I had decided to take my roommate out to dinner for her birthday, and as a special request she choose french as her choice for the evening. So the day before, I spent several hours looking at almost every reputable french restaurant in town. It may simply be French food snobbery or something, but almost every restaurant I looked at had a noticeable amount of BAD REVIEWS, including this one. Knowing full well, that people tend to be more picky with french food than with other culinary styles, I decided to start weeding restaurants out by weighing both what good and bad was said about it. (Actually, the only french restaurant that I recall only have good reviews was Le Bouchon. I however, wanted something a little more than casual dining to give to my friend). I checked out Sens&Bund, Jean Georges, XSensation, Cafe Montmarte, T8 (which isn't exactly french, but more european continental fusion), HFZ, Des Lys, Club Shanghai, Saleya, Hugo, and Allure. Jean Georges and Sens&Bund were eliminated immediately after reading specific foul ups on certain food preps... of which I was NOT willing to spend that amount of money on a potentially overcooked fish, as I have also heard from friends who've gone. XSensation seemed like a likely candidate, but it is in Pudong, and Im not sure my roomie wanted to head out there. I narrowed it down to Club Shanghai and Hamilton House. Couldn't find a menu for Club Shanghai, so I went with Hamilton House. Our reservation was made for 9:40 p.m. We were informed that the kitchen would stop taking orders at 10p.m. (we said that was fine) and that they only took cash (which i understood from certain reviews). Unfortunately our taxi driver misunderstood my directions (which is thoroughly understandable, considering my putonghua is rubbish at this point :-) and so we got there late. Needless to say, the Hostess recognized my reservation name, greeted us very warmly and expressed and actual gratitude at our eventual arrival, despite our lateness. The restaurant layout is unique but not striking. However the decor was a subdued modern chic, very clean and thus comfortable. Overall, however, I would say the environment was impressive, and added positively to the experience. The service was efficient, attentive, and well balanced. However, our coats were not offered to be taken (but in the whole scheme of things, I am not bothered much by this, and may simply have been a slight oversight). Our waiter was knowledgeable and accommodating. This restaurant may be in the upper echelon where customer's do not customarily ask to take food home, however being someone who detests the idea of food being thrown away, I asked for my leftovers to be prepared to be taken home. I was informed that they didn't have any bags or boxes, etc. but the waiter said he would see what he could do. A few moments later, my food came back to me wrapped in tin foil, shaped like a handbag. I thought this was exceedingly considerate, and somewhat humorous. The food. First off, I'll say something about the menu. It is simple, to the point, and offers a decent variety. I'm not entirely sure which region of france this faire comes from, because it did not seem Parisienne, and there were no Mediterranean flavors. So I would assume the selection comes either from the central loire valley or the northern Breton provinces. Another reviewer ranted and raved about "new creations" and such, I however would be so quick to brand this food as inauthentic. It seemed genuine, the ingredients were familiar to me (in my family is a french and basque restaurant back in the states). Sorry, now on to the food... For entrees, I had the Poached Egg and my roommate the Bleu Cheese Gnocchi. The poached egg was very unique, but delicious. I am not a fan of fatty meats, but it was undoubtedly those select portions of the ham that contributed to the overall flavor of the entree. The shallots were deliciously caramelized, and the red wine butter made the whole quite nice. I ate everything except for a few pieces of fat from the pork stomach. My roommates Gnocchi was very delicate, with subtle flavors (even in the bleu cheese). Some may call it bland, but I recognized it to be a more subtle dish and appreciated it. Main course, I had the veal cutlets and she the Turbot. I personally, have not had much experience with this fish, however I can say that the preparation was done competently as it tasted .... good. I'm sorry to say, that I can't describe it better, but I've never had this fish before (and Im a seafood buff). I can say positively however that it was cooked properly, had ample flavor, and was complimented by the sauce. The veal was perfectly tendre, and wonderfully savory. The kidney and potatoe boulangere was very flavorful and a good compliment to the meat. Desert. At this point, both she and I have way too much food inside of us to stomach individual deserts, so we decided to split the bitter dark chocolate (flourless cake?) with whiskey ice cream. I would have rather tried the brandied pear tarte (or whatever, i can't exactly remember the name), but it was of course lady's discretion. HOWEVER, the bitter chocolate (thing) turned out much nicer when you pair it with the ORANGE Muscat. They made a perfect combination. Presentation of food was above average at this place and probably won't be beaten by most restaurants of this calibre (with the exception of the more nouvelle sophisticated Sens and JG). Overall: I would say this is an outstanding establishment, ESPECIALLY considering it has only be open for a mere two months. The service was appropriate, the food was quite palatable (enjoyable even), the portions are perfect (not scant like nouvelle cuisine), the prices allow this place to be frequented...frequently..., ambiance semi-professional/impress a date, and accommodations made were noteworthy. The owner was present welcoming and personally tending to guests, which was respectable. I would recommend this restaurant, and will be returning.

Lastly, if the owner read this. Adding a "Coq au vin" to the menu would be fantastic.

We went last night to Hamilton House,having read great reviews in some magazines. I have to say, why the great reviews? We all ordered different things so three of us and all friendly enough to try each other's food ( not a business meeting!) No issue with the prices, no issue with the cash and no fa piao as they rang us to ensure we understood this before we arrived. Issue is with the food. The goats cheese gnocchi, the goats cheese insufficiently well blended resulting in totally bland mouthfuls then sudden goats cheese hits. The fish soup, ok but too many small fish bones making it difficult to enjoy. The turbot was fine but a bit under cooked. The beef was interesting, as if it had been both casseroled and grilled? The The seabass just tasteless along with its green and cream colored whatever it was, by tase I have no idea. What I really want to know, who reviews these places? Do they have special review nights when only reviewers are invited and they go all out to impress? Surely there shouldn't be such a difference between food on different nights. Had I just been at a restaurant where I'd walked off the street and decided to try fine but come on, we are talking a place that is having great reviews and is getting talked up. Some one needs to sort out the quality and consistancy.

Dear all, I decided to delete my former (not very positive) review as most other reviews seem to be quite positive ... perhaps we just picked the wrong evening to go there (acceptable, as it is a very new place) - so they get another chance: we will soon try again and write a new comment.

Dear Mike, I apologise for any inconvenience caused to you through Hamilton House not being in a position to accept Credit cards to this point. Every newly opened restaurant in China experiences the same situation that we find ourself in at the moment. We have identified this as an operational issue and have endeavoured to put processes in place to communicate to our guests the situation. As the owner I am personally on the floor for every service and am very aware of this. When Fa piao's are requested we take the guests details and are now in the process of mailing them out. Please contact me directly at the restaurant if you are in need of fa paio from your visit. Again Mike, As the owners both QianQian and I take your views very seriously and would like the opportunity to rectify the situation with you immediately. Please call me on 15921660357. Regards, Richard Xavia

... as I was told to make a fool out of myself I have to reply to belows comments: - preparing food is a cooks job, so he should learn the basics and apply them well - then he can make the next step. - inventing NEW food or ways to combine food is very difficult and a totally different job. So if I go to a french restaurant I expect french style preparation - and I know what that is because I lived in France and enjoyed a lot the cuisine there. We all, not only me, experience that for whatever reason cooks in Shanghai always try to mix all kinds of tastes, textures together ... without having a better result - so just stop it and cook the right way. That's all. My dish was accompanied by mashed potatoe-selleri (I think it was selleri) ... very good idea. Only: it was liquid like water or a soup. So I had fish (nice taste) with "potato-water-soup-something" on my plate. Taste ok, but waterly texture just horrible and can not be eaten with knife and fork....and this is only one example ... any other questions ???? Restaurants want to get the expats money and attracted people by calling themselves "french ..." or whatever - so I have the damned right to get french for my money - right? If they advertise for "fusion etc." I am happy because I will not go and will not write a comment here. All my friends are wondering where the totally strange reviews in certain magazines in Shanghai come from. Most of the nice decorated places seem to be just pushed up.

The restaurant is cool enough, the staff is good, the food is so-so.... but forget about getting any Fapio after you have spent your money there! I was told the same crap from the restaurant manager as many others; "give us your business card and we send you the fapio". I did so, and ended up with nothing else than endless amount of spam-emails from the restaurant. I even called and asked where my Fapio was, and was told it was on its way...4 weeks ago...and i live 3km away from Hamilton House.... Hamilton House saves 6% in tax by not giving you a Fapio, but many of us who goes (or went) to Hamilton House could have saved 45% tax on the deductibles. It is sad to see a restaurant with such a potential have hired a cheap restaurant manager who litterally steals from his customers!! Stay away!!

All right razenstein,i think i got your point, first a celery mash potatoes is not really creative,and is actually very common (in france),now if the execution is bad it'a different issue. My point is please do not send the wrong message about a venue, there is nothing pretentious in serving a celery mash potatoes,it was obviously wrongly done at that time,but it doesn't mean that the chef is trying too hard!!again i maintain what i said hamilton house is very classical french (which again is very debatable, reason being that true french cuisine doesn't exist,and has never really existed,just going through the french history, you will realized,that our cuisine has always been influenced,the only authentics cuisine in the world,are the chinese and the japanese.)

After some bad experience long time ago we went again to give it another chance. Atmosphere nice, but it is a loud place! service ok even if they did not care about bread - have to ask for each time. Now food is as before: 50% of the dishes are nice, 50% just not acceptable. veloute - nice, lamb - nice, gnocci - worst or lets say most unimpressive I ever had in town, nougat as dessert is already on the way to become a soup when served and taste is like pure liquid cream plus sugar. Drinks again, half of them not cold enough. After all: 400Y/p is too much for such kind of bad performance. They had their chance twice! - much better places are availible in Shanghai.

I really beleive that the food scene in china really suffer of the extreme poor knowldge of the expat patrons.It's really a pain to read comments such as the last one about hamilton house.Qualifiying HH cuisine as experimental is completly out of order!HH is very conventional,and classical!M on the bund experimental as well?? this really reflect a complete ignorance of food clinary arts!! i am actually really questioning the interest of this "users review".Most of the time comments are negatives,and gives the feelings of a personal revenge over a frustrating incident that might have happedned somewhere.It doesn't help the buisness.Some people says that jade on 36 is overpriced!!come on,what do they expect to pay for such experience and setting???overpriced compared to what? is it expensive because you did not like the style?is it affordable beaucause you liked it? expensiveness should not be related to taste! you might not like a food style,but it doesn't imply that it's overpriced or bad!i don't like paulaner but the pricing is perfect and the concept is great! same with family li (to pick a better exemple).PLease remain objective or refrain from making a fool out of yourself.

Mike, I believe Richard is right on this one, I have been to many new restaurants in Shanghai and the situation is similar: no credit cards accepted and no fa piao for some time...we can either stop going to new restaurants or figure out with local authorities what to do! I was at Hamilton with my gf a couple of weeks ago and I really enjoyed my time at the bar with the funky drinks (try gambatte for a change) and the friendly barman, which was followed by a great dinner in the dining hall. The place is simply gorgeous and you seem for a moment suspended between Shanghai and Tribeca. We had the chicken and the duck: it was so good that we actually finished our plates to the last drop even with the huge portions they offer. The music is great and location is unbeatable, so I will definitely come back to see how the new boy in town takes its groove.

I returned to HH recently after a first unconvincing experience and I must admit I am still not impressed. While the place is beautiful, the food is only average (given the high price) and the service is unacceptable (rude, arrogant and not proactive). I tried a weird cocktail to start off and it was warm and had too many fruit pieces (dragon fruit) to drink with a straw. I then took a poached egg which was good but quite filling for a starter. The piece of steak I had after was nice but not worth RMB 230. The mashed potatoes were the most spectacular bit of the meal. My friends had the fish which was undercooked and had way too many bones. When the bill came, we got charged for a bottle of wine we had not taken (good thing I checked). At the end of the day, I think there are many better ways to spend RMB 500 per person in Shanghai.

this place could be great, but management is so damn cold. apparently they feel the need to have that frenchy aire about them and not give a crap about customer service. in addition, my party was never informed that this was a CASH only restuarant. PLUS they do NOT give fapiao. quite embarrassing when you are taking clients out for a business meeting, and have to run out and get cash, and then not even be able to write it off. when i complained, they gave me that 'so, what do you want from me' attitude. will never go back.

Hugely disappointing meal at HH on Friday night. The venue itself is superb, the atmosphere was as it should be in any major city on a Friday night (still seating people at 9.30pm), and even the service, much maligned here on SmSh, was good. However, the food was nothing short of awful. One above average starter (goat cheese) and one nondescript (blue cheese souffle) were followed by some pretty terrible mains. I had the “duck two ways”, which translated to “terrible” and “even worse”. The prices at HH are reasonable, but it certainly needs to align its food with the other more positive aspects.

Hamilton House has definitely became one of my favorite restaurant in town. I was getting so sick of places serving tiny portions, too adventures dishes, bad service but HH really bought everything which I felt have been missing back. They are serving traditional French food. My favorite dishes are the Duck2Ways, Scotch Steak and the Tart Tatin, oh and the Mashed Potato is a MUST try!! Truly amazing!! Their food are like home cooking your grandma used to make for you when were little, definitely brought back good memories. Highly recommended.