Eating Shanghai :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Eating Shanghai

Eating Shanghai – Jade Mansion

Oct12

Restaurant: Jade Mansion

Location: No.8 Century Ave, IFC, 4/F, Room L4-13, near YIncheng Zhong Lu / 世纪大道8号国金中心4楼L4-13，近银城中路

Date: August 11, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Solid slightly modern Chinese

After another great day trip to Hangzhou, famous capital of the Southern Song Dynasty…

With its glorious Westlake and…

famous Lingyin temple we return to Pudong for our final dinner in China. Sigh.

Back by the hotel is Jade Mansion, a medium/high-end chain with several different branch styles.

Including the horse wearing a lamp style.

And the horses galloping on plates.

Anyway, for only the second time on this trip I ordered some wine. NV Torrevilla Oltrepò Pavese La Genisia Cruasé. An inexpensive (by Chinese standards) and decent Italian pink sparkler.

Vegetable spring rolls.

Mushrooms, beansprouts, and tiny little shrimp. Interesting.

Foie gras cups. Like a passing appetizer at a cocktail party.

Shrimp jellies. Totally savory, and actually quite enjoyable for the jello-like texture.

Spongey fungus. The sneaky meat is back, little ham bits or something floating in this vegetable dish.

Salt and pepper shrimp. Shells on.

Boiled chicken with garlic. Like Hainan chicken. Soy dipping sauce. Very nice straight up chicken. Delicate, but with a LOT of garlic.

Sea cucumber and pork belly. Not as good as the cucumber at Shanghai Tang, but still good, with a similar rich Chinese Bordelaise sauce. The pork was incredible too.

Crispy beef with aromatic peppers. As usual, I enjoyed this dish.

Pork belly with fire-exploded kidneys. And cute pig buns! The pork belly and the rich (kidney?) sauce were great. Kidney was good for kidney. Not my favorite meat.

We ordered this cute little fellow. I felt so sad looking at him in the bucket.

Red rock fish. Nice fish, just lots of bones.

Don’t kill me! Too late 🙁

Greens.

Shanghai style vegetable noodles. Classic soy sauce stir fried noodles. Very nice.

Weird tea/bean sweet soup. Yep, these are never any good.

Fruit. Much better.

Overall, Jade Mansion was interesting. They feature a lot of high end ingredients with very contemporary plating and Chinese sensibility. For the most part I maybe prefer slightly more traditional, but this was very tasty and the service was great too.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, IFC, Jade Mansion, pork, pudong, sea cucumber, Shanghai

Eating Shanghai – Xie Wang Fu

Oct10

Restaurant: Cheng Long Xing Xie WangFu

Location: Pudong

Date: August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Hairy Crab

Rating: Amazing crab

We spent a hot day but fun day in Suzhou.
A city often called the “Venice of China” before returning to Shanghai and Pudong.

Our friend in Shanghai again offered to take us out, this time for some of the famed Shanghai Hairy Crab from Yangcheng Lake.

This lead us into the huge side lobby of an even huger Pudong tower.

And up to Cheng Long Xing Xie WangFu and…

It grandiose gates.

And even grander interior surrounded by semi-private and private dining rooms.

This is actually INSIDE the restaurant!

They had traditional musicians performing as well.

We had our own private room with a view of the atrium.

When we first sat, they showed us some of the bundled up crabs. For those not in the know, during the 9th and 10th months of the lunar calendar, autumn to you and I, Shanghai’s culinary scene is all about hairy crab. Hailing (supposedly, if not fake), only from Yangcheng Lake the crab has been famous for 2000 years!

But before that, we began with some cold appetizers like this wood ear mushroom and pearl onions.

This peanuts and other mushrooms.

A section of shrimp, pork, peanuts, and pickled vegetables.

Vegetarian abalone. Some kind of mushroom, but it was really delicious.

Crunchy pickled carrot. Sweet and absolutely delicious.

Nut cake. A bit like a peanut brittle.

Bean curd.

The simple Shanghai shrimp are everywhere! You pour a bit of vinegar over them.

Spicy crispy beef. Delicious. I really loved this dish.

Now the crab dishes invade. First some sesame buns that you stuff…

To make hairy crab stuffed buns.

Here is the meat from the hairy crab, mixed with “crab brains” (which is really crab liver).

The staff showed us the whole steamed crabs after cooking.

More smoked sweet fish.

And the crab main event. Steamed Shanghai Hairy Crab. The guts proudly in the shell, the meat to the right, and the legs carefully prepared so that you can get every morsel out without any work. Love it when it’s easy!

A close up of the crab itself.

Steamed crab meat.

Super crab cake. The meat and some kind of breading in a shell. Scrumptious.

Crab XLB. Best Crab XLB I’ve every had. Crab and crab guts inside the delicate wrapper.

A bit of lemon juice (slightly sweet) to cleanse the taste.

Crab noodles.

With more crab guts.

For topping. This was some awesome umami crabby pasta.

And fried rice cakes.

Then sweet sesame balls. Like cute little eyeballs.

Special tea.

And a kind of wonton soup to close.

Overall, a unique meal I’ve never had before. Really fabulous crab and like a fancy Chinese version of one of the crab shacks from my youth.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, crab, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Hairy Crab, Shanghai, Xie Wang Fu

Eating Shanghai – Xinrongji

Oct08

Restaurant: Xinrongji

Location: Location near the Bund

Date: August 9, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent High end Chinese

Our Shanghai friend really spoiled us today, first with a lunch at Shanghai Tang and then heading (after lots of stops) to…

The Shanghai Bund with its classic older European buildings.

And it’s new hypermodern skyline across the river in Pudong.

Then upstairs to Xingrongji for a second epic meal of the day.

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The space is extensive and beautiful.

With all sorts of cooking stations including a roast duck oven.

Fish station.

Open kitchen, etc.

Our table had a gorgeous view of Pudong and the Shanghai Tower (second tallest building in the world).

I ordered the only “real” bottle of wine we had on the trip. Price wasn’t bad either considering the setting.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. VM 92. The Cuvée de Réserve (2013 base) is rich to the point of being almost tropical in profile. Then again, that is 2013, a vintage that produced wines with both elevated ripeness and acidity, especially in the Côte des Blancs. Sweet floral notes add to an impression of exoticism. The 2013 finishes with notable depth and definition.

Honey pumpkin. Again, for the second time today. This version was more pumpkin focused.

Foie gras with fruit sauce. Second time for this too today. Not quite as good as the Shanghai Tang version as the foie itself was drier.

Roast Pigeon. Excellent rendition of this classic Cantonese dish. Rich gamey bird and perfectly crispy skin.

Roast Pork. Amazing super fatty succulent pork. Like pig candy. Just awesome.

Fish and charcoal tofu boiled in chili oil. This Szechuan dish was not nearly as spicy as in Chengdu, although it did have some Szechuan peppercorns piled in. Fish and “tofu pudding” is very common in this dish, but the charcoal tofu was unique and had a very smoky quality.

Braised beef. Another meaty rich meat dish but extremely tender and delicious.

Kung Pao Chicken. The classic.

Mapo Tofu. I always love this dish, although again it wasn’t as spicy or numbing as in Szechuan.

Peking Roast Duck. Our last duck of the trip. Cry.

The slice it table-side as they should.

Served with pancakes.

Here is the meat itself. This was a very good roast duck. Not quite as good as in Beijing, but better than we get here in California by a touch.

The condiments were extensive.

Duck soup, which I never love.

Glass noodles.

Meat pies. Pork and scallion quesadilla sans cheese.

Rolled rice and red bean rolls for dessert.

Our table.

Overall, Xinrongji was another amazing high-end Shanghai restaurant. The kitchen didn’t feel quite as perfect at execution as Shanghai Tang, but the menu was larger, offering dishes from a broad area of China, and everything we had was very good. Service was top notch and the atmosphere was fabulous.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bund, Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Peking Duck, Shanghai, Xinrongji

Eating Shanghai – Shanghai Tang

Oct05

Restaurant: Shanghai Tang

Location: 373 Huangpi S Rd, XinTianDi, Huangpu Qu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200000. +86 21 6377 3333

Date: August 9, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Really fabulous and complex flavors

In Shanghai we met up with a friend who lives in the city and she took us around to all sorts of fabulous places — really showing us the best of the best in the city.

This included the trendy XinTianDi area and a stunning lunch at:

Shanghai Tang.

Which, while we didn’t drink at lunch has a huge cellar of first growth Bordeaux and other trophy wines.

And an elaborate build out, here showing the main room.

And the snazzy corridor to our…

private room.

Drunken shrimp. Fortunately for the kids, we didn’t have to drown or kill them ourselves, this happened out of view. These extremely fresh, pretty much raw shrimp have a touch of alcohol flavor from their “drowning.”

Bean curd with vegetables. Very delicate dish with thin bean curd.

Honey pumpkin. Shanghai cuisine is sweet for Chinese, and this pumpkin was crispy but covered in a light syrup. Delicious actually.

Foie gras with rice crackers.

They cut the foie cubes and put them on the toasts for us. The liver was covered in a red wine reduction jelly and was really quite superlative.

Salad. The rarest of Chinese creatures: the salad!

Shanghai style smoked fish. This kind of almost candied smoked fish is a delicious staple of Shanghai cuisine and this version was the best I’ve ever had. The texture was both crispy and sticky and the flavor complex, sweet, and smoky.

Sea cucumber noodle soup. Sea cucumber is a weird textured (and expensive creature) and really doesn’t have a lot of taste by itself but this dish was amazing.

You add the noodles, like a Tsukemen ramen. The cucumber itself was incredibly soft and tender and the broth was insanely delicious.

Steamed shrimp with vinegar. A simple dish and one of the weaker ones, partially because the small tails were annoying.

Grandmother style braised pork belly and egg. To die for cubes of succulent pork skin, fat, and meat perfectly braised in a very Shanghai-style sweet soy reduction.

Shanghai beef ribs. Another of these reduced sugar-soy dishes, but super tender meat.

Conch soup. In a light and flavorful broth.

Scallops and vegetables.

Shrimp noodles. It’s very Shanghai style to pan fry noodles with soy sauce like this.

Bean cakes. Lovely presentation and texture.

Pan fried Shanghai pork soup dumplings. This is the classic Shanghai pan fried “thick” bun. These were some of the best versions of this I’ve had.

Shanghai Tang was at another level. The decor was amazing, the service refined, the plating elegant, and the food delivered on (mostly) Shanghai classics with a level of depth and sophistication I hadn’t experienced before. Bravo!

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (5)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cuisine, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Shanghai, Shanghai Tang

Eating Shanghai – Paradise Dynasty

Oct03

Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty

Location: 3/F, 8 Shiji Dadao, near Lujiazui Huan Lu 世纪大道8号3楼, 近陆家嘴环路

Date: August 8, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Great XLB, everything else is just ok

We got in late to Shanghai and so we just popped over from our hotel into the IFC mall…

Which is like a giant high end Beverly Center, in search of dumplings!

Fortunately for us, the mall’s many restaurants include Paradise Dynasty, which is like Din Tai Fung’s more colorful cousin.

See what I mean?

Big contemporary space.

And a glassed in kitchen.

Salad rolls. Yeah, some kind of spinach-like green rolled up — you dip it in the sesame dressing!

Plain noodles for Mr. Picky.

Steamed baby shrimp. The Shanghai classic, a bit bland.

Vinegar, ginger, and chili sauce for the dumplings.

Paradise special mixed flavor Xao Lao Bao (XLB). These were fabulous with very thin skins and eight different flavors.
You can see these listed below. My favorites were original, garlic, crab roe and Szechuan.

Steamed garlic greens.

Pork noodles. A lot like ramen.

Vegetable potstickers. Not the most exiting.

Steamed vegetable buns. Breadier versions.

Crispy vegetable spring rolls. Quite light and crispy. Delicious.

Pan fried Shanghai pork soup dumplings. Heavier than the XLB. Still delicious, but I prefer the light-weight classic XLB.

Wontons in chili sauce. Not particularly hot but delicious.

Pork pot stickers. Just fine. Not nearly as good as the XLB.

Crispy fried red bean pancakes.

Deep fried buns. Just Chinese buns, fried.

Mysterious light Asian fruity jelly. Loved it. I always like this stuff. Might have been like hyacinth and lychee.

Sesame mochi balls in syrup. A lot of the kids (and many of the adults) love this dessert.

Rolled mochi dough with red beans and peanut dust.

Overall, the XLB here at Paradise Dynasty were really good. I enjoyed the different flavors and the light wrappers were great. The other items, also pretty similar to Din Tai Fung were just fine.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.