettuce, rice, I think some... kind of noodle in it as well... a rice noodle. It comes with shrimp and beef in it--pardon? Flank steak. And I got a portion without shrimp because I am not a fan of the sea food. But the part I did taste was delicious, I think Matt agrees. It came with a peanut sauce you can dip it in and it complemented it very well.

Kevin
The Pon Pon Chicken or Pork, Vietnamese Eggroll and Egg Drop Soup

Allan: Okay, Kevin. You wanna tell us what you got this evening?
Kevin: Um.... I got the Pon Pon Chicken, the Vietnamese Eggroll--I think is what it was--and the Egg Drop Soup. It was all very good, um I really liked the Pon Pon Chicken, I had it with sweet and sour pork, it was very good. The Egg Drop Soup, good--you can't really mess that up. The Vietnamese Eggroll was pretty good, not my favorite eggroll, but still good.

Danielle
The Beef and Broccoli with White Rice

   I got the Beef and Broccoli with white rice. I think the broccoli is very nice because it's not under, or over-cooked. I do think I have had better beef and Broccoli, but I think for the price it's pretty good overall. 

Some people complain about the service there, but they were polite, prompt and efficient in most areas. Our Appetizers came out faster than we expected--the same goes for our food as well. From the design and decoration of the place, to the over-all ambiance, the place had a very authentic feel to it. We bumped into Michael (a relative of mine) who recommended the BBQ Noodle Salad (to which Matt and I both tried out his recommendation) and he also donated his Spring Roll to us before leaving to catch a plane, which was much appreciated (The Spring Roll, not his departure). I would say with the overall experience at the Shanghai Cafe we would have to give this dinning adventure four and a half tacos (out of five):