It seems that all the slightly better Western restaurants in Changchun have been monopolized by the Shijian Group (although there are only two of them)…
With no competition, how good can the quality really be? Look at the coffee shop industry now; the competition is quite fierce,
and Changchun’s coffee market is not much worse than other cities~~~~~~
Under the Shijian brand, there is the affordable Shijian Steak and this high-end Lingshi Steakhouse..
These two restaurants have occupied the top 3 spots for Western cuisine in Changchun and Shenyang on Dianping for years…
This place is probably the most upscale Western restaurant in Changchun….
After all, with an average price of over 300 yuan per person, many people wouldn’t even consider it…
Fortunately, with group-buy deals, the price becomes very affordable. The restaurant environment is somewhat grand,
but the design was likely done by a local designer… very unoriginal and rough…
The service is pretty good~~~~ basically satisfactory…..
The lunch set is 128 yuan per person, featuring three courses, plus a self-service salad bar with bread, desserts, and fruit~~
It covers everything except drinks, but the downside is that items are only served once and not replenished..
For the appetizer, frozen foie gras—hmm, it was terrible…
Frozen Foie Gras
Snails… surprisingly served in the shell. It wasn’t easy to get them out, but they tasted good~~~
Snails
We both ordered cream soup for our soup course; I don’t like thick soups.. The flavor was too bland…
Seafood Soup
The main course steak was just mediocre~~~
Why are restaurants nowadays ignoring specific cuts to cut costs?
They’re using beef meant for stir-fries or BBQ, like chuck short ribs and cucumber strips, to make steaks..
Although it’s Australian beef and the meat quality is slightly better, certain cuts just aren’t suitable for steak..
Steak
The fish fillet was bland and tasteless, very average…
Fish Fillet
Unexpectedly, the self-service desserts were quite good…
Also, the cucumber water… tasted awful…
Cucumber Water
To sum up, aside from the desserts, the food had no highlights. The environment is acceptable, and the service is good.
The group-buy price is reasonable, but paying full price would be insane…..
This restaurant feels like something cobbled together after executives visited big cities and tried to replicate what they saw…
It’s sufficient enough to satisfy locals who rarely eat Western food~~~~
By the way, here are two more places I wouldn’t recommend…
Caffe Bane—I guess you’re supposed to order coffee there, because their smoothies are really bad…
The fruit wasn’t fresh; only the scoop of ice cream on top was passable… the rest was inedible..
And they actually charge 57 yuan for it… absolutely crazy…
Tianxiaoxiao… As a long-established Northeastern cuisine restaurant,
it is clearly on the decline in terms of decor, service, popularity, and dishes….
Moreover, it’s genuinely hard for two people to order; we just got two recommended dishes and a plate of steamed dumplings….
We barely touched the dumplings….
The Guo Bao Rou (sweet and sour pork) tasted okay, but it was too hard….
Guo Bao Rou
Steamed scallops with garlic: again, the taste was acceptable, but the scallops were too small…
Scallops
The Guo Bao Rou at Laoma Restaurant was also a letdown. Is it really that hard to find a good version of this dish in Changchun?…
Photos in this post taken with SONY NEX-5R + 16-50 f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.
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