Shang

Foie gras and chicken-liver pâté­ with scallion pancakes and black-currant jam

Photograph: Jeff Gurwin

Though New York is home to one of the most diverse collections of restaurants on the planet, one thing has always been missing—a destination for haute Chinese cuisine (like London’s Hakkasan or Las Vegas’ Wing Lei).

When Canadian chef Susur Lee launched Shang late last year, many of us hoped that that restaurant was finally here. But it turns out that the Hong Kong–born, Toronto-based chef does not cook Chinese food at all. Instead, he practices an extreme brand of fusion featuring a muddle of globe-trotting flavors, covering vast territory, from Jamaica and Thailand to Italy and Japan. It’s all meant as an expression of the Chinese diaspora, according to press materials, but any restaurant requiring a press release to be understood is probably in trouble.

The dining room, on the second floor of the new Thompson LES Hotel, is just as confounding as the food served inside. It’s neither a dazzling behemoth like Stephen Starr’s Buddakan, nor a diminutive food-focused shrine like David Chang’s Momofuku Ko. Despite sultry lighting from oversize lanterns, the place has all the charm of a conference room, with black leather banquettes and big circular tables crammed with the last remaining expense-account suits in New York.

Though descriptions on the sprawling menu (featuring 35 dishes in five different categories, all intended for sharing) are plenty evocative, listing many exotic (and presumably wonderful) ingredients—Swatow chili? pennyworth relish? desert moss? celery sprouts?—even armed with a glossary, little on the plate would make very much sense.

The chef’s riff on shrimp Fra Diavolo, subbing in salty XO sauce and an incendiary “Indian tomato jam” for chili-flecked marinara, is the sort of dish I’d imagine discovering at a Chinese-run trattoria in Shanghai that improvises with local ingredients (the shrimp are so fiery, they send your taste buds reeling—you’ll need a whole bowl of rice to recover). The mustard-miso sauce accompanying Lee’s version of black cod with miso is alarmingly reminiscent of the honey-mustard sauce served with Chicken McNuggets. And his $17 boneless jerk chicken—paired with puddles of Scotch bonnet sauce and sweet mango coulis—while succulent and assertively spiced—isn’t refined or interesting enough to outshine the $5 versions sold in Flatbush.

The chef fares far better when he dials the fusion way down. A foie gras and chicken-liver pâté­—paired with scallion pancakes and black-currant jam—makes for a simple luxurious start. But the best stuff I tried—smoked squab with seared foie gras rolled up in delicate lotus-flour crêpes, crispy lobster nuggets with a salted duck egg in cool lettuce wraps—all sounded at least vaguely Chinese. Even among his more straightforward fare, there were missteps. A huge mound of braised pork belly carved to resemble a pyramid was a mushy, gelatinous mess, served with applesauce and a side of steamed buns. Without anything tart or crisp as a foil, dreary falling-apart meat results in an awfully flaccid make-your-own sandwich.

Desserts, meanwhile, are as stateless as a Cold War defector. Banana cake is run-of-the-mill despite being surrounded by overkill extras (butterscotch sauce, macadamia brittle, jackfruit, pineapple and a chocolate pavé), while the more interesting coconut custard also suffers from too many elements (with watery caramel beneath and black rice pudding and a ladyfinger sandwich on top).

Lee is clearly a bit of a mad genius forging his own distinct path. His creations at Shang are certainly thought-provoking. If only they were equally exciting to eat.

Cheat sheet

Drink this: Sauvignon Republic’s three midpriced sauvignon blancs—from California, South Africa and New Zealand ($45)—are all a good match for Shang’s often fiery food.

Eat this: Foie gras and chicken-liver pâté, smoked squab and foie gras in lotus-flour crêpes, crispy lobster and salted duck egg lettuce wraps

Sit here: Instead of the dull dining room, pull up a stool at the long, sexy bar overlooking the hotel lobby, where a “Starving Artists” three-course prix fixe ($35) is available nightly.

Conversation piece: Susur Lee, among the most acclaimed chefs in Canada, runs two restaurants in his hometown Toronto. His improvisational style made him a good match for Bobby Flay on Iron Chef back in 2006 (they tied).

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