Cristal

What: Global fine dining

Why: The grilled scallops, duo of duck and a beautiful terrace

Where: 4F, 269 Wujiang Lu, near Taixing Lu. Tel: 6136 1388

How Much: "Might buy you Cris’, but that about it / Might light your wrist, but that about it"

Cristal (the restaurant, not the rappers' delight) sits above the Wujiang Lu ped-mall, opposite the Jia hotel. The entrance is on Taixing Lu, not far from Dairy Queen, but a quick elevator ride pulls you up out of the hubbub and leaves you in spacious, modestly elegant surrounds. An entire wall of the bar and dining room opens onto a broad terrace, a nice spot to glean some lunchtime winter sunshine. Shrubs are planted around the perimeter. There's wicker furniture, and candles at night. You get the picture.

When it comes to food, Cristal is all about the set menus. There are lunch sets for RMB 108 and 148, and four course dinner sets for RMB 298 and 398, with at least three options for each course.

The menus include fine dining's usual suspects: lobster, foie gras, veal, salmon, truffles, etc. In most respects, Cristal's food isn't especially distinctive, but it is nicely executed.

We tried the RMB 398 menu and found that some of the best dishes brought Asian influences into the restaurant's purported Mediterranean mix. Oversized shrimp ravioli sit in a fair helping of soup, almost like wontons. A duo of duck includes the crispy skinned barbecued variety as well as rather rare slices of citrus duck in the à l'orange tradition. The panacotta insinuates a delightful jasmine flavour, best sampled first without the more powerful berry compote it’s served with.

Other standout dishes include the coal-grilled scallops and the cheesy pumpkin risotto. The lobster and crab bisque cappuccino was frothy and creamy but carries with it, unsurprisingly, that slightly dirty bisque taste. A better bet for seafood lovers is the Fideo, a bouillabaisse broth with sea bass, halibut, prawns, mussels and clams, served with clipped spaghetti.

Each dessert option offers four or five sweet things to try. There are parades of apple desserts, chocolate desserts, and a mixed platter that features a drunken rum baba and a wet, minty fruit salad – like an edible mojito.

Cristal hedges its bets with its ensemble desserts, the same way it does with its classic fine dining fare, and by giving an Eastern flavour to some Western staples. Yet the individual dishes are more confident than the overall approach might suggest.