Shanghai - Another intermittent food indulgence

It is spring in Shanghai but the weather is like 80% windy, rainy, hazy and 20% summer. How should a spring season be in Shanghai? Definitely, not a beautiful photo view of the city.

First night's cravings start with huge portion of Korean food. When has Korean food portion been small with all those appetiser dishes?

Korean BBQ 炉边谈情

Location:
Unit 53A, Thumb Plaza, Fang Dian Road, Pudong.

浦东新区芳甸路53A号199弄大拇指广场

Tel : +86 021 50337255

This place is more famous for their Korean BBQ which looks like the left picture but it would be too much for one. So I tried to order something closest to BBQ.

Korean appetiser platter

Korean food always starts with some appetisers which comes in different plates each. This comes in like a platter. There is sweet pumpkin (middle), cold mushrooms (right), kimchi (bottom), rice cake with chilli sauce (left), and kimchi asparagus (top).

Roast beef 烤牛肉

You can cook it yourself or have the waiter to it for you. I had the waiter to it while I enjoy the appetiser platter. After it's cooked, you can eat it with rice or wrap it with lettuce.

This roast beef tasted good. The beef is slices very thinly and it absorbs the sauce.The saucy tender meat is delicious which I wrap it and rice with lettuce.

All these inclusive of a kimchi soup costs RMB90.

Lapis Thai Cuisine & Lounge 藏珑泰极

The environment of the building of this restaurant is very nice downstairs but the Thai restaurant is upstairs but the ambience it still good and it's more quiet and personal.



First floor ambience (Taiwan cuisine), find the stairs on the left and follow the sign.



Thai cuisine ambience



Location:

Unit 19, No.199, Thumb Plaza, Fang Dian Road, Pudong.

浦东新区芳甸路199弄53A号大拇指广场

Tel : +86 021 50339223

http://www.lapisthai.com/restaurant/

This Thai restaurant is very localised to Shanghainese taste. You will see what I mean. Find 1 thing that's similar.

Thai Papaya salad 青木瓜沙律 (RMB58.00)

Spicy, a little. Sweet, a little. The little sweetness of the sauce has covered the mango's sourness which I expected it to be.

Spicy Fried Minced Pork 香辣炒肉碎 (RMB58.00)

Spicy, a little. Sweet, a little. It's a nice dish just that it's has a little sweetness rather than spiciness. Sweet black sauce? Still nice with plain rice.

Stir Fried Thai Rice Noodle 炒金边粉 (RMB58.00)

This non-spicy noodle dish is actually very nice. It taste like it's stir fried with ketchup. If you're not spicy fan, this is a very nice noodle. A good enough "wok heat" 锅气 dish with crunchy prawns.

If you know mandarin, can anyone tell me what is 金边粉?

Spicy & Sour Chicken with coconut milk soup 椰汁鸡汤 (RMB68.00)

Tomyum soup that is not called tomyum in the menu. I understand why. Spicy, very little. Sweet, a little. Coconut milk, quite a lot. Breaking the term down makes it sound like it's not a nice soup but actually it is but of course if you have tried the authentic coconut milk tomyum, this is nothing close.

Assorted Snack Platter 四式拼盘 (RMB110.00)

4 types of assorted Thai appetisers. Chicken satay, fish cake, prawn cake and spring roll. The chicken satay is tender and not too dry, which is nice. Fish cake and prawn cake tasted normal not very heavy on the fish and prawn taste. Spring roll is crispy on the outside and vegetable on the inside, just normal.

Tuna House 海遊吞拿

Location:
2nd Floor, No.199, Thumb Plaza, Fang Dian Road, Pudong.

浦东新区芳甸路199弄大拇指广场2楼

Tel : +86 021 50179069

A Japanese restaurant which provides buffet (about RMB168 per person) or a la carte.

Salmon belly with salmon roe sushi

This is good! I can have non-stop supply of this. It's melts in your mouth with salmon's taste. A repeat definitely, if I'm on buffet.

Tuna sushi

This is a very different kind of tuna which I do not know. It's not in the normal dark maroon colour and I wonder if the colour faded from the thin-sliced fish. It's fresh but does not give me a "tuna" satisfaction.

Salmon roe sushi

I think it taste the same everywhere for this. The difference is only whether it's fresh enough and I think this is good enough but not yet enough. :p

Three sets of sushi costs RMB127.

Glo London Shanghai

Location:

No. 1 Wulumuqi South Road
Shanghai 200031, China.

Tel: +86 21 6466 6565

http://www.glolondon.com/shanghai-wulumuqi/gastrogrill

This place accomodates different lifestyle with different food and different ambience for different purpose.

Ground floor - Bakery Cafe

First floor - Gastro Grill

Second floor - Lounge Bar

Rooftop - Rooftop BBQ

Other than eat-in, they have pizza delivery. Check out their website for more!

Because it's for dinner, we went for Gastro Grill. Warning, the portions are big.

Crispy caesar salad (RMB78)

The vegetables are fresh which live up to its "crispy salad" with quail eggs, parmesan cheese slices, bacon strips, some olives and 2 slices of very crispy garlic bread. I loved the garlic bread for the crispiness and the garlic taste would not linger in my mouth. It's topped with their special sauce which is nice.

Beer-battered cod (RMB158)

It's fried cod fish with pea and tartar sauce accompanied with some onion rings and chips. It was unexpected to see my cod fish not being white. The coating was crispy which covered the cod's taste but it tasted fresh. The chips are quite nice but after too many pieces, it becomes too dry if not eaten with the sauces.

No comment on onion rings. x_x

Chargrilled whole squid (RMB189)

Grilled squid? Surprising delicious texture but just like expected, it's a plain taste of squid with grill taste. It's better with sauce.

Half slab of baby back ribs (RMB155)

The taste of the marinate is alright but meat is not tender and juicy enough. It can be completed only with the BBQ sauce.

Baileys & White chocolate cheesecake

The cheesecake is rather cheesy which I like but it's too boring to eat if without the strawberry puree on top. I think the biscuit base is not thick enough which makes you feel "too much cheese" by the third taste. This can only be bareable for cheese fan. Baileys? Didn't tasted it in the cake.

Ju Xiang Ge 聚湘阁



That man made this restaurant look scary :p


Location:

No.199, No. 40, Thumb Plaza, Fang Dian Road, Pudong.

浦东新区芳甸路199弄40号大拇指广场

Hunan dish restaurant. We decided on this restaurant because the dish that everyone is eating attracted us and it's our turn to try!

Two Colour Fish Head 双色鱼头 (RMB58) 

Using mud fish, it's sliced half, split with two, steamed and topped with different type of sauces, chilli (red) and spicy salted vege (yellow). Hunan dish is famous for spiciness and this is spicy for me but still edible spicy. It also somes with a plate of noodle which can eat with the soya sauce and fish. I liked the noodle.

Spicy pork rib 干锅掌中宝 (RMB68)

This is one of the recommended dish by the restaurant but it's not one that I would recommend. It is spicy, yes but the pork rib has very little meat. Mostly soft bone which was not so soft and hard bones which some were crisped. The taste is quite nice though.








Bi Feng Tang 避风塘

Location:
No. 168, 8th Floor, Super Brand Mall, Lujiazui Road, Pudong, Shanghai.

陆家嘴西路168号八层 正大广场

Tel: +86 021 22065228

http://www.bifengtang.com.cn/








A chinese restaurant chain store in Shanghai. The food are generally rather oily.

Ginger Chicken 沙姜三黄鸡 (RMB36)

It's soya sauce chicken. A little oily and the chicken has very little meat. Not that I recommend.

Fermented beancurd lettuce 白灼腐乳唐生菜 (RMB23)
The vegetable is nice with the fermented beancurd but it becomes a little oily for the last few pieces of lettuce as there's oil on the base of the bunch of vegetables. The fermented beancurd is only on the top. So if you like the fermented beancurd, it won't be enough to share.

Dried Scallop with Roasted Pork Fried Rice 瑶柱叉烧炒饭 (RMB29)

The fried rice's fragrant is nice. I couldn't really taste the dried scallop as there were shredded but I tasted the char siew. Overall, not too bad.

Fried Beef Hor Fun 干炒牛肉河粉 (RMB29)

Is tasted nice but too oily. The beef texture is just alright. It would be better just with a little less oil.

Crispy prawn rice wrap 脆皮锦绣虾仁肠粉 (RMB21)
This must be eaten when it's served, then the inner layer remains crispy. It's like friend spring roll wrapped with rice wrap (chee cheong fun). It's nice.










Food republic at Thumb Plaza

A taste of China's food court. All food looks good but I could only have a stomach to feed this much.

Location: Basement of Carrefour at Thumb Plaza, Fang Dian Road.

Les Beautes Shabu Shabu 漂亮石头火锅

Assorted Fillet Beef Meat Set 精选肥牛套餐 (RMB33) + No.1 Assorted Mushroom Hot Pot Soup 一品菌菇锅 (RMB5) + Sour Plum Juice 酸梅汁 (RMB8)

It's quite a good and full meal. The beef slices are good and delicious. The soup is clear but becomes thick and oily after you start dipping the beef slices but it's expected. So, I ate the beef slices last. Soup is refillable. Sour plum juice is too sweet. Skip the drink if you can be satisfied with the soup.

Les Beautes Teppanyaki 牛比羊大

Fillet Mignon 非力牛排 + Teppanyaki Boneless Chicken 无骨鸡腿 + Japan Steamed Egg 日式蒸蛋 + Bean Sprout with Garlic 蒜香银芽 + Seasoned Vegetables 季节蔬菜 + Steamed Rice 白饭 + Soup 例汤 (all for RMB78)

Both beef fillet and chicken were tender cooked with black pepper with rather nice vegetables. I love the steamed egg with egg roe where the egg roe gave the steamed egg some flavour. A place that I don't mind to be back for.

Nanxun Ancient Town, Huzhou 南浔古镇，湖州

A day's outing out of Shanghai going back to an ancient town was great and would be better if they can have live museum where you see people dressed up and live like how they are done traditionally.

It is about 2 hours drive from Puxi and 2.5 hours from Pudong.

This town is over 700 years of history which would take about a day to tour the whole place. Their operating hours are 08.00 to 17.00 (summer) and 08.00 to 17.30 (winter).

Maps are courtesy of the official website: http://www.chinananxun.com/

The admission fee for the whole place is RMB100 but you can just enter without purchasing the ticket first and pay individual attraction separately.

We arrived for lunch with a local experience by the river and the air breezing through with smelly tofu's pungent smell.

Nanxun famous: Smelly tofu 臭豆腐

闻闻臭 入口香 Smell smelly but fragrant after enter the mouth

You will see this kind of stalls every where in this place. The serene place does not smell of fresh air but smelly tofu. Where can you find such special combination?

Did I try? I don't even take onion. Smelly tofu? Sorry I chicken-ed out.








Double Bridge Noodle Shop 双桥面馆

Location:
At the corner of Tong Li Bridge 通利桥 and Jiang Jia Bridge 将家桥

That's how they use as the shop's name. It's one of the most stategic and crowded place once you enter the town area.

Chicken and mushroom soup noodle

This noodle advertised being the most noodle of this shop but is sold out at around 6am. Wow! really? It's because they only cook 1 chicken per day. It's sold out once the chicken is finished. *wondering* How many people get a chance to taste it?

Pork belly + Fried fish + Salted vegetable noodle

A recommended noodle by the owner which I see most people are eating and we additionally ordered dumplings.

I love this noodle. The pork belly is marinated stew and fried fish is not oily. Both meat taste is good with combination of the salty vegetable in the soup and soft noodle. The dumpling is nothing fancy but it's a very "local" taste. If I wasn't full, I can have another bowl.

2 bowls of noodle and 1 bowl of 9 dumplings costs RMB48.

Little Lotus Garden 小莲庄

Our first attraction stop. A place was completed since 1924 being one of the famous garden in Nanxun and was owned by one of the top 4 "millionaires" merchants in old days. The time of our visit did not show the bloom of any lotus but with the serene environment, you can imagine how beautiful it can be when the lotus pond is bloom.

River Cruise 水上之游

If you don't have much time and would like to take a brief look at the whole place, the river cruise is the best option. One journey from first point at Little Lotus Garden 小莲庄 to the last point at Baijian Building 百间楼 takes about half hour is there is no stop in between. You can relax and enjoy the view around.

The river cruise price below are for max of 8 person per boat
1) Round trip - RMB360 per boat
2) Single trip to last stop - RMB240 per boat
3) Single trip to half way - RMB120 per boat
We were able to negotiate the price to be RMB240 for a round trip.

The start of the river cruise journey




The back of shops and restaurants




Taoism temple



Residentials back "alley"

Mostly residentials towards second half of the journey




Last point at Baijian Building

 Baijian Building 百间楼

A place with about 100 rooms of residential buildings constructed for the servants of the Minister of Cultural and Education Bureau during Ming Dynasty.

Guanghui Bridge 广惠桥

This bridge is enlisted the the city's heritage preservation list. It was first rebuild in 1800 with 24 steps on each side.

There are more ancient residentials that we didn't visit. Half a day would not allow us alot of time to walk the place. It's a place you can relax from the bustles of city life.

Gao Ren Guan Restaurant 高人馆

One of the nice Hakka Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur and of course I went to the one nearest to home. A restaurant that my aunty calls it "Mouth drooling" 流口水 restaurant.

Location:
M-10-G, Palm Square, Jaya One,
72A, Jalan Universiti,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.

Tel : +603-7955 3266

http://www.gaorenguan.com/











A family of 6 of us had very much enjoyed the delicious food with so much temptation to keep ordering while our stomachs can no longer fill.

Char siew, Yam & dried shrimp fried rice 叉烧虾米芋头炒饭 (RM9.90)

Well fragrant rice with chey cubes of char siew and yam. The yam itself has not much taste of yam but maybe because the dried shrimp and a little of dried salted fish covered yam taste. Like all usual fried rice, it also has eggs.

 Fried glass noodle 炒冬粉 (RM9.90)

If you love char kwey teow, you will like this dish, as they are quite similar taste. I definitely do, more than towards the fried rice. Most importantly it doesn't taste too oily with prawns, chives, bean sprouts, egg and char siew.

Spare ribs with special sauce 招牌长骨  (RM30.00)

Spare ribs is one of my favourite but I'm usually very reluctant to order with the worry that it's hard to chew without eating like a barbarian. This time, no regrets, it was good. Each of us had one but was not enough, definitely! The tender juicy meat was easily peeled of from the bone. The sauce is a sweet "special" sauce. Your jaw will be happy to have it in the mouth! :)

Gao Zou Vegetable 高州心 (豆豉鲮鱼） (RM16.00)

I can't remember when was the last time I had this dish. I missed it when I saw it. It's crunchy and not overcooked with black bean dace. Truth, I miss this dish because of the black bean dace more than the vegetable itself. (^=^)/

Braised chicken with ginger & mushroom 子姜冬菇烩鸡 (RM18.00)

If you are more a "salt-tooth" person, this is a very nice dish with plain rice. The salty ginger sauce is absorbed into the mushroom and also leaving the chicken tender and juicy. Ginger is not my favourite ingredient but it's not too much on the sauce that I think it blends it well.

Tilapia fish (spicy) 金风鱼（香辣）(RM35.00)

Fried Tilapia fish that is crispy on the outside, not dried on the inside. Pour over with "nyonya" curry. I am not so sure what the curry name is but it has nyonya taste but with more santan and chilli. It is a very spicy dish not only for me (with weak spiciness tolerance level) but also for my family (with very much higher spiciness tolerance level).

Hot pepper pig stomach soup 胡椒猪肚汤 (RM18.00)

A dish that we were reluctant to order because it's so easily cook at home but did anyway. It was good spicy. The soup tasted like it has not added water and it's pure which I'm not sure how pure it is. The pig stomach looks very clean and it chewy enough that you don't need to chew too long before swallowing. I just think they should give more pig stomach. hehe :p Greedy-me!





There was one last dish that was always my favourite Hakka food and I was so indulge in it I forgot about pictures.

Braised nam yu pork belly 南乳五香焖炸肉 (RM14.00)

I think that they have put just a little more of fermented soya bean curd 南乳 because it's a little bit too salty but it's just good if you eat with plain rice. I like the overall taste and the best was how the sauce absorbs into the pork belly and you won't feel too "fat" eating the real fat.

Dessert time - Nothing much on the menu and we nearly ordered everything on the menu. Does hakka people have desserts? I don't know but I don't think these are.

Mango pudding (RM5.90)

Mango-powdered-taste pudding. A little artificial mango taste but I guess most mango pudding tastes like that. One good point is the taste tells you they don't purposely save on the mango essence.

Snow fungus with soya (RM5.90)

This dessert doesn't amze me. It's soya! Ohya, with white fungus.

Longan & sea coconut (RM5.90)

Out of the 3, I vote for this and it's what I ordered. Sweet but not too sweet and cooling but actually, it's just normal.

Allo Paris

Many people has blogged this place and yet I would love to share. It's a place that I would return. :)

Location:
Ritze Perdana 2
3, Jalan PJU 8/1,
Damansara Perdana,
47820 Petaling Jaya.








The food is good and I love it. The environment is also cosy, enough with a coffee on sofa looking at posh cars. Sorry too busy on food, I have no photos on the environment. You can surf on the net for more!

Fried Calamari
Simple yet delicious. Crispy on the outside, fresh calamari chew on the inside. A plate is not enough.

Breaded lamb
A new type of sushi. If you usually don't take lamb, this can be your start. It does not have the lamb smell that usually scares people away.

Green egg roasted lamb
Green egg? No, it's egg with vege sauce on top. The lamb is tender and fragrant. Not for my aunty who dislikes lamb tastes. What makes it more special is the base. It's not the normal mashed potato but it's mashed yam. Delicious mashed yam. :)

Seafood Risotto
It burned my tongue and yet still delicious. Can you believe it? But you can never eat too much of a white cream risotto!

Balsamic Chicken
Tender chicken with a little sweet sauce and mashed yam. Also good!

Fish and chips
Not bad for a simple dish.











And... some nice food that I don't know their names. :p