Holiday dinners are designed to be decadent, and Shanghai has no shortage of restaurants around town ready to serve up gluttony at its finest. We took a bite out of Shanghai’s newest spate of posh restaurants to find out the best places to eat your way to a New Year’s resolution this holiday season.

Fulton Place

What: Inventive cuisine from the British Isles and beyond

Where: 570 Yongjia Lu, near Yueyang Lu. Tel: 3461 1775

Why: Fine dining without the pretention and price tag

It’s a horrible idea to go into a dining review with high expectations, but in the case of Fulton Place, we just couldn’t help ourselves. Shanghai’s notoriously malcontent diners have quit their bellyaching and heaped praise on the cosy British restaurant. Even Fulton Place’s website tends toward hyperbole, claiming to serve “exceptional food and superlative cocktails.” We were anticipating being wowed, but didn’t expect the cheeky gits at Fulton Place to clear the bar we set for them with ease, then snicker at our surprise while doing a little victory dance in our mouths. Well played, sirs. 

Set in the rapidly opening Surpass Court at the southern end of the French Concession, Fulton Place’s interior is Tory chic, but don’t let the décor fool you – this isn’t your stodgy grandmother’s cooking. We settled in at the warm wood bar to sample the “superlative” drinks, and damn it if the well-muddled Mint Julep and pompous Pimm’s No 1 weren’t expertly executed (and heavy-handed). A quick bar snack of Britain’s most famous culinary export, fish and chips, was a delightful re-interpretation of the classic – silky salmon tartare sprinkled with green onions and paired with thin homemade crisps perfect for scooping.

With a light buzz guiding us, we headed to our table and checked out the small, but inventive menu. Chef Marc Johnson pulls on his experience at Blue Hill, blending creativity and simplicity for plates that focus on the integrity of the ingredients. Take his charcuterie board – the entire dish is totally house-made from its ethereal chitlins to the creamy headcheese. Johnson even cures his own coppa and infuses the ramekin of butter with pork.

Unassumingly savoury was the theme of the meal as the dishes flowed out of the kitchen. With a plate of Parisian gnocchi, Chef Johnson elevated pan-fried potato pasta to a new level. His cod basks untouched in the spotlight with its dense full flavours; a smattering of piperade, housemade chorizo and zucchini submit to the fish, playing their supporting roles perfectly. The dark meat in the chicken duo dish defies boring poultry stereotypes with its hearty stuffing of greens and cured meat.

For dessert, we ate humble pie. In a city where surprises are rarely a good thing, Fulton Place delivers a bombshell with dishes that go above and beyond their price range. Fulton Place is clearly punching above its weight.

Dinner for two

Mint Julep..........................RMB 58

Pimm’s No. 1....................RMB 58

Salmon Tartare.................RMB 68

Pork Plate............................RMB 118

Parisian Gnocchi...............RMB 98

Cod......................................RMB 198

Chicken...............................RMB 158

Glass of Mont Besson Grenache......RMB 58 per glass

Total....................................RMB 872