Food in China: Fine Dining in Shanghai

On my last night in China, we had a scrumptious dinner at one of the popular restaurants in Shanghai. The restaurant's name is "Lao Beijing" which direct translates to Old Beijing but its English name is actually called "Traditional Beijing Roast Duck" as that was what was written on their pack of wet tissue (I could be wrong). In China when you say "Lao Beijing", it usually means Peking Duck, which is one of the famous delicacies in China - originating from..well Beijing of course. They even have Peking Duck flavored KFC Twisters! Anyway, back to the restaurant. Just like Hefei, we were served with 20 dishes during this dinner but this time around I managed to snap a picture of every single dish. So here goes....

So, as usual, the appetizers also known as "Liang Chai" (Cold dishes) are served first. However, as opposed to Hefei, some of these "cold dishes" were actually hot dishes which I preferred.

First of the cold dishes - cold chicken feet. I never liked chicken feet even back in Malaysia so I did not touch this dish, except for the veggie sticks.

Cold and spicy lamb slices. Also did not touch this cause it looks too spicy.

Fried fish. This was actually pretty good. Thankfully, from this point onwards, the food became more bearable and actually turned out pretty delicious. 

Toufu and peanuts in sweet sauce.  This brought a unique taste to our taste buds but still bearable. 

Some veggie & garlic meticulously diced and shaped into a cylinder. Got to give them thumbs up for presentation. This dish was pretty good too.

That marks the end of the appetizers. Here comes the mains.

Another fried fish. I can't remember how it tastes like, but I do know it did not stray far from the our usual Malaysian taste..

I remember this clearly because of the unique taste. This is black fungus fried with spicy sauce (with a hint of sourness). Once again, it doesn't look spicy but it is. I usually prefer not to eat black fungus back in Malaysia because I don't find it tasty in any way but THIS one here, made me going for seconds! Who would have thought of cooking this with chili?! Brilliant.

Sauteed shrimps and ginko - another weird combination for our standards but turned out not too bad.

Stir-fried pork in spicy sauce - My favourite dish of the night! (besides the Peking Duck of course)

and here comes the duck. They really ensure freshness as they will carve the duck beside your table and then serve you immediately.

Peking Duck. The best part of "Peking Duck" is actually its skin. I'm not a big fan of animal skins but surprisingly this was thin and crunchy enough so I didn't feel so grossed out eating it.

"Chefs blow air under the skin to separate it from the fat, then brush the duck with a sugary syrup and spices. They then soak it in boiling water and hang it to dry for up to a day to ensure a crispy skin. Finally, they roast the duck." -www.worldhum.com

 So how does one eat Peking Duck? There are actually a couple of sauces and condiments to go with it (sorry, I forgot to snap a pic of that) which you are supposed to put on the duck and eat with crepe-like pancakes (IMO looks like the Indian paratha bread). Don't ask me why the Chinese are eating their specialty with Indian bread...I am trying to figure that out myself. But that's how they usually serve all over China (did a google search just to verify this).

The "paratha" bread to go with the duck. You then proceed to roll it up and eat it like a burrito. I must say, the duck on its own is great but add the sauce, and its fantastic! 

Of course the duck meat was served as well. It was tender and juicy and probably the best duck I've ever tasted. Love the fact that it is thinly sliced and de-boned so it makes eating easier. Sidenote: Do you find it comical or sadistic that the plate has a duck head staring down at its own chopped off head? hmmm

Okay, this is probably a weird dish because I don't remember eating it. I think its some animal innards in spicy soup.

Sweet and sour fried fish - our third fish of the night. This was yummy and a taste close to home. 

Fatty pork and beans with fried buns.

What looked like beansprouts stir-fried with some other veggies.

Another spicy unknown part of an animal I did not eat. Looks suspiciously like chicken knee...again. 

Stir fried green veggies - a must at every meal.

Chinese cabbage with (i think) pumpkin sauce.

Finally, we ended the meal with some dessert. These were glutinous rice balls (something like "tong yuen") with dried goji berries "kei chi". It was sweet but starchy. Nevertheless it was a good ending to the meal. 

I did a search on foursquare and found their address if you are interested in checking it out the next time you are in Shanghai. 

Traditional Beijing Roast Duck aka Lao Beijing

1 South HeNan Road, Shanghai, 上海市

(Near Bund area - 15 mins walk from Nanjing Rd Metro Station)

Food in China: Fine Dining in Hefei

On the first night in Hefei, Anhui, we were treated to a lavish meal at a 5star hotel in Hefei by our host, USTC. It was a culture shock to many of us because we were served about 20 over dishes each table. Initially, we thought our host were just being generous but turns out every meal we had in hotels/classy restaurants in China had almost 20 dishes. However, most of the dishes served were not the usual Chinese food we get in Malaysia. Therefore, some of the food were a bit too weird for my liking. 

The hotel we were at for dinner

Wine is a norm at a Chinese dinner.

So, fine dining in China usually starts with a few plates of "cold dishes" aka Liang Chai. I am alright with eating cold food but these were just too weird...

Also, it is important to note that food differs according to province in China. Hefei, which is located in the Northern side of China, likes their food spicy, hence almost every dish served had chilli/was spicy. They believe that eating spicy food in winter keeps them warm.

No idea what this is. Looks like an internal part of an animal. 

These peas look pretty normal right? I thought so too until I took a bite. I cant remember how it tasted like but all I knew was I never took a second bite..

Some spicy vegetable..or at least I think its vegetable.

Some animal skin/meat I did not try.

Cold salami. Not sure what meat though it is most likely pork.

 So while we were having cold dishes, we were also served with hot soup!

Herbal soup with pig skin. Yup, the white stuff in the soup are pig skins. The soup was actually pretty good, though I stayed away from the skins.

  Then comes the main dishes!

This looks like a perfectly normal fried meat dish but it turns out to be spicy chicken knee. Yes, knee. I could barely chew this thing. Hence, I obviously didn't settle for a second helping..The dish in the background is pork lard and beans. Another dish I gave a miss because I hate pork lard or any lard for that matter!

Finally, a dish I actually liked. Spicy shredded lamb. Note that most dishes do not look spicy based on their outlook but always turns out to be really spicy when you eat it. 

Finally a non spicy normal tasting dish. Steamed fish. 

Since we are on the topic of fish. Below is a picture of a fish we had on our second day at another hotel. I found this fish interesting because we initially thought this was the tail of the fish. Turn's out its the head! Its called a duck-mouth fish because this fish has a duck mouth. How cool is that?! In terms of taste, it tastes just like any other fish...

I did not take any more pictures after the fish but there were many more dishes including some meat, a plate of fried rice, a few more vegetable dishes and dessert. The rice is usually one of the final few dishes to be served and is pretty bland compared to Malaysian fried rice. As much as we wanted to finish it, we couldn't cause we were full and it wasn't that tasty....

Stole this picture from my friend's Facebook just to show you the amount of food we had! There are 13 dishes here and this was after removing some of the earlier dishes to make space. There were also a few more dishes that came after this picture including the fried rice I mentioned. 

All in all, it was a good experience for me as I got a taste of fine dining in Northern China. However, I prefer their normal food for commoners though! I guess fancy dishes of animal innards are just not my thing. Thankfully, as we progressed downwards to Central China the food served got less and less weirder (and less spicy too). Will blog about my fine dining experience in Shanghai soon which was much much better! :)

To view my travelogue on Hefei, Anhui please click here.

Food in China: Suzhou Noodles & Xiao Long Bao

This marks the first blog post about food abroad! I am going to start of with Suzhou, though I actually went to Hefei first but I cannot wait to blog about this place first because it is the place I tasted the best Xiao Long Bao in the world. Thankfully for Wikipedia, you can check out the definition of this glorious little white bun stuffed with meat here. I did not get a chance to taste the Xiao Long Bao in Shanghai (which is apparently where it originated from) but Suzhou is close enough so I am happy. It was a rainy day and we just finished touring the Humble Administrator Garden. We settled on one of the little shops down the road from the garden for lunch and it was the best lunch I had in China. Pics below! *drools*

This is the restaurant we ate at. We decided on this place because the tour guide was eating here...If you can read Chinese then you'll know the name of the place. I unfortunately can't read Chinese so I can't help translate.

Xiao Long Bao. The difference with Xiao Long Bao's in Malaysia is the size! The Malaysian version is often tiny and the pastry tends to be more to the hard side..and sometimes oily too. This one here is fluffy and soft on the outside and generously stuffed with pork. It was so worth it and delicious, I kept craving for it when I got back. 

This is the inside, the right amount of meat meets the right amount of dough. 

Here's the Suzhou Mien (Noodle). I am not sure if the weather was cold or this was just too good. When I tasted it..it felt...so good. The soup was hot which is perfect for freezing rainy weather and it was definately flavourful. The noodles were also thick and springy. I miss this already...why don't they have this in Malaysia?!

Of course the noodles came with meat to accompany. You can choose from a variety of pork, beef and lamb. I chose the lamb because eating lamb in winter keeps you warm! The lamb was also full of flavour, just like the noodles. Unfortunately, I ate so much I couldn't finish the noodles (the portion is huge!) but it kept me contented for the whole afternoon. I guess this is how a foodgasm feels like.....

The interior of the restaurant. 

That's the end of this post. My next post is going to be about "Fine Dining" in Northern China.

To view my travelogue on Suzhou, please click here.

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Travelogue: Shanghai

After a 45minute train journey from Hangzhou, we finally arrived in Shanghai on a bullet train which reached 301km/h. Of course, there's the Maglev which goes up to 500km/h but that takes you to the airport. It was my second time in Shanghai and as usual their traffic jams and 5 tiered highways greet us with much love. It was a jam packed trip, full of company visits (for work) and shopping of course! This time around I managed to take photos of The Bund at night which is MUCH better than the day time. However, it was freezing like mad and Shanghai was the coldest among the four cities I have been to as it is located right next to the huge Huangpu River.

Nickname: Paris of the East (used to be occupied by the French)
Weather: 3C-7C (feels like negative at night as it is very windy due to it's coastal nature)
Time difference: None
Accommodation: Shanghai Salvo Hotel, Guangdong Road (10 mins walk to Nanjing Road & The Bund)

Getting off the bullet train - glad to be able to take the first cabin right in front, hence I could snap a picture before the train speeds off! 

Lunch with Dad @ Glo London, French Concession

O'Malley's Irish Pub @ French Concession

Nanjing Road at night and my new fake hair

French architecture galore at the famous Shanghai Bund

The other side of Shanghai's Bund - New Pudong District

Company visit to the biggest foreign car manufacturer in China

What I call "normal" food. Thank goodness. 

Huai Hai Road at night

Haul from the 5 storey H&M on Huai Hai Road and the fake market near Tiantong Road Subway station *blogged here*

Cops on beamer bikes

MRI Scans at Pudong

Nanjing Road during the day

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

Taking the subway after my second visit to the fake market

Our last dinner in China which deserves a whole post for itself...coming soon :) 

That's all for my adventures in cold and hazy China. I'm still considering on whether I should blog about food first or India. You will find out in the next post :)