This is very much the case when describing the launch of Shanghai Blues; a new high-end Chinese restaurant opening in the heart of Holborn in the grade II listed building that formerly housed the St Giles Library.

Their lunchtime dim sum is a feast of steamed salmon dumplings, marinated duck slices, shredded chicken and yam spring rolls, and pumpkin with prawns and pork. If that doesn’t get your digestive system rumbling the dinner menu includes a tonsil-tastic mix of sea cucumber and shark's fin, Alaska crab and scallops, and fresh lobster braised with ginger and spring onions.

Housed in a smart, good looking, feng-shui friendly restaurant, the head chef, Hong Qiu Feng, has been flown in from Benjing with orders to take traditional Chinese cooking to a new level. Having cooked for cabinet ministers of the Chinese government, his signature dishes such as eel fillets in honeyed barbecue sauce are likely to get the popular vote.

What's more, the owners are offering Urban Junkies readers a January-busting 40% discount on their bills until 9th February. So hunger pangs, it would seem, are history.

Shanghai Blues
193-197 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD
Open seven days a week from 12pm to 12am
40% discount offer runs to Wednesday Feb 9 2005 between 12pm and 10pm. Maximum booking of 8 persons per table. Bookings essential 020 7404 1668 quoting Urban Junkies