Changes are unavoidable and can be difficult to accept, especially when you are from the older generation who prefers the same old comfort. For some, even a small change in life is likely bad news.
Transitions, however, also bring new light and pleasure, and that's the case for diners who visit Shang Palace restaurant.
Shangri-La Bangkok's Shang Palace has been a top-class institution of Chinese cuisine since opening in 1986.
For almost four decades, the restaurant has accumulated loyal customers -- from statesmen and corporate executives to local families. Some may have started visiting as youngsters accompanied by parents, but have now become regulars coming with their own children, friends and business affiliates.
It is in this elegantly decked out Chinese-styled banquet hall where they place trust in classic 5-star Cantonese fare prepared with prime-grade seafood and superior Chinese delicacies including abalone, sea cucumber, bird's nest and goose feet.
Welcoming guests back with a fresh move after Covid, the long-loved restaurant recently appointed a new cooking master, executive Chinese chef Tan Kwang Aik.
The 39-year-old Malaysian Cantonese chef Tan has created a modernised menu for Shang Palace by introducing a new presentation style and worldly ingredients, while attentively retaining the restaurant's long-established gourmet quality and signature recipes using his wealth of culinary know-how from a 20-year career in high-end luxury hotel restaurants throughout Asia.
Fried oatmeal prawn with salted egg yolk, curry leaves and bird's eye chillies.
His dexterity was proven last week during a casual lunch visit.
At noon on Thursday, the 250-seater that spreads across the main dining hall and four private rooms seemed to be regaining business from locals and tourists who filled more than half of the restaurant's occupancy.
The reception and service, by familiar-faced restaurant staff, was as brisk and enjoyable as it had ever been.
The menu now features more than 100 dishes, plus a selection of seven-course set meals, with vegetarian and vegan options also available.
From the illustrated a la carte menu, other than the all-time popular Peking duck, Hong Kong-style BBQ meat, crab sticky rice and dim sum quintessential, there's a list of new recommended dishes that look irresistible.
A Sichuan-styled grouper soup (1,888 baht), one of the new dishes, kicked off our meal.
Served in a large casserole clay pot were neat supple fillets of whole fresh fish slow-cooked with pickled mustard greens and young chilli peppers in fish bone chicken stock.
The hot and sour Sichuan-style grouper casserole.
The piping hot soup, exhibiting a milky, collagen-rich consistency with a slightly sour and fiery taste, offered a pleasurable debut to chef Tan's cookery despite the steamy weather outside.
Next up, oatmeal prawn (728 baht), a popular Singaporean dish, provided a delicious, contrasting balance.
Sizeable fresh tiger prawns were deep-fried and wok-tossed with oatmeal, butter, salted egg yolk and curry leaves until forming a fluffily crumbly, savoury sweet creation.
The glossy golden oatmeal crumbs, which retained crispness for a long time, gave the springy prawn a super aromatic and addictive complement.
Just like many modern-day chefs eager to know their clients, chef Tan came out of the kitchen to greet guests.
When he came to our table, I boldly told him that I had initially thought the scallop truffle (1,888 baht), another dish from the chef's recommendation list, was just a showoff of trendy ingredients.
The dish is a camera-ready exhibition of Canadian scallops sauteed with asparagus, morel, portobello, caramelised walnuts and a generous topping of freshly shaved Italian truffles. Yet, thanks to the firm and sweet, perfectly-seared quality of the scallops enhanced by the aromatic mushrooms, I found the dish truly heavenly.
My prejudice was also cast on his jasmine tea smoked free-ranged chicken (688 baht).
Bird's nest with soybean pudding goldfish in chilled red date soup.
"Who would order a roasted chicken in a fine Chinese restaurant?" I thought. But after the first bite of the aromatic, tender and flavoursome chicken, I put this poultry dish on my list for the next visit.
Dishes prepared with live Phuket lobster (528 baht per 100g) are also a highlight here.
Choice of preparation includes poaching in classic soy sauce, stir-frying with garlic and shallot, baking with superior stock and wok-frying with black pepper Singapore style.
But should you wish to enjoy chef Tan's signature recipe, have the lobster wok-fried with buttermilk and egg floss. I guarantee you'll be pleased.
The dessert menu is small but sufficient, listing the likes of mango pudding, double-boiled gingko nuts and pan-fried red bean pancake.
A chilled bowl of bird's nest with soybean pudding goldfish in red date soup (428 baht) promises a lovely spectacle that comes with tastebud gratification.
Shang Palace is located at Shangri-La Bangkok Hotel. It opens daily for lunch and dinner.
