Telephone: 020-7434 3838
Address: 8 Gerrard Street, London W1
Rating: 16/20

This was more like it: pressed pig's ear; braised yellow eel; cubes of belly pork in the poet's style; blanch-fried pig's kidney with coriander; slow braised whole pork knuckle; hot pot with sea cucumber, shark's fin meat and ducks' feet. It was Chinese, of course; the cooking of Shanghai, to be precise. Possibly only the Chinese would produce a menu containing so many bits of animal, fish and fowl that delicate British sensibilities tend to shy away from. Sadly and absurdly, in my view.

Take the pressed pig's ear: each slice on the Shanghai-style cold plate first course (other elements: pork terrine Yangchau style, pickled jellyfish, marinated pig's knuckle, marinated fish) looked like a flake of amber with thin lines of marble running through it. It didn't so much taste as feel, an extraordinary sensation of rubber that snapped crisply between the teeth.

It came up at lunch with Merriweather at ECapital, a relative newcomer to Chinatown in London. The place is canteen smart, rather than never-mind-the-quality-just-see-the-size-of-the-designer's-fee smart, with clean lines and white walls. It specialises in the food of Shanghai, which is, according to Yan-Kit So's Classic Food Of China, "richer, heavier and sweeter than Cantonese cooking, on account of the amount of oil and fat, sugar and wine used in the cooking". I'd say that was spot on, but then, I rather like oil, fat, sugar and wine.

Along with the cold platter, we faced up to hand-shredded roast chicken; braised yellow eel; mixed seafood on a bed of sizzling rice biscuits; the pig's kidney with coriander; pak choi in stock with Chinese cured ham; and rice. Which added up to a lot of food - rather too much in terms of scraping the bowls clean, but just enough in terms of "Oooh, I must just have another chopstick nibble of that."

The cold platter was, as I have said, something of a favourite with both of us. The seafood with the rice biscuits was another stormer, partly because the seafood, in its slightly glutinous wine-based sauce, was pingingly fresh, and partly because the rice biscuits were addictively crunchy. Merriweather and I concurred on the beauty of the pig's kidney, the delicacy of which was something of a revelation. I was more in love with the eel than my friend. It did not taste eely enough for him, while I slurped down its dark, meaty, oozy substance with the greatest of pleasure. We both agreed that the chicken was dull. The vegetables were vegetables and the plain rice was notably good.

Less adventurous diners need not worry, however. There are plenty of dishes of the aromatic duck, beef in black bean sauce, and steamed bass with ginger and spring onion variety; if they're prepared with the same savvy as our dishes were, you'll be in for a very satisfying meal indeed.

I will confess that I was slightly startled by the bill - £91 - but then I worked out that the dishes were priced a portion per person, and we'd been eating double portions. Not that we were complaining. It's always worth paying for quality. Just eat less of it, if you're worried about the cost.

· Open All week, 12noon-midnight. Menus: Lunch and pre- & post-theatre, £9 & £28. Wheelchair access (no WC).