Cheap and cheerful

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I'm still in Shanghai, and today I went in search of the perfect xiaolongbao (小籠包). Dingtaifeng (鼎泰豐) has long been my favorite, and I've struggled to find a worthy rival. Years ago I went to the famous Nanxiang Xiaolongbao (南翔小籠), only to be hugely disappointed by quality that seemed to stand still from generations ago.

I arrived at Huanghe Road (黃河路) just off People's Square (人民廣場), which has now been turned into a tourist area specializing in simple, local dishes. Chief among these are two restaurants that are institutions in Shanghai: Xiaoyang Pan-fried Dumpling (小楊生煎舘) has opened up an outlet right across the street from Jiajia Soup Dumpling (佳家湯包), taking advantage of the traffic flow heading to the latter.

I arrived a little late, and the only available items at Jiajia were the crab roe and pork dumplings (蟹粉鮮肉湯包) and pure crab roe dumplings (純蟹粉湯包). While I was really tempted to order the ones with pure crab roe, the prospect of downing a dozen of these - along with the grease and cholesterol - suddenly seemed daunting. So I opted for a dozen of the cheaper ones.

The xiaolongbao were made to order, so there's a bit of a wait before they show up on your table. I watch as an army dressed in red bandanas, red aprons and bright colored Crocs assemble the dumplings.  When the basket arrived in front of me, I knew immediately that I was in for a treat. The skins looked pretty thin and already stained with the yellow of the crab roe.

Picking up the first dumpling carefully with my chopsticks, I dipped it lightly in the vinegar and popped it whole into my mouth. Heaven. I bit through the soft, thin skin and my mouth was immediately filled with the delicious mixture of crab roe and meat juice. As big of a fan as I am of crab roe, I think the combination with pork was the better choice. I quickly dispatch the dozen dumplings in the basket.

I was tempted to cross the street for some of Xiaoyang's pan-fried dumplings, since a dozen xiaolongbao really isn't enough for lunch. But I kinda felt full from the richness of the crab roe so I gave it a pass.

Late afternoon found me sitting outside by the pond at Bali Laguna in Jingan Park (靜安公園). I met up with a friend and had a few drinks here, enjoying the lovely surroundings with a cool breeze and the sound of birds chirping. It's really relaxing here, and as night fell I can see why this place is considered a romantic venue. However I was a little suspicious of having Indonesian food in Shanghai, so we decided to move somewhere else.

One of the branches of Colabo, a Japanese-style Italian restaurant, sits on the ground floor of the Apollo Building on one edge of the park. I thought I'd gie it a try on my friend's recommendation.

We started with marinated grilled calamari. These small calamari were tender, nice and creamy inside. Drizzled with olive oil and some black pepper, they were just simple and good.

The baked homemade meatball and trippa was another homey dish. Soft and tender meatballs in marinara sauce, together with some thick-cut tripe. You won't find this on the menu on some fancy restaurant, but you can get the real deal right here.

Finally we shared a bowl of my favorite pasta - spaghetti carbonara. So creamy and good, without being too watery. Say what you will but I've always had a soft spot for Japanese-style Western cuisine, and Colabo definitely hits the spot.

Oh and we took advantage of their promotion - all-you-can-drink for RMB 100 with a selection of 6 wines. Not the type of wines I normally drink, for sure, but for the first time I got to drink a Chardonnay/Chenin Blanc blend as well as a dry Malvasia. It wasn't long before I had a real nice buzz...

My final stop for the day was the bar in the Jia Hotel. Very hip and modern decor here, which is what you'd expect from an establishment affiliated with the modern hotel. It was deserted late on a Sunday night, but I'm sure it'd be pretty hopping on weekends.

Dining by the water

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An old friend met up with me today and drove me to the town of Luchaogang (芦潮港) where she has been working for the last couple of years. It’s directly south of Pudong Airport and marks the southeast corner of Shanghai.

The town has literally risen out of the ground through the will of the city government, and I was told German city planners were brought in. I think they did a good job – the roads were nice and wide, with lots of greenery and canals around supporting flora and fauna. Reminds me of certain areas of Singapore. They’ve even created Dishui Lake (滴水湖) - a circular man-made lake fed by a stream – and built circular roads around the lake.

We stopped in at Shanghai Zhiming Seafood Restaurant (上海志明海鮮酒樓) for lunch. This is on a touristy street full of seafood restaurants right by the inlet where fishing boats were moored. I guess when you come to a port town by the sea, the obvious choice is seafood!

Steamed chicken (白切雞) – made with locally raised chicken, which I presume would be more free-range? The flavor was slightly stronger than your average chicken, and I didn’t dip the meat into the soy sauce in order for me to get the original flavor.

Blanched white shrimps (海白蝦) – these tiny shrimps were very tender, and the shell stayed white even after cooking. Some of the shrimps were female and carried the very yummy roe, which were either bright orange or purple.

Marinated jellyfish (拌海蜇頭) – pretty crunchy and came marinated with soy and coriander.

Braised fish (紅燒魚) – I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the fish, but it’s something local that’s in season. The fish wasn’t particularly big but just perfect for the two of us. The flesh was tender and there were few bones needing to be picked. The thick and sweet gravy was pretty nice.

Stir-fried Indian aster (清炒馬蘭頭) – I’ve never had this stir-fried before, and as I expected the heat from the wok had turned the veggie ever so slightly on the yellow side, having destroyed some of the chlorophyll. The distinctive taste was still wonderful, though.

Lionfish and tofu soup (虎頭魚豆腐湯) – the small fish made for a pretty yummy and milky soup, although the spiny fins of the fish took a little more work. Very peppery.

I really enjoyed my lunch, having had no expectations by coming to this very rural part of Shanghai.

I found myself back in Xintiandi (新天地) as I met up with friends for dinner. While I was treated to dinner at Villa du Lac (湖庭) on my last visit, tonight we would be right across at Le Platane (梧桐). Both restaurants are nestled next to the man-made lake in the heart of the whole development.

Having consumed way too much alcohol the night before, I settled for a glass of 2006 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Nose of green apple, muscat and minerals. Sweet and ripe on the palate.

I started with roasted pigeon breast with fresh fig, Roquefort emulsion. The pigeon was very tender, and the execution was perfect. It rested on a fig, with a slice of baked prosciutto on top. The dish was an interesting combination of all the different flavors, especially the intermingling of sweet and savory tastes. Unfortunately, it was just a tad small...

The pan-seared red perch fillet with chanterelle jus was pretty darn good. Browned and perfectly crisp on the skin side, tender with lots of flavor. Nice with lots of beautiful little chanterelles and chives.

For dessert we shared the wafer-thin tarte tatin à la mode. It wasn't as good as I remembered. The bottom fell out of one of the pieces I had.

I was happy to have come back to Le Platane after a prolonged absence. Justin Quek may have gone, but the standards here are still high and well worth return visits.

Day of pigs

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I’m back in Shanghai for a few days. Took a morning flight which landed before lunch, and after a quick ride on the Shanghai Maglev, followed by a subway connection to the stop nearest our house, I found myself back at the house in the middle of rush hour lunch. I waited till after 1pm before heading out to Fuchun Xiaolong (富春小籠), which is just on my block. Apparently this is one of the more popular places in town to have xiaolongbao (小籠包). I think I’ve only had it as take-out before, but I was happy to give it another try.

I wanted a simple lunch so I started with a half-dozen of the signature Fuchun xiaolongbao (富春小籠). These dumplings weren’t bad at all. While the skin isn’t as thin and soft as the ones from Ding Tai Feng (鼎泰豐) – still my favorite – there was a good amount of meat juices wrapped up inside the skin. Bite into the dumpling and you’re sure to feel the burst of liquid gushing to greet your taste buds. Pretty simple and yummy. My only complaint is that the dough on top of the dumpling can be a bit dry and hard.

I had a single, ho-hum tasting pan-fried turnip pastry (蘿蔔絲餅), then moved on to the famous deep-fried pork chop (炸豬排). This reminded me of the Yonezawa pork chop that are served in Hong Kong’s Japanese restaurants, as it also had a nice strip of delicious fat running down one side. The main difference is that the Japanese batter seemed flufflier... I do have to say that while the pork fat was divine, the whole thing wasn’t quite as good as the Japanese pork. But at one-tenth the price I’m not going to complain too loudly. Interestingly the batter is lightly-flavored, and I didn’t feel a real need to dip it into the Worcestershire sauce provided.

I slowly enjoyed my lunch while feeling the rumble of the No. 2 subway line below me. My hunger satiated, I went back to the house to rest up for dinner.

Dinner was an MNSC event, our first off-site in Shanghai hosted by our resident member. I crossed the Huangpu River and stepped into Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) at the Pudong Shangri-La. The smell of floral air freshener permeates the restaurant, and was sure to play with our wine tasting abilities…

The dinner began with a couple of traditional Cantonese roast meat starters – some nice, fatty char siu (叉燒) with juicy, caramelized fat; and roast 3-layered pork with crackling (燒肉). Both were nicely done and I can imagine myself being in Hong Kong with these.

Dinner at Fook Lam Moon is never without the roast suckling pig (脆皮乳豬), so we had one laid out on the table. But it’s a different pig from the ones in Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong. The crackling here was definitely thicker and not as wafer-thin as in Hong Kong. There was clearly more fat here, which is absolutely fine by me! I found myself picking up more and more pieces of the pig…especially pieces with thick layers of fat underneath… yum...

We had a nice double-boiled soup with chicken - which put me over 50% full at this point – and we weren’t even half-way through dinner…

Next up was tripe stir-fried with bell peppers and preserved vegetables (鹹菜豉椒炒肚仁). I always love tripe, and even though tonight’s execution wasn’t perfect and the tripe wasn't as crunchy as it could have been, I still really enjoyed the dish.

The Kobe beef stir-fried with leeks (京蔥炒神戶牛柳) was not bad. I love a good 蔥爆牛肉 and here I could definitely taste the beef fat, although the waitress mentioned that this was 黃牛 – meaning domestic beef. Well, the texture didn’t taste like Japanese beef anyway… The balance of the dish was definitely heavily weighed towards the leeks and less beef, but I won’t complain too much as long as it’s tasty.

It seems like every trip to Fook Lam Moon must also include an order of sweet and sour pork (菠蘿咕嚕肉). While I used to pooh-pooh the dish as one which caters to foreigners with no sense of real Chinese food, I must say that it’s grown on me over the last year. Fook Lam Moon does this particularly well, where the crispy batter isn’t too thick to dominate the pork. It appears that my fellow diners agreed with me, as the plate was empty in no time.

Whole-roasted crispy chicken (當紅脆皮雞) was not bad. We also had pea shoots in ham broth (上湯豆苗) which were very tender.

What put everyone over the edge was the claypot rice with preserved meats (原煲臘味飯). We immediately tucked into the plate of meats, especially the liver sausages (潤腸) which were tender and full of flavor. My bowl of rice disappeared in a heartbeat. After a few minutes, we remembered to ask for the rice crispies (鍋巴/飯焦), and my eyes opened up real wide when the waitress lifted up the whole of the crispies in one huge piece, molded to the shape of the claypot. She broke it up for us, and each of us picked up a big piece (or two) to nibble on. It would have been perfect if it were a bit drier, and the slightly soggy texture is something I am more than happy to live with.

The wines… the three flights of two turned out to be a horizontal of the 1995 vintage, across three different Bordeaux appellations.

1995 Ausone – sweet, fruity nose but a bit alcoholic. Notes of grilled meats. 93 points.

1995 Cheval Blanc – nose was very farmy, smoky and a bit minty. Light tannins. 94 points.

1995 Palmer – very smoky with lots of minerals and a bit of brett. 94 points.

1995 Margaux – minty and smoky nose. 94 points.

1995 Mouton – minty with a bit of smoke, lead pencil and a bit grassy. Pretty nice and powerful.

1995 Lafite – ripe, fruity nose with mint.

Grace Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Select (vintage unknown but probably 2005) – Our host - being ever the prankster - decided to pour this wine into an empty bottle which used to hold 1945 Cheval Blanc and aerated for 24 hours. We were deliberately shown the old, dusty bottle to mislead us into thinking we were drinking something very old. I thought there was lots of caramel, marshmellow, very sweet with apricot and orange notes, and I gave it 95 points while the others all put their scores in the 90s. While I refused to guess the identity of the wine, my fellow members thought it was a Cheval Blanc from the 1940s or 50s… Yes, we were off by 50-60 years in blind tasting…AGAIN.

In spite of the final prank, it was a really, really enjoyable dinner. Once again I left the restaurant carrying my very full tummy, with a nice little buzz from all the great wines I drank.

Simple food and wine

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I had a casual dinner with a friend tonight at Gusto in my neighborhood. I come here from time to time for simple meals, and tonight we'd break open a bottle of wine to go with the meal. My friend was generous enough to bring a bottle of 2001 Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux. We opened this one instead of a Bordeaux red or a red Burg as it's summer. It was pretty nice, with typical lemon citrus and minerals notes while having a nice acidity balance. We ordered 4 dishes to share between us, and I was eager to try a few new things until the manager returned to tell us that 3 out of the 4 dishes we ordered were not available. What?! I know we're having a late dinner, but this is a little ridiculous... So we had to do without crudités, the Gusto burger and the barbequed ribs. Things started off with the green salad, with some Ruby Red grapefruit and avocado mixed in. Then the Cuban sandwich arrived, with shredded roast pork, prosciutto, mustard and gherkins in a panini (uh....). Not too bad I guess, since there's probably nowhere else in this town for me to get the cubanos I used to have for lunch from Victor's Cafe in New York. I do think though that the sandwich is a little on the expensive side... I didn't have any veal scallopini, but I did save room for the yummy mac 'n cheese. This is the comfort food that I order all the time, even though it's not exactly how I used to have it with the truffle oil and au gratin on top. I was pretty full, but of course we needed dessert! We split a single S'mores - with a toasted marshmellow and some Nutella on a gingerbread man. Pretty nice indeed. We also shared a fruit crumble, which was nice and came with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. I had a good time tonight as I got to unwind over a nice bottle of wine while enjoying some simple food. Now if only the seats were more comfortable...

Thai feast at home

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Tonight a group of chefs and foodies reconvened at the apartment of a friend who had generously invited us to sample her Thai helper's cooking. I was really looking forward to the feast, not just for the yummy Thai food but for the inevitable procession of desserts which were sure to follow...

We started with a nice bottle of bubbly from Moët, which accompanied the plates of deep-fried spring rolls. The spring rolls were delicious and were served with the typical sweet and spicy sauce. As I expected the carbonation from the bubbly only served to turn up the heat that was already dancing on my tongue...

Next we were presented with two starters. The pork larb was absolutely delicious, with lots of lime, shallots and chillis topped with some mint leaves. It's actually pretty spicy, and my tongue starts to burn... Normally this is served with rice, but I was having this on its own.

The pomelo salad was also excellent, with shredded chicken, roasted peanuts, coconut milk, chilli and topped with plenty of deep-fried shallots. This was also a bit spicier than I expected. So delicious, but I refrain from having seconds as I know there's more food coming.

I'm drinking plenty of ice water by now, but I also brought something to soothe that fiery sensation on my tongue. The 1999 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese was exactly the wine to do the trick. This off-dry wine from the famous vineyard in Mosel always delivers, showing typical petrol, polyurethane, minerals as well as orange marmalade. The low alcohol level (8.5%) and relatively high sugar level helped neutralize the heat.

Then we were hit with a full spread on the table. I dove right into the curry crab. The crab meat was incredibly sweet, and the addition of Chinese celery into the mix with onions and chilli peppers made things very fragrant and interesting. Wow... this was the best dish for the entire evening, and I think we all can agree on this. Finger-licking good...

There were also some yummy chicken wings, with a slightly sweet glaze and sprinkled with deep-fried garlic. I took a couple of these cause I was already getting full at this point.

The prawns were also very sweet and yummy, with lots of onions and chilli peppers. Unfortunately most of the dish was left untouched as we were pretty stuffed by this point.

Finally there was the stir-fried water spinach. Very delicious with the deep-fried galic on top. Classic veggie in any Thai meal.

I was nervous about the second bottle of wine I brought. The 2003 Clos Mimi Etiquette Rose is a wine unlike any other. The late-harvest Syrah is vinified dry with an extended fermentation, resulting in an incredible 19% alcohol. It was this high alcohol level that worried me...as it may completely clash with the spicy food. Well, my fears kinda came true.

Whatever this is, the Etiquette Rose is not a food wine in my opinion. Predictably it was very "hot" and alcoholic on the palate, with notes of acetone, floral/rose, strawberries, slightly metallic and a hint of caramelized sugar. The finish is decidedly bitter. I quickly realized that I was the only one at the table still drinking the wine. I think I'll follow winemaker Tim Spear's advice and open the next bottle with a cigar...

The long series of desserts came, starting with some cherries. We were then served some light-pink Champagne sorbet, which was light and refreshing. Then came the double-caramel ice cream, with swirls of caramel mixed in. This was so rich and so good, but I found myself unable to fit in a second helping.

Funnily enough, after a bit of time I was able to enjoy the slice of chocolate tart, where the crust was salted. Served with crème and marinated kumquat. Yummy.

Finally, my favorite arrived - the canelés. Always lovely and delicious, this was the perfect way to end the evening.