Review of Boxing Cat Brewery @ Sinan Mansions, Shanghai

May 27, 2014

Was looking for a nice place for brunch, and suddenly the name Boxing Cat Brewery came up. One of the more popular places in Sinan Mansions, they have a extensive brunch menu, alongside their usual bar food. Initial research showed some mixed feelings, but with most of them pointing out that portions were generous. How did it fare?

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We chose to sit in the alley outside on a Sunday morning. It was quiet, and the weather was cool. Service was quite good; I had initially thought that being the only table outside in the alley, we might not get any attention from the staff. However, one of the servers was standing close by after about 5 minutes, and waited patiently for us to call him over. Nice.

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Texan breakfast burrito This came as a single large burrito, with a side of potato salad topped with some rocket leaves and a small dish of fresh salsa. Potatoes were cold, stale and grainy. The burrito was quite tasty though;

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The filling was somewhat of a mystery because it looked like 1 giant mashup from the cross section, but it tasted good, and our stomachs didn’t had problems later in the afternoon. The salsa provided a fresh and tarty kick to the rich tasting filling. 8/10

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Eggs Benedict The eggs benedict here are served on southern USA style biscuits, instead of an english muffin. The eggs were perfectly poached, with set whites and runny but warm yolk. The ham was quite dry. The pulled pork was also dry and quite tasteless, but both saved by the runny yolk. The hollandaise sauce was very sour and needed more salt. The cheese grits on the side were also quite tasteless and needed more salt. I question the choice of pairing grits with the eggs benedict, because the plain starch component should have been paired with a heavy or rich tasting main, instead of the eggs benedict, which you can eat on its own because it already had its carb component, which is the bread/biscuits. 6/10

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Chilli cheese fries I ordered this because I had a craving for an authentic chilli cheese fries, and I thought BCB might have been able to deliver. Alas, I was wrong. The fries were freshly fried. The fault was again in the seasoning of the sauce. The chilli itself packed a bit of heat, and had the correct tex-mex spices. It just needed more salt to lift it up; It tasted very bland. The sour cream looked watery, and did not tasted like sour cream at all. I suspect it was more like a mayonnaise mixture. Portions were huge though, if I was here for beers and fun, I probably wouldn’t mind having a plate of this on the table. 6/10

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The latte I had was pitiful and I was not even given sugar to go with it (No, I shouldn’t have had to ask). The missus opted for orange juice which was came from a bottle.

Conclusion?

Food needs a recheck on seasoning. The food we had was under-seasoned across the table. It all tasted very uninspired, like the chef was not a fan of all that food, but merely forced to work the line.

Would I be back? I don’t think so, for the price point and quality. I would rather wait in line at Hungry Lungs Kitchen.

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