1. One of the most distinctive features of Nan Yuen Chinese Restaurant in the Grand Mercure Fortune Hotel is the completeness of its menu, a good way to judge the authenticity of a real Cantonese restaurant. Since there are so many varieties of food that are considered essential, top-notch establishments hoping to cater to discriminating Chinese diners must offer as many of these dishes as possible. Nan Yuen has done a credible job of presenting a good cross-section of Cantonese cuisine, covering dim sum to Bird's Nest to abalone and even special nutritional soups, and the essential shark's fin soups without which no restaurant can expect to be taken seriously. Nan Yuen is serious, however, especially when it comes to providing value for their guests. The all-you­can-eat dim sum buffet, for example is priced at only 199 baht (++), much lower than many across the city. And the variety of items is quite extensive, containing not only dim sum but noodle and rice dishes also. It's enough for any sized appetite and provides the guest with a chance to try a number of different Chinese specialties easily. The regular menu presents one with the aforementioned large variety broken down into the many categories of food found in the best Chinese restaurants. And as well as the food, you'll find a good selection of Chinese teas and wines and also juices. If you visit during mango season (April-May), be sure to try some fresh mango juice. It's delicious. Going back to the food, you'll encounter first the nutritional soups, three of them double-boiled and one a bean curd and seafood chowder. We tried the corn and egg drop soup from the buffet instead and it was wonderful, thick and tasty. We also tried a shark's fin variety, the Superior Shark's Fin and Crab Meat served with chicken consomme. Again, delicious, in the particularly unique way of shark fin. There are six different shark fin soups combining crab, chicken, greens and crab roe. Next up are ten different appetizers ranging from chicken's feet to lobster and roast duck both Canton and Peking style. These are followed by five Bird's Nest dishes and six abalone entries. And that's before you get to the main dishes, all seven pages of different Chinese delicacies. If seafood is your favorite you can pick from 10 different set dishes as well as being able to pick the fresh fish of your choice that you can then have steamed or deep-fried. All other seafood options are here also including shrimp, scallops, lobsters and King Prawns. The next pages of this extensive menu cover all of the rest of the bases of traditional Chinese cuisine. Pork beef and poultry are represented by about 30 different entrees and then you come to the chef's specialty page. Here you'll find poultry and seafood delicacies that are highly prized by Chinese such as clay pot chicken and braised roast duck. If you have room for dessert after everything else, nine selections await you and the chilled mango pudding looked the most tempting, however, no one could eat after the feast that had been consumed already today. Whatever is especially to your liking in the way of Chinese, you'll find it here, and if you're a novice, you'll have a good time exploring with the help of the excellent staff.