Restaurant Review: The 5 Tables Bistro

Text by Kyle Patrick Long, Photos by Janine Reichel

What: Casual, but inspired upscale dining

Where: 210 Danshui Lu, near Zizhong Lu. Tel: 3304 1205

Why: You’re tired of good food that takes itself too seriously     

It’s seems like a rare feat these days when a restaurant can deliver picture-perfect food with complex, well-balanced flavours from fresh ingredients, and your wallet totally isn’t feeling the pain afterwards. But that is the beauty of The 5 Tables Bistro.

Tucked in one of the more local streets around Xintiandi, the cosy eatery is serving up creative French-inspired food in a totally delicious, unpretentious environment. The Singaporean owner Kian is focused on making the menu a creative extension of his love for food and cooking. An IT specialist by trade, Kian develops the menu, but counts on his Shanghainese-born, French-trained chef to translate his ideas into dishes.

With only five tables to serve and a kitchen barely the size of a closet, the chef has his work cut out for him – which probably explains the slight menu. Served by the set or a la carte, there are just four mains to choose from – but one dish is rotated in weekly to keep the menu fresh and the clientele hungry for more.

During our visit, we sampled a mixed mushroom soup (RMB 48) that came with a heap of spinach and sweet shrimp floating in the earthy broth. An unconventional combination for sure, but drizzled with just a touch of cream and a sprinkle of black truffles, this soup is a hands-down winner. The lightly seared tuna carpaccio (RMB 58) – a dish that finds its way on to every menu in town – was wrapped in a unique crust of basil, mint and parsley set atop a diced tomato salad and crostini. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but the flavours were clean.

The emphasis on quality, fresh ingredients came through clearly with both the tuna and our succulent, flaky cod fillet (RMB 168). Set atop a zesty broth with fresh bites of seafood, spinach and diced veggies, the pan-seared and oven-finished piece of fish was devoured to the last bit of sauce. The Australian Angus beef tenderloin (RMB 188) was similarly well executed, balanced with a delicious red wine lemon confit sauce and paired with a small serving of potato puree and caramelized onions.

Dessert was a lovely balance of warm, rich, chocolate truffle cake with cool plain yogurt and strawberry juice ‘caviar’, a playful touch that embodies the creative and tasty experience Kian has strived for.

While ordering a la carte is a good deal here, the sets are the way to go. By adding just RMB 55 to any of the mains, you score a ‘Mini-Set Dinner’, complete with two options from the soup, starter and dessert du jour list. Or add RMB 75 to get all three for a meal that will definitely leave you sated.

For now, at just two months old, there are still some opportunities to drop in and get a table, but reservations are definitely going to be key here, as the space is just five small tables as the name implies. Even from just sampling this week’s offerings, we’re sure there is a lot to come back for.