Douglas Williams/Shanghai Daily news

Eest’s Singaporean chef, Ng Pang Koon, who has been in his post for just over a month, brings to the kitchen a wealth of experience that he has gained through cooking across East Asia.

Sauteed prawns with orange sauce

Eest, the Crystal Garden, is one of the restaurants within the five-star Westin Shanghai hotel on Henan Road by Yan'an Road E. and is actually three restaurants rolled into one - Chinese, Japanese and Thai.
Eest occupies part of the fifth floor above the heavenly Heavenlies cocktail lounge. It's a large restaurant and only narrowly avoids the feel of a hotel restaurant though, this being the Westin, it's no average hotel and, as will become apparent, Eest is no average restaurant.
Being on the fifth floor the view is slightly less spectacular than some of Eest's competitors. The ubiquitous neon flashes from on high, tower cranes perform their ethereal ballet, showers of weld sparks rain down through some scaffolded project and all the while traffic on the elevated highway courses by - all strangely hypnotic.
The chef, Ng Pang Koon, has been in his post for just over a month. Singaporean, he brings to the kitchen a wealth of experience having cooked across East Asia. His exciting new creations are gradually being introduced to the existing menu but the Shanghai Daily had the marvelous good fortune of being able to sample a select menu made up exclusively of these new and coming additions.
This relatively simple menu made up of eight starkly contrasting dishes has to be hailed by this humble hack as quite the most gastronomically satisfying experience I've had in some time. A white-knuckle roller-coaster ride for the taste buds would be slightly overdoing it but there was stimulation aplenty in this essentially Chinese menu with Japanese and Thai influences.
To begin, there was a small round of goose liver upon some lightly roasted duck along with crunchy jellyfish and all topped with shredded dried fish. Robust, though texturally alluring, it set the senses alight and eager for more.
The shark soup fin was a deep and unapologetic bloody red. Chunks of one of those creatures from the deep appear and disappear as the spoon ploughs through the thick soup, the theme from "Jaws" flitting through one's mind. Clear vermicelli noodles and straw noodles provide cover and brief distraction but the shark's there to be eaten and boy, is it good. Senses and taste buds now fully aflame and quietly confident that full satiation is an odds on certainty.
At this point it's worth pointing out the fake plastic trees and how they remind me of the song of the same name by that UK miserablist rock band, Radiohead.
These dishes and those to come are designed by the chef to be eaten more in the Western manner with each diner having their own dish as opposed to the more traditional Chinese style with all the diners sharing all the dishes.
So to the mains and the mysterious abalone which I, somewhat shamefacedly, have to admit to never having sampled before. I'd seen it on a menu on an ad in my apartment lift and marveled at its unappetizing appearance and its stratospheric price in equal measure.
A mollusc that requires in the vicinity of 10 hours cooking I'm happy to report that I am now a confirmed fan. Somewhere between over-fried field mushroom and baked scallop but richer than both and altogether heavier than the preceding shark.
These dishes are all about balance, the abalone's density being countered by the next double-barreled course involving chunky prawns in an orange tempura and silver cod with shredded pastry. The citrus of the orange perfectly complementing the prawns, the cod simplicity itself and all the better for it.
Replete and wondering if there would be much more but figuring there was probably room for a little bit the nest of Japanese noodles in a pumpkin soup rounded off the savory courses with aplomb. All vestiges of hunger banished and only gluttony left.
The dessert consisted of an avocado-based creme brulee - yes, avocado - and deep-fried ice cream, the idea of which appealed to my Glaswegian dining partner. The avocado was a resounding and luxuriant success, the ice cream less so.
This menu is available upon phoned request. Meanwhile the existing menu offers Thai, Japanese and Chinese dishes as well as a sushi bar, a Chinese roast bar and a cocktail bar.
On Saturdays, three cooking stations are set up in the restaurant so diners can watch their dishes being prepared. There is also a Tepanyaki bar, all in a fairly unpretentious setting and with an atmosphere refreshingly bereft of the all-too-common stuffiness found in other top-class dining spots.
With care, a good meal could be had for between 200 and 300 yuan though the large abalone, would probably be out of bounds.

Address: 5/F, 88 Henan Rd
Tel: 6335-1787