Shun Lee Palace will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, marking four decades of serving food that was once avant garde and influential but these days has gracefully aged to become classic. Shun Lee Palace is something of a New York institution, having helped to popularize a number of now-familiar dishes such as orange beef.
The restaurant is perhaps as well known for its white glove service—the pomp and ceremony of a meal there would not be out of place on the Orient Express—as the justifiably pricey food. But the lunch prix fixe offers a pretty good value: two courses and dessert from a generous selection of dishes from the restaurant's main menu for under $25.