International Cuisine, Shanghai, Part 1

Shanghai, being one of the regional hubs for Asia, has it's fair share of tempting international cuisine and Alfred (our host) recommended some of his favourites to us...

Japanese: Kagen teppanyaki

I believe Kagen played a Big part in contributing to Alfred's 10kg in weight gain since he came to Shanghai to work :p. This was our first dinner in Shanghai, which was unexpected- I was thinking of Chinese food throughout my stay there..

Kagen is tucked in a quiet, chic area of Shanghai, reminiscence of Bangsar. What's their specialty? Teppanyaki buffet.

We were ushered to a room, seats about 10 customers per room, facing the teppanyaki table. Just get the menu and order away. Only one item were limited to one plate per table- the sashimi- other than that, we were given free reign to order anything under the teppanyaki menu..

Some starters..The sashimi was very fresh. Shishamo was pickled, so it was sourish and sweet, a first for me to try such a method of cooking for shishamo, but lovely nonetheless. The unagi on cucumber was nice and the deep fried baby octopus tentacles was delicious.

For RM110, I must say that this buffet was good value for money..

We had multiple orders of plump scallops, juicy jumbo tiger prawns and sirloins..Cooked to perfection, each item was oozing with juices. Absolutely lurved the scallops and prawns. Simply divine.

The teppanyaki chicken came unexpected scrumptious, crisp skin and tender, luscious meat. The Saba fish was delish as it was browned just to my liking :). The beef wrap was wonderful too, we had it with enoki wrapped or foie gras. And some tricks to entertain the guest, the teppanyaki master asked us to sit back and suddenly the stacked onions on the teppanyaki table were set on fire in our darkened room. Huge ball of fire rose up to the ceiling. Such drama..

End the meal with endless cups of cold and hot sake..Bliss :)

Modern European: M on the Bund
Reading mixed reviews of M on the Bund, I was on the fence on this one. Finally did pop by in the end, we were at the Bund anyways, so heck, might as well have a meal here. We were there for lunch and well, menu was not so extensive, we only had the choice of a healthy, light lunch set or a full, heavy lunch set. As we had a heavy breakfast, all of us decided to have the light lunch..

Started off with a pretty glass of carrot, lemon and parsley juice..

Refreshing and good way to whet our appetite..

Freshly baked bread with creamy butter.

For starters, there's a choice of chicken broth with fresh herbs or a salad of roasted eggplants and tomatoes flavoured with cumin and coriander finished with yogurt. Both had very contrasting flavours- the former was mild and gentle on the palate, very much flavoured liken to chinese chicken soup while the latter was robust and strong and woke up my tastebuds immediately :p. I preferred the latter.
Mains was a choice of :

1) Char grilled baby squid with pilaf of brown rice, marjoram and tomato with lemon wedges..Slightly too charred, the burnt flavour fell into the rice, there were hints of bitterness in some bites. The warm, slight gooey rice was a welcoming sight on a cold winter day. Quite a nice main, but not to shout about.

2) Kuku Ye Sabri- or to simply put it, an iranian herb frittata..Looks pretty, but lacking in flavours. Though it was described to be filled with feta cheese and olives, it just tasted rather bland.

We finished our meal with an extremely moist carrot cake..Good portion to end the meal with a sweet note.

Our lunch costs us approx RM50 per pax- I guess it's real good value for money for the service and the breathtaking view that we got from M of the Huangpu River and Pudong (new shanghai). Food wise, it's just ok.

Kagen Teppanyaki: 28D, Taojiang Lu, Near Heng Shan lu, Shanghai, China.

M on the Bund: 7F, No 5, The Bund (corner of Guangdong Lu), Shanghai, China.

Shanghainese Cuisine, Shanghai

With that many days in Shanghai, I would be able to savour some delicious Shanghainese cuisine, no? Surprisingly, I only ate 2 proper Shanghainese meals, the rest were other chinese cuisine or even international fare. 2 good meals nonetheless :)

Shanghai Spring ( Xiao Nan Guo)

Perfect place to have dinner after Pearl Tower and good shopping at Super Brand Mall, Shanghai Spring serves a large array of chinese food, mainly Shanghainese. Ambience, other than the naturally noisy chatter in chinese restaurant, was comfortable and we get an excellent view of the Bund at night.

We left the ordering to Irene and Alfred, since they have been in Shanghai a couple of years- they should know what's the famous dishes to order here :p

Started off the meal with some cold and hot appetizers..

The pickled cucumber, sweet sour small ribs (tangcu xiao pai), Shanghai drunken chicken and Shanghai tofu were absolutely scrumptious. It's even hard to point out a favourite from these 4 as each had it's charm..The pickle cucumber was extremely crunchy, sourish and spicy, great to whet my appetite. The ribs were delicate yet tasty, the shaoxing wine used for the chicken was so aromatic that the fragrance lingers while the tofu was very flavourful.

Lion head's (Shi Zhi Tou) meatball was another famed Shanghainese dish

Here, we had it cooked with crab roe and egg sauce rather than the conventional braised. Not a good picture though, cant see the huge meatballs. The meatballs were succulent and tender; you wont feel too overwhelmed with a lot of mince meat, while the thickish crab roe sauce complemented it very well.

The stewed pork with knotted beancurd was stacked high..
I love this dish, especially the beancurd which had soaked in the aromatic sauce.
The bamboo shoots stir fried with dou miao came as a surprise..

The dou miao was super huge! How can it be called miao (young sprouts) when it's the size of choy sum? Bamboo shoots were acquired taste, so this dish was not so popular.

When in a Shanghainese restaurant, it's inevitable we ended up with some xiao long baos..

Pretty decent XLBs, the soup was tasty and the skin was not too thick. But I prefered the pan fried dumplings. The base was crisp - I took one bite and all the juices squirted out! Yummy stuff :)

I find the beancurd with crab roe/ meat a delicate dish..

My friends thought it was ma poh tofu, but was immediately aware it was not after a mouthful- the flavours were so mild, so this dish was not a big hit. I actually liked it though, the crab roe sweetness was very subtle, and pairing it with the velvety smooth tofu was perfect. Adding the vinegar changes the flavour dramatically, which I enjoyed too.

The final filler for the night (sans desserts) was the stir fried rice cake..

Find it sticky to teeth, too doughy and plain. Didnt like it.
We were stuffed but how could we leave without a taste of the desserts? :p

Tried 3 types - the 8 treasures sweet rice, glutinous rice balls with fermented rice and gui hwa, and pumpkin pancake. I liked the 8 treasures the best- the rice was warm, not too sweet and the red bean filling was a wonderful match with the rest of the ingredients. The glutinous rice balls was just were too fragrant with gui hwa- I felt i was drinking perfume. The pumpkin pancake was bland.

XinJishi (Pudong Restaurant)

This place was our last meal before we left Shanghai- it was near where we stayed, but located in the middle of the financial district.
Some appetizers to start the meal

We had vinegared jelly fish, stir fried rice cake and stuffed red dates. All 3 was different and delicious in its own way. The jelly fish was thick and ultra crunchy, unlike those puny, skinny ones we have in Msia. The vinegarish sauce whetted our appetite for the rest of the dishes. The stir fried rice cake (more like cubes) was extremely delicious- it was stir fried with chopped peanuts, mushrooms, peas, carrots, prawns- in a sweetish tangy sauce. Very addictive. The stuffed dates with warm glutinous rice flour coated with syrup was comfort food- simple yet scrumptious.

The 'popiah' was just average..

Think the veg was too rough to be wrapped as popiah filling- also, it was a tad dry..

The fried chicken in dried chillies came in a menacingly large basket..

All I could see was chillies. Glad to say, the chicken was not spicy, but juicy with very crisp skin. Good beer food :)
We braced ourselves for the surprise to the night, which came in the form of...

Can you guess what this is??

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.

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No, not deep fried grass :p. I called it crouching tiger hidden dragon..hahaha. Alfred said its called Opium fish. Not sure if that's the correct name. It's actually fish head- I guess it was baked/ smoked under this huge stack of deep fried spring onions. Very smooth, rich textured fish head- we all liked it. Extremely oily though, I had to drink a lot of chinese tea..

Shanhai Spring is located at Level 9, West Zone 0203, Superbrand Mall, 168, Lujiazui Xi Lu near Fucheng Lu, Pudong, Shanghai. Across the road from Pearl Tower.

Xin Ji Shi is located at Pudong, 2/F 166 Lujiazhui Dong Lu near Pudong Nan Lu, Shanghai. There are also other branches at (main branch) Jin Shi Jiu Jia, 41,Tianping Lu and New Jesse Restaurant, 9 Xintiandi Complex, North Block, Taicang Road, Shanghai.

Smitten with Shanghai

Hiya!
Am back refreshed, well rested (or maybe not :p) and heavier by a few pounds! :D
Need some time to sort out my stuff, so shall share some photos instead..
So where did I go? Took a break to China...
First stop was Shanghai..

I was there to visit a friend, so I must admit, I didn't do too much touristy stuff- I was shopping (lucky me, it was their year end sales!) and eating most times!

Went to Chen Huang Miao and Yu Yuan for some picture snapping and buying nice little gifts..

Of course you cant miss going to the Bund..

And New Shanghai overlooking the Huangpu river..

Good food kept us happy and sated..

Excellent meals we had :)

To burn of those extra calories we had... it's shopping at Huaihai Road, Nanjing Road..even Superbrand Mall became our fast favourite with it's good restaurants and excellent sales..

Xintiandi offer an interesting place to shop and dine with it's beautiful Shikumen architecture..

(Psst ladies- if you want tailor made Qipao, you must pay a visit to Lu Jia Bang Road-it's fabric and tailor market)

Shanghai seemed obsessed like Msia with it's high 'trademark' skyscrapers..

Like the 101 floors high Shanghai World Financial Centre..Or the futuristic Pearl Tower?

I had a fantastic time in Shanghai, such an elegant city- and of course thanks to the warm and lovely stay with Alfred and Irene - making my time there even sweeter :)

Remember me Shanghai, for I will return :D