TonyC wrote:The non-Kaifeng Jews in Shanghai need somewhere to go on Xmas? I know at least one (Chinese) food obsessed from LA who'd be extremely interested in this.

Seriously though, all the power to these Cornell dudes. If they can make rich Shanghaiers pay USD$13 for fried rice, they're going to be millionaires. Their chutzpah and sense of irony ought to be appreciated, but I, of course, hope they fail miserably. The whole enterprises demands a massive dose of schadenfreude.

Thanks, Tony. Knew I could count on you. And I will not be taking one for the team on my next visit.

The whole enterprises demands a massive dose of schadenfreude.

You ain't wrong TonyC, but I'd also gesture gently at the mountain of Chutzpah as well!

Geo

Fudan University Area and Shanghai First Food Mall

Sensitive viewers are cautioned regarding one photo (of a pork preparation) late in the post.


Historic Quad, Fudan University by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Guanghua Building, Fudan University by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Fudan University, one of China's oldest and most selective institutions of higher learning, is located twelve miles from People’s Square, in the mostly residential Yangpu district of Shanghai. Though accustomed to the presence of foreign students, Yangpu is off the beaten path for tourists, the way Queens is for most visitors to Manhattan, (that is, for visitors do not have the advantage of LTH-ers as their guides.)

The area is not without its charms. Students keep these entrepreneurs in business during the day. (At night, the food carts come out with noodles, kebabs, and dumplings.) For those who want to take home a bit of Fudan, the university has a shop selling a wide assortment of spirit wear that ranges from t-shirts to silk scarves and ties.


Entrepreneur, Yangpu by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Sidewalk Bike Shop, by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Bouqiniste, Fudan, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr

No complaints about the generous breakfast buffet at the Crowne Plaza Fudan, but once I had my fill of hand-pulled noodles, pickles and pork floss, I was ready to explore the area along Handan Road. This year, I noticed that the commercial area adjacent to the university was undergoing a makeover. Most of the tiny lunch spots popular with students seemed to be casualties of urban renewal:


Closed For Urban Renewal, Fudan by Josephine2004, on Flickr

One of the remaining businesses was sporting these Santas in March, adding an extra dose of melancholy to the scene.


Shanghai Santas by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Happily, my chow-dar seemed to be re-calibrated to Shanghai coordinates. I headed down Handan Lu and came upon this commercial building, home to Really Good Seafood.


Seafood Restaurant Exterior, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Looking at the menu, though, I realized I might be getting in over my head.


Curbside Menu, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr

So I followed some passing students to this café:


Cafe Exterior, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Hot dogs were the order of the day.


Hot Dog 1, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Some pastry chef is on overdrive back in the kitchen, unaware of the “no ketchup” rule:


Chicken Sausage, Shanghai by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Hot Dog Danish by Josephine2004, on Flickr

And some whiz-kid is having a laugh with the names.


Tycoon Cheese Bread by Josephine2004, on Flickr

The mayo-topped Paprika Dog cinched it: I’d be waiting a while longer for lunch.


Paprika Hot Dog by Josephine2004, on Flickr

But I wish they had offered this cake by the slice.


Untitled by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Further down Handan Road, I came across Shanghai First Food Mall, an offshoot of Shanghai First Food Store near People’s Square. It is a multi-story affair, on the scale of a suburban Macy's.


Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Like the flagship store, the mall offers a large number of imported Western foods. At the base of the central escalators, a concession of English teas holds court.


Shanghai First Food Mall Interior by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Luxury brands of chocolate are prominent. I felt the value proposition of Maxim’s of Paris was somewhat undercut by its placement right next to Subway. You will have to take my word for it, since I have no photo of this. I realized that by laughing while sporting blond hair, I had attracted the attention of some atypically stern salespeople. I did not want to cause further offense, or to be scolded for taking photos.

Ascending to the second floor, I was delighted to find a pristine food court, with many of Shanghai’s street food specialties on offer.


Shengjianbao Frymaster, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

The frymaster seemed to enjoy being filmed, and urged his co-workers to mug for the camera. They continued, businesslike, while he smiled and winked and and demonstrated his skills with a flourish.


Serving up Shenjianbao, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

These were some excellent shenjianbao's, on a par with Yang's, I'd say. The crush of locals seemed to confirm my opinion - this stand was the only busy one. I shared my shenjianbao enjoyment with two women of my age who were eating theirs at the counter next to me. They warned me about the hot filling of the dumplings, and offered me some of their vinegar. Between my few words of Mandarin and their few words of English, we had a nice "conversation," and a few laughs. New Yorkers, Parisians (and some Chicagoans, for that matter) might have a few things to learn from Shanghaianese about welcoming visitors to their busy, crowded cities.


Shengjianbao, Shanghai First Food Mall, Fudan by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Menu, Shanhai First Food Mall Food Court, Fudan by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Ma La Tang by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Shao Kao (street BBQ) in a Food Court by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Adjacent to the food court, other specialty foods were on display:


Mushroom Display, Shanghai First Food Mall Fudan by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Mangosteens Shanghai First Food Mall Fudan by Josephine2004, on Flickr

I was charmed by the name of this cake.


Husband Cake by Josephine2004, on Flickr

The prize goes to the butcher counter, however, which offered pork preparations new to me.


Pork Concession, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Pork Face, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

What can I say? The picture is cartoonish in a way, but humor cannot be the intent here. I am confused about this, but I suspect that the appeal is in the verifiable authenticity of the meat. If you, dear reader, can enlighten me, please post.

The operator of the mooncake concession seemed lonely. I was his only customer, while people queued for Subway. He kindly turned from the pile of cold cakes in front of him and picked out a fresh, hot cake for me. It was flaky, lard-rich, not too sweet - outstanding!


Mooncake, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Just outside the exit, I saw this:


Happiness is a Warm Bun by Josephine2004, on Flickr

These may be fighting words in Chicago, but I beg to differ: Happiness is a warm mooncake.

Oh, my gosh, I'm going to be there in five days. Any recent favorites? I've been trawling Culinary Backstreets, Josephine, and man, there's some good looking stuff in there.

We've started doing a little business in Shanghai, the best part of which being that it's another city to visit This past trip there wasn't really any free time during the day, but we did manage to get out for dinner twice, and I did some late-night walking.

Dinner our first night in town was at a widely-known joint called Southern Barbarian, which serves a sort of contemporary Yunnan-style cuisine. It's not exactly what Josephine wrote about in her stunning thread on Yunnan Province over at LTHforum.com, but it's easy to see where they're borrowing from that tradition.

Buried deep in the bowels of an otherwise nondescript building (seriously, getting to the actual restaurant once you've entered the building is like the Copa scene from Goodfellas), it's a stylish, modern room with sleek black and red fixtures, bright spots over the tables, and a kitchen fully visible behind glass. Most of the dishes tend to be small, which makes trying a number of items easy, even for two. And in a bit of an unexpected twist, the owner is apparently a big beer geek and there's a huge international beer list.


Kinda redefines refreshing, right? Comprised entirely of mint sprigs, tart and sweet, a little salty, and predictably fragrant. Great salad.


That's a first. Don't believe I've ever had pomegranate blossoms before. Here they're stir fried with Chinese chives, and they have an unusual sort of chewy-crisp texture for which I'm having a hard time thinking of an analogue. There isn't a whole lot of flavor to the leaf-looking portions, but near the base of the bud you get a little bit of that fruity, tart-sweet pomegranate flavor of the fruit itself. I'd get these again in a hurry.


Doesn't get much simpler than this. Sliced (steamed?) eggplant, topped with ripe tomato and a light soy-based dressing, served ice cold. This would be a great hot day dish.


Southern Barbarian is known for their Yunnan goat cheese, and they fly it in on a weekly basis. I was surprised by how subtle it was, sliced and griddled, reminiscent of some Greek cheeses (I can never keep them straight).


Here's the stuff. Yunnan ham reminds me most of country ham, really dry and salty and intensely flavored. Here, stir fried with some fresh green chiles, it was probably one of my favorites.


Oh, wow... I'm loading up on the barbecued skewers next time. I don't know what they were glazed with, but wow, were they delicious. There were a number of other barbecued items available as well, but I didn't get a photo of the menu.


And lastly, a potato pancake the size of a large pizza, fried crisply like a latticework of shoestring potatoes. It's fried potatoes. Nicely seasoned, and well-prepared.

I'm a little surprised that Southern Barbarian has gotten as much attention as it has. It's very Western-friendly (including a separate phone number for reservations in English), which I suspect has a lot to do with it. Also, one post I read talked about how it was a nice break from heavy, oily Shanghainese food. And I can see how this would be an extremely welcome change of pace after a week of local cuisine. And that isn't to suggest that I didn't enjoy this quite a bit. I'd just say that when you look online and read about it being one of the best restaurants in Shanghai, you'll have a very enjoyable meal provided that you temper your expectations.

Josephine, thanks for the Culinary Backstreets mention. I didn't tour with them, but that blog is a great resource. Our other dinner was at a place recommended by culinary backstreets, Yuyang Laozhen, which serves an unusual little subset of Shanghainese food, that of Chongming Island, to the north of the city in the Yangtze river delta, where are great deal of local produce and livestock comes from. Where Southern Barbarian calls itself "homestyle," I suspect Yuyang Laozhen actually is. The restaurant is a bit of a challenge to navigate. It's a large, casual, boisterous room comically decorated with overgrown fake greenery (including a massive fake tree in the center of the room), and filled with cigarette smoke and beer. The menu is enormous, and there isn't a lick of English. And this is where I need to mention that the Waygo app does a shockingly good job of translating Chinese menus on the fly. Completely indispensable when traveling to China, IMO. Anyway, this is some significantly stripped-down food.


The first thing we got were these liquor-soaked crabs, and wow, were they intense. They were chilled, raw I believe, and completely soaked through with a very sweet and very potent rice wine. Tiny little fellows, you wouldn't so much eat them as you would suck the gelatinous, cured meat out of them. My father didn't much care for them, and I don't think I could have handled more than one, but I dug 'em.


Some sort of pickled vegetable with pork. Sadly, I've misplaced my menu :-/


I've really gotten to dig salted egg yolk. It sort of melts into this rich, grainy sauce that is a little off-putting the first time you try it because of the texture, but I've come to really like it. Here, it's coating some fresh pumpkin.


There is nothing not to love about this. Simple, gently scrambled eggs with Chinese chives. Completely delicious. We inhaled this.


Apparently Chongming island produces a lot of lamb, and here was a sort of intensely flavored lamb clay pot, with dark soy and ginger, notable for the fact that the lamb flavor was intense and that this kind of dish is not for the variety parts-averse. There's as much (more, probably) skin and fat and sinew in here as meat. Again, I enjoyed it, but I could only handle a little bit.


I think tea tree mushrooms were in season -- we saw them everywhere -- and they're awesome. They're long, a little chewy, and they have a fabulous flavor.


I believe these were mustard greens, stewed and mixed with soybeans.


And some thinly-sliced sausage, fatty with a heavily cured flavor, and not the least bit of sweetness. Intense stuff.

Some of these were good, but I'm not in a hurry to get back here. It's highly instructive in a minimally prepared farm-to-table sort of way, but I imagine the appeal is greater when you're already well-versed in Shanghainese.

My favorite meal of the trip -- shocker -- ended up being the cheapest, a little backalley (literally) 24-hour noodle joint recommended by Culinary Backstreets.


The name of the restaurant is Ding Te Le, and here's the view from the street. See it? Yeah, I didn't either. It's that alley entrance behind the trunk of the taxi. You pass through the archway, walk about 20 yards into a dark alley, and find this:


And here's where interior photos are tough to come by, because it's smaller than most bathrooms. There's a tiny counter -- like, phone booth-sized -- immediately to your left as you walk in the door, with the menu pasted to the wall. There are two tiny two-tops crammed into this room, then a steep, narrow staircase down to the basement dining room on the right:


And that's the dining room. A couple of small tables where you can cram in four people. I ordered by showing them the Chinese text of the bowl of noodles I wanted to try on the [urlhttp://www.culinarybackstreets.com/shanghai/2013/ding-te-le-2/]Culinary Backstreets page[/url] on my phone (辣肉雪菜面), and a few minutes later... hoooo, boy:


Oh, my, was this fabulous. Thin, springy noodles in a rich pork broth with pickled mustard greens, sweet marinated pork, scallions, and some other greenery, with a healthy slick of hot chile oil on top. An absolutely killer bowl of noodles. And I was going to call it quits there (this was, after all, dinner number two) until I saw the pork chop that Culinary Backstreets had mentioned at the next table. Another quick smartphone point (香炸大排), and a few minutes later I had one of the pork chops:


Whoa, buddy... this was so tender, and heavily spiced with dark soy and five spice powder. You eat it with a splash of the Chinese worcestershire sauce found on every table, and it's one of the best pork chops you've ever had in your entire life. Just awesome.

Sadly, some incorrect online hours means that my other late-night venture, a trek for Shen Jiang Bao -- Xiao Long Bao's fried cousins -- was a total bust. They were just closing up shop when I arrived. Next time, I guess.

Southern Barbarian
www.southernbarbarian.com
2/F, Area E, Ju’Roshine Life Art Space, 56 Maoming Nan Lu,
Huaihai Zhong Lu near Changle Lu, SHANGHAI
茂名南路56号生活艺术空间E区2楼, 近长乐路 上海
+86 21 5157 5510
English Bookings : 1362 1797 634

Yuyang Laozhen
1F, 122 Shanxi Nan Lu, near Jinxian Lu
陕西南路122号1楼
+86 21 6467 7003

Ding Te Le
No. 22, 494 Huaihai Lu, near Yandang Lu
淮海中路494弄22号, 近雁荡路
+86 21 5103 6275

Thanks, Dom, for the detailed recap of your Shanghai meals! I am going to insist on a visit to Southern Barbarian on my next trip to Shanghai. Several of the dishes you picture are ones that look familiar from our Yunnan trip, especially the cheese, the fried potatoes, and the chiles with Yunnan ham. I did miss out on the pomegranate blossoms in Dali - my husband had them on the day I was ill - but I will be on the lookout for them if they are on the menu in March.

Lost Heaven is an elegant Yunnanese restaurant in Shanghai that specializes in the food of southern Yunnan, and shows the influence of Burmese, Thai, and Lao cuisines. If I had visited the Hmong groceries of the Twin Cities profiled here by ReneG, I might be able to identify some of the herbal flavors in the dishes we sampled. I don't feel too bad, though. None other than Frank Bruni was mystified, and had to make a return visit to the restaurant to quiz the cooks on unfamiliar ingredients. I wish, though, that Mr. Bruni had written more about his experience of the complex bitter, fresh, intense, vegetable-and-herb-forward dishes - balm for any tired or jaded palate.

Though there are two locations, I recommend visiting Lost Heaven in the French Concession over the location on the Bund. Both have interesting food, but the French Concession restaurant is beautiful, with two stories, lots of art and a views onto dramatically lit gardens of bamboo. Regrettably, my photos were lost in the Shanghai subway X-ray machine. You must take my word for it.

BTW, Dom, do you remember this exchange about Pepe's Pizza?

Dmnkly wrote:

Josephine wrote:

This is the interior of the Manchester location. The restaurant claims that they built an exact replica of the New Haven pizza oven in Manchester. This apparently involved casting an iron oven door that is an exact copy of the original.

Wow... there are exact replicas and there are exact replicas.

I took this one a few hours ago at the original location... I wasn't trying to match your photo... in fact, I hadn't even seen it!



Are you SURE yours is the Manchester location?!? I took my photo a little closer, so you can't see the counter, but it's also exactly the same.[/quote]

I had a sneaking feeling that we were again on the same track when I read your description of the entrance to Ding Te Le. In a separate thread devoted to UnTours Noodle Tour,

Josephine wrote:The entrance to Ding Te Le Noodle Shop gave me a thrill. It was down a little alley, hidden from view, quite the insider find. The interior consisted of two teeny-tiny levels, too small to yield intelligible photographs.


Noodle Shop #2 by Josephine2004, on Flickr

I remember thinking that this was the smallest restaurant I had ever been in. As you point out, it is not much bigger than a bathroom. And it's hard to forget those orange walls, which, in the close quarters, seemed to increase the intensity of the flavors in the dishes we had. I agree that the pork with preserved vegetables was fantastic, though we missed the fried pork chop. On your next visit, the blackened scallion noodles are a must: so simple and yet so complex!


Untitled by Josephine2004, on Flickr

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL VISITORS TO CHINA:

According to one of my favorite China food bloggers, Fiona Reilly of Life on Nanchang Lu, there are over 80 THOUSAND eating establishments in Shanghai!

It would be a shame to limit oneself to the "greatest hits" as identified by the expat press - those that seem to be located in the former French Concession. And yet, one needs a plan for exploration. In addition, if staying out of the center city (near Fudan, for instance) most restaurants are off the international radar. Life on Nanchang Lu has a step-by-step guide to using the Chinese version of Yelp, Dianping.

Basically, you install Google Chrome on your phone and visit Dianping. Reilly shows how to cut through the "noise" on the Dianping pages and how to search for a restaurant based on location and cuisine. Since Dianping tallies reviews, it is easy to spot the most popular places- she offers some caveats when using this approach, however. The other thing that is useful about Dianping is that there are photos of the best known/recommended dishes for each restaurant. When visiting a restaurant one can download the photos and point to them to order. Apparently street stands with established addresses are included in the roster. I'm definitely going to try to use this on my next trip.

On second thought, the Dianping Listings might challenge the interpretive skills of a Poet Laureate. For example, this Guizhou restaurant's listing:

Vulgar old Kay Suantang (provincial shop) branch
Address: Yunyan District No. 55 5843665 Shengfu
Tags: Guizhou cuisine
Features: Acid Soup Fish Rice Beans Rotten Small Rice Dregs

8.2 7.3 6.8
320 Comments

¥ 44

or this one:

Grandma's Kitchen
Address: dolomite area of China Road 108 Nanguo 5,297,666 B1 floor
Tags: Western
Features: Roasted Earth Beans Leather Roasted Chicago Scholar Egg Cake Chicago Scholar Egg Cake

Perhaps I should moisturize before visiting, I don't want to be confused with the Leather Roasted Chicago Scholar.

Guess I'd better read the comments, eh?

Write of the devil. . . Arriving in Shanghai, I see this in China Daily 3/6/14: "Fortune Cookie offers (sic) US-style Chinese food (sic)." the article includes an interview with Fung Lam, one of the two Cornell hospitality management students behind the new Shanghai American-Chinese takeout restaurant. Co-owner David Rossi reports that the biggest problem he and Lam had in founding their business was finding a location: "Many landlords thought our idea was crazy. The landlords needed reliable tenants. Many of them didn't give us a chance."

I'm about to embark on covering the Shanghai spots I visited this March. But I really can't wait to report this terrific find: Lapis Yun, a Yunnanese restaurant where you can try many of the dishes that we were served in Yunnan in 2012. I highly recommend their version of Tibetan Grandma potatoes. Best of all, they have two locations, one of which is near Fudan University. I was told the other location is in Pudong, but looking at the address, I am not sure about that. Best to check out which location is more convenient for you. I can't remember exactly what we ordered other than a scallion chicken dish and the grandma potatoes, as well as a ham and mushroom dish. I actually think the food there is better than Lost Heaven. Though the atmosphere at the Fudan outpost is not as drop-dead gorgeous as the Lost Heaven location in the French Concession, it is a comfortable and pleasing place with low lighting and some nice decor and service. Get reservations - they are popular.

Lapis Yun
University Road No. 128
Tel: 021-5527-7077

Lapis Yun
West Nanjing Road. No. 818 6F
Tel: 021-3203 1366
http://www.lapisgroup.net

I didn't make it to Shanghai this year, but here is an update from my husband, who was treated to a wonderful Yunnanese dinner by a colleague who hails from that province. The Shanghai favorite of this son of Yunnan is Beyond the Clouds, a restaurant centrally located on Nanjing Dong Lu above the Forever 21 store. My husband reported that he noticed the tender pine shoots he had near Dali on the menu. All of the other dishes he thought very representative of the bounty we sampled in Yunnan.

Another option for those who find themselves in the Fudan University area is a new Szechuan restaurant that opened (to favorable reviews from faculty) just across the street from Lapis Yun on University Road. Sorry, I did not get the name.

Beyond the Clouds
Fifth Floor, Nanjing Tower
233 Nanjing Dong Lu (near Henan Zhong Lu)
Huangpu district
Chinese address: 黄浦区南京东路233号南京大厦5楼, 近河南中路
11.30am-10pm
Telephone 5306 5757
Metro: Nanjing Dong Lu

Thanks for the report Josephine. Have you been to Lost Heaven? I have a reservation there late next week. I realize it also features Burmese food, but it sounded interesting enough to give a try. I was just curious if your husband (or one of his dining companions) could offer a comparison.

Josephine wrote:Shanghai Night Market: Sipailou Lu & Fangbang Lu



Kyle Long- UnTours with Noodles by Josephine2004, on Flickr

I can't get enough of Shanghai.

Josephine, thanks for these awesome Shanghai posts. I spent three years in Beijing for school and your write-ups are really making me miss it. I agree that the Muslim owned hand-pulled noodle shops are heaven. These noodles are made with the same level of technical skill as expensive handmade Italian pastas but they cost like $3 for a giant bowl. Perfect texture and chew. Thanks for the taste memory.

BR wrote:Thanks for the report Josephine. Have you been to Lost Heaven? I have a reservation there late next week. I realize it also features Burmese food, but it sounded interesting enough to give a try. I was just curious if your husband (or one of his dining companions) could offer a comparison.

Don't know that I caught you in time, BR. I LOVE Lost Heaven, but the lighting is so low that my pics never turn out. The elegant 2 story room at the French Concession Lost Heaven is FAR superior to the huge, noisy food-hall of a place nearer People's Square. If you can, my advice is to go to the French Concession location. I was going to post on some of the dishes that Frank Bruni (IIRC) posted about after his dinner there - some of them include ingredients (mostly herbs) that he could not identify. One might need a Burmese farmer's expertise to do so, and I seem to have misplaced my notes on the dishes we ate, but you cannot go wrong. You will find a lot of overlap between the Burmese and southern Yunnan cuisine of the Miao and Shan people, which accounts for the inclusion of Burmese dishes on the menu of Lost Heaven.

Another Shanghai note: it is more difficult now than in past years to summon a taxi in Shanghai, as the presence of a new app allows riders to summon taxi's UBER-style and to promise a tip upfront, which means that most taxis passing will already have fares waiting for them. The app is only available in Chinese, so if you read Chinese, by all means, get it. If you are stuck with only English, you might try UBER BLACK, which I am told offers only limo-level black Audis and Mercedes. The cost must be higher, but it is likely to be worth it.

I will try to post some other Shanghai favorites soon.

Josephine wrote:...it is more difficult now than in past years to summon a taxi in Shanghai, as the presence of a new app allows riders to summon taxi's UBER-style and to promise a tip upfront, which means that most taxis passing will already have fares waiting for them.

THAT explains it!!!!

*shakes fist*

Dmnkly wrote:

Josephine wrote:...it is more difficult now than in past years to summon a taxi in Shanghai, as the presence of a new app allows riders to summon taxi's UBER-style and to promise a tip upfront, which means that most taxis passing will already have fares waiting for them.

THAT explains it!!!!

*shakes fist*

Yeah, my husband encountered this on his last trip. His Chinese colleague had the Mandarin-only app and was able to get a taxi right away even at a busy time. This makes an opportunity for an enterprising person who can create an English-friendly app of the same type. I'd pay handsomely for such a thing, as the crowds on the subway escalators at peak times make me skittish.

A little late with the write-up, but in March and April, I traveled to China for a few weeks (Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Yangshuo and Longsheng). Though my friend and I had planned for a few days in Shanghai (at both the beginning and end of the trip), the end of the trip return to Shanghai was curtailed by food poisoning, attributable to my stay in rural, mountainous Longsheng (the terraced rice paddies), though I still don't know the exact culprit. All I can say is thank heaven for azithromycin - it made the whole event more tolerable, though the food poisoning prevented me from visiting a couple extra SJB & XLB spots that we had planned to visit. On the plus side, if you're going to be stuck in a hotel room, let them all be like those in the gorgeous Waldorf Astoria Shanghai.

Along the lines of "you know you're an LTHer when . . .," I (perhaps foolishly) made a dinner reservation for our very first night in Shanghai. Yes, after a very long flight, we had maybe two hours to rest and get set before going out to a fancy, tasting menu dinner. Anyway, our first meal (dinner) was at Fu1015. Though difficult to distinguish it from its siblings (Fu1039, Fu1088 and Fu He Hui), we chose it because of the fact that it was 16 on the (perhaps meaningless) World's 50 Best Asian restaurant list, whereas its siblings were not listed.

In any event, a terrific meal at Fu1015. I'd be remiss if I first didn't mention (and post a picture of) one of the gorgeous private dining rooms:






All of the dining rooms here are private rooms, regardless of whether you're a group of 2 or 15. It made it only slightly awkward that there were only two of us, but this was a gorgeous room in an early 20th century mansion-turned-restaurant.

We were given the choice of two tasting menus, though there was considerable overlap in the menus:








Dinner starts with a bowl of beautifully ripe stone fruits served on ice (we dug into them before I took the picture):






Then, a tray of four cold appetizers. My recollection is slightly foggy, but there was a delicious crispy fish with sesame seeds (it looks slightly burnt in the picture, but it was not) and an impeccable bean curd roll with greens. I particularly loved the orange scented foie gras, more classic French than Shanghainese. But isn't that Shanghai? I can't recall the fourth dish -- the picture does not even help me. And sorry for some of the pictures -- a dark dining room (not as bright as the one shown above) coupled with a slightly unsteady hand.














The two menus diverged at the soup course. My dining companion selected the matsutake soup, while I selected the hairy crab soup with potato. The matsutake soup reminded me very much of a soup I would expect to eat as part of a kaiseki meal in Kyoto - delicate and yet assertive in matsutake flavor, and the mushrooms just firm enough. The hairy crab soup was delicious and very Shanghainese in that it was more rich and sweet and perhaps a bit much after a while. Though I was pleased to taste hairy crab for the first time. Below is the hairy crab soup.






I then had a single perfectly fried prawn with wasabi mayonnaise (there's a different choice with the other menu) that was outstanding, and also Fu1015's version of the ubiquitous Shanghainese favorite red braised pork. Though I'm not a huge fan of red braised pork (slightly sweet for my tastes), I have never had a better version - the pork was so beautifully braised and tender.









Next, a beautifully cooked and richly flavored wagyu ribeye (my dining companion had the abalone with rice which was fantastic too). The term wagyu has become almost meaningless these days as quality varies drastically, but this was a beautifully marbled and delicious piece of beef. Beautifully seasoned and cooked mushrooms and asparagus too.






After building up in richness to the beef, the meal started to lighten towards the finish. Amazingly, the oven-baked cod with sauteed egg white and a vinegar reduction might have been even more impressive than the fantastic beef. The cod was tender and delicious, with a crackling crisp exterior. And the typical Shanghainese sweetness was perfectly offset by the vinegar reduction. Even more impressive was the sauteed egg white - I've never experienced such a wonderful light texture with cooked egg whites, not to mention egg whites being this delicious. This was my favorite dish of the night.






Yet the skills of the chefs were also displayed in the perfectly cooked (and cut) vegetables - texturally perfect and great flavored.








The transition to dessert began with a couple of pieces of sweet dim sum.








Final dessert was soybean milk ice cream, which was just fine, very creamy indeed, but dessert is not where Fu1015 distinguished itself.






The meal was well paced and service was polished. Overall, a terrific meal with some very skilled cooking. I was stunned by just how perfectly every single item was cooked -- a rare feat with tasting menus and something I've experienced at only some of the world's finest restaurants. Interestingly, the order and style of the meal seemed very similar to most tasting menus I've experienced. I would love to have been able to ask about this. Sadly, no such Chinese tasting menus here in Chicago that could rival Fu1015. That being said, Shanghainese food skews sweet, something I don't love when it comes to savory food, and perhaps one of the few things that kept this from being one of my favorite meals ever (that, and an odd and overpriced wine list).

One last note, and a critical one at that (and one which I wish I knew before the dinner). When you're done with dinner, you exit the closed private dining room to pay for the meal. They will not disturb you at the end of the meal with a bill or the like. Suffering from jet lag, we were literally falling asleep at the table by the end of the meal . . . I'm surprised we were even able to get up and leave. But we managed, and were glad we had the reservation (although perhaps waiting until another night for a long tasting menu would have been a better idea).

I'll have much more on Shanghai (and a day side trip to Tongli) later, along with the rest of my China trip.

I've eaten a lot of xiao long bao, soup dumplings, including some pretty great ones - Din Tai Fung in the San Gabriel Valley, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Queens, Dim Sum Garden in Philadelphia. I've also had some not so great versions (hello Chinatown Chicago, I'm talking to you!).

And XLB are one of my very favorite foods. So you can imagine how excited I was to try them in Shanghai. As I noted before, food poisoning at the end of the trip prevented me from trying as many as I wanted, but I still was able to visit Jia Jia Tang Bao, probably the most famous XLB restaurant in Shanghai. It was our first full day in China, and exhausted from the long flight and a lengthy dinner the night before. we slept late. We arrived shortly before noon, expecting to see a massive line, but waited only 10-15 minutes for a table.






While waiting, we were able to get good views of the XLB-making process . . . happy XLB makers turn out tasty XLB, right?








We ordered pork and pork/crab XLB. Here are the pork & crab XLB:






They were fantastic - delicate, almost translucent wrappers, plenty of lip-coating soup with just enough fat, abundant filling and a delicious dipping sauce consisting of vinegar and ginger. Interestingly, a very light colored vinegar for dipping -- I'm used to black vinegar. If I had one very minor complaint with these dumplings, it is that they were a little lacking in salt. But they were fantastic. Where would they rank on my "best of XLB" list? Not necessarily number one, but right up there with my other two favorites, Nan Xiang in Queens and Dim Sum Garden in Philadelphia, all of which I think are a little better than Din Tai Fung. But hey, that's just one person's tastebuds speaking and reasonable minds could probably debate this subject for hours upon hours.

Despite two orders of XLB (24 in total), we were not to be denied sheng jian bao across the street at Yang's Dumpling:






Poor SJB! Despite Yang's excellent reputation, we walked in to find no line whatsoever. Of course, it's a much larger place than Jia Jia, so that helped. Then again, I see Josephine had a wait . . . I won't complain about getting lucky. Like at Jia Jia, we got a good look at the SJB-making process:






The main differences between XLB and SJB are the dough (SJB have a somewhat thicker dough) and SJB are fried, not steamed. We got a couple orders of the SJB:








Different containers because my friend apparently led them to believe he was taking them to go. These SJB were fantastic, the best I've had. That being said, I've only had them a few times, but I thought the ones at Dim Sum Garden in Philly were terrific and these were better -- a little tastier filling, slightly less greasy. I prefer XLB to SJB. I suppose I just appreciate the delicate balance of each ingredient with XLB, but reasonable minds can differ. If you find yourself in Shanghai (hell, Dim Sum Garden in Philly), you can do your own comparison.

More Shanghai coming up later.

I have had some very good XLB in the States and most recently in Vancouver BC where they seem ubiquitous. However, I have not eaten proper SJB anywhere in North America after falling in love with them in Shanghai. I am quite proud of my home version, but it's really far too much work.

I should note that SJB are technically fried and steamed, much like guo tie or gyoza.

botd wrote:I have had some very good XLB in the States and most recently in Vancouver BC where they seem ubiquitous. However, I have not eaten proper SJB anywhere in North America after falling in love with them in Shanghai.

If you ever get to Philly, Dim Sum Garden. Really excellent food.

botd wrote:I should note that SJB are technically fried and steamed, much like guo tie or gyoza.

True, and good point

BR wrote:I've eaten a lot of xiao long bao, soup dumplings, including some pretty great ones - Din Tai Fung in the San Gabriel Valley, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Queens, Dim Sum Garden in Philadelphia. I've also had some not so great versions (hello Chinatown Chicago, I'm talking to you!).

You don't eat too shabby yourself my friend. Dumplings are one of my favorite foods be it in Pelmeni form, Momo, Potstickers etc. I've always considered XLB to be at the top of the dumpling chain but I'm not sure I've ever had the real deal. I will use this list to make that happen at some point in life. Great stuff as always.

A couple more dinners in Shanghai to mention. First, I knew Fropones was traveling to China for work about the same time and we met managed to meet up at a Shanghainese restaurant Jian Guo 328 (conveniently, also its address, located in or around the French Concession). Jian Guo 328's owner is Taiwanese, but she has apparently been in Shanghai for about a decade. What's interesting about the restaurant is their sworn allegiance to healthier food -- no msg, better quality ingredients, less oil, no smoking allowed (while smoking is technically prohibited, you'll nonetheless find plenty of people smoking in restaurants, though usually the more old school spots). Most importantly though, the food was pretty impressive.

We ordered a pretty good amount of food for three people. My favorite course of the night was the fried duck legs. It had an amazingly brittle, crispy skin, was minimally greasy, and was served with some beautifully charred onions and scallions. I just could not stop gnawing on this perfectly seasoned and moist duck. Aside from Peking duck, one of the very best (if not the best) duck dishes I've ever had.






Though the rest of the meal was good, no dish came close to matching the success of the duck. Yellow croakers (a mild tasting fish) were cooked well, fairly crispy on the outside, and tasty enough, but to me, the accompanying charred, slightly smoky scallions (draped over the fish) were the best part of the dish (also thanks in part to the imported flavor from the fish). I might have enjoyed the fish a bit more but for its many tiny bones.








Red braised pork is one of the most ubiquitous Shanghainese dishes and generally features braised pork belly, star anise, dark and light soy sauces, shaoxing wine and brown sugar. I liked the tenderness of the pork, and the balance of flavors, though I'll never love this dish given that it skews sweet (as does much Shanghainese food). As I noted in my prior post concerning Fu1015, I also had the red braised pork there and it was better there -- slightly less sweet and almost impossibly tender.






Another very popular Shanghainese dish, noodles with scallion oil, were also tossed with charred scallions and were pretty tasty.






Braised black mushroom with soy sauce was very tender and flavorful, but expectedly skewed a bit sweet for me.






My virgin experience with stinky tofu was also a positive one. Though given the aromas of stinky tofu that I breathed in during this trip, I wonder if big fans of the dish may have found this particular version to be a bit lacking a bit in funk. For me though, a decent enough funk and I liked the lightly crisped skin from the tofu having been fried.






We also had some greens (pea shoots?) which were well cooked and tasty enough, though no more special than many versions of this dish I've enjoyed in Chicago.






Overall, a solid meal, though I would have been far less pleased but for the duck. But oh, that duck. Jian Guo 328's duck is alone a good excuse to make a visit.



I also wanted to sample some food from Yunnan, and was leaning towards Lost Heaven. Josephine recommended the French Concession location. I'll admit I was slightly (perhaps arrogantly) put off when we arrived at the restaurant to find it packed with expats. I think it's just that when we travel internationally, we want to think we're getting the most authentic local flavors, and we fear that where foreigners are present, food is being dumbed down. Well, I don't know the extent to which I tasted authentic Yunnan cuisine (in fact, some of the dishes we knew were not), but I thought what we ate at Lost Heaven was terrific.

One of the terrific dishes we had was the Burmese tea leaf salad, which is apparently very popular in southwestern Yunnan, which borders Myanmar.






This ham pancake, a crispy pancake filled with a rich ham and vegetable filling, was also fantastic, albeit very rich.






My first experience with gong bao (kung pao) chicken in China and I have to say that this was a fantastic version, loaded with flavor, and with a hint of tingly Szechuan peppercorn.






Also excellent was the eggplant and tofu salad, with the cool tofu balancing the spicy heat of the dish.






Finally, Yunnan scrambled eggs with mushrooms. There were green and red peppers too, but the earthy, fragrant mushrooms and scrambled eggs were what made this dish so terrific.






My initial disappointment with Lost Heaven (particularly, the heavy expat crowd) vanished soon after our first bites were brought to the table. The food was very good to excellent all around. And the dining room was very attractive too. Add in a couple of slightly too sweet, but fun, tiki-like cocktails, and you've got the makings of a fun and fantastic night in the French Concession, Shanghai.

I'll finish up with Shanghai a little later, focusing on our brief day trip to Tongli, one of the water towns, as well as some tips if you plan to visit.

Shanghai was a perfect first stop on our trip to China. I had previously visited Guangzhou and Hong Kong, but of the major cities we visited this trip (including Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu), Shanghai was easily the most Western-friendly city, probably due to the fact that it is a major international financial center. This was also true when it came to accessing Facebook and Twitter. Even with a good vpn, we encountered some issues connecting to these sites elsewhere, particularly Beijing.

As for sights in Shanghai, we thoroughly enjoyed the art deco design throughout the French Concession, the spectacular skyline as seen from the Bund, and so much more:















We decided to take a day trip to one of the water towns and settled on Tongli. Private drivers and taxis are not the way to get to Tongli from Shanghai. Whereas hiring a driver for a day in Beijing or Xi'an or one of the rural areas of China may not break the bank, doing so in Shanghai most certainly will. So after some investigation, we determined that the best course of action would be to take a train from Shanghai to Suzhou, and then take a bus from Suzhou to Tongli.

Getting around on the subway in Shanghai is easy enough. In fact, it's glorious - large, clean trains that seemingly arrive every two minutes, signs and announcements in Chinese and English, and most of the stations are large, clean, modern and well-signed. There are even helpful employees that smile and help you any way they can.

But then there's the massive train station where we boarded our train for Shanghai. First, we needed to buy tickets. But the station was massive and it took us some time (seemingly walking for blocks) just to locate the counter to purchase tickets. Arriving at the ticket purchase counter was only half the battle -- a dozen or so long lines with a digital message board in Chinese, each such message board revealing different Chinese characters, leading us to the conclusion that not all lines served the same purpose. Well, thank heaven for the Waygo App. Let me say that if you're traveling to China, Korea or Japan, the Waygo App is a must. Although you receive approximately 10 free translations per day, a lifetime subscription is only $7 if I recall correctly, and includes unlimited translations. Moreover, it works without wireless/wifi connections. When using the app, you simply use your camera to hover over (or point at) the foreign words, and the English translation immediately appears. It's not always perfect, but it usually led us to a reasonable translation.

So here we are at the ticket purchase counter, people staring at us as we use the Waygo app, pointing our cell phones at the electronic message boards above each of the many ticket counters. We eventually realized that there were lines for ticket returns, for same day tickets, for next day tickets, etc. Yes, thank heaven for Waygo. So we bought our tickets to Suzhou, found the ticket counter to purchase bus tickets to Tongli, and arrived in Tongli approximately 2.5 hours after departing Shanghai. We did have a little time to roam around the large train station in Shanghai, so I purchased some lovely durian snacks for the train ride (turned out, I didn't like them any more than I like ordinary durian -- not much!):






I decided not to buy roast duck in a bag, a frequent find at airports and train stations:






We were presented with even more challenges when we arrived in Tongli (for example, we had some difficulty finding the bus station for our return trip), but we really enjoyed the visit. So my advice if you go is to allow plenty of time; we were a tad rushed. Tongli offered both wide walkways and narrow alleys for exploring, and beautiful scenery all around:









And Tongli indeed proved to be the Venice of China:









As you can see in the picture above, restaurants lined the sides of the canals. But with limited time to spend in Tongli (you should consider an overnight stay), we opted for street food and there was plenty of it. These crispy fried fritters were filled with radish and scallions if I recall correctly, and were delicious:






There were baozi of all sorts. I can't recall the flavor of the green ones but I enjoyed the one I had.








There were various sesame flatbreads, some soft and some crispy, both of which were fine but nothing exciting:








But then I noticed a long line and some thick-pancake like pastries being griddle-fried. The cook was pouring the batter into round moulds, filling the center of the batter with what appeared to be a purple sweet potato filling, and eventually applying a sweet glaze and sesame seeds to the pastries. I had one - it was fantastic. I bought a second . . . perhaps the best Chinese pastry I've ever had. Anyone know what it is?










There was plenty more to be had, as you'll notice from the pictures below. And I didn't take pictures of every bite we enjoyed. I did notice an abundance of locals sitting at tables simply enjoying sunflower seeds.












Running around, we forgot to visit the Tongli Sex Museum, at least to check out a sculpture outside. It might have been closed anyway. I guess that means I need to return. Up next (and in a different thread), Beijing.

BR wrote:Even with a good vpn, we encountered some issues connecting to these sites elsewhere, particularly Beijing.

greenVPN is your friend.

the HDR in these photos is dialed up way too high for me, but... awaiting for your Chengdu report.

Josephine wrote:Sensitive viewers are cautioned regarding one photo (of a pork preparation) late in the post. . . The prize goes to the butcher counter, however, which offered pork preparations new to me.

Pork Face, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

What can I say? The picture is cartoonish in a way, but humor cannot be the intent here. I am confused about this, but I suspect that the appeal is in the verifiable authenticity of the meat. If you, dear reader, can enlighten me, please post.

Update: Thanks to City Weekend magazine, I am now enlightened ( I use the term very loosely) about the origins and preparation of pig face. It is described as "the crown jewel of Huaiyang cuisine." Not sure that I will make the trip, but it can be ordered a day ahead (if you are game) at Wangdonglou. Address: 4F, 178 Daduhe Lu 大渡河路178号长风景畔广场4楼Tel: 5268-8848

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/ ... e-pig-face

Josephine wrote:

Josephine wrote:Sensitive viewers are cautioned regarding one photo (of a pork preparation) late in the post. . . The prize goes to the butcher counter, however, which offered pork preparations new to me.

Pork Face, Shanghai First Food Mall by Josephine2004, on Flickr

What can I say? The picture is cartoonish in a way, but humor cannot be the intent here. I am confused about this, but I suspect that the appeal is in the verifiable authenticity of the meat. If you, dear reader, can enlighten me, please post.

Update: Thanks to City Weekend magazine, I am now enlightened ( I use the term very loosely) about the origins and preparation of pig face. It is described as "the crown jewel of Huaiyang cuisine." Not sure that I will make the trip, but it can be ordered a day ahead (if you are game) at Wangdonglou. Address: 4F, 178 Daduhe Lu 大渡河路178号长风景畔广场4楼Tel: 5268-8848

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/ ... e-pig-face

Surprisingly, pig face is pretty common these days at some of the more "hipster" influenced joints around town.

stevez wrote:Surprisingly, pig face is pretty common these days at some of the more "hipster" influenced joints around town.

Pics, please.

Josephine wrote:

stevez wrote:Surprisingly, pig face is pretty common these days at some of the more "hipster" influenced joints around town.

Pics, please.

Here's one example (caution, graphic photos of pig face prep):
http://chicago.seriouseats.com/2012/11/ ... eshow.html

The hipster version may involve the same part of the pig, but the effect of the face staring at you is what is preserved in the Shanghai butcher's version. This is what I find puzzling - what is the point of it?