[View with PicLens]

And we’re back with more back-logged China trip entries! While we were looking for restaurants in Shanghai, Amanda and I came across a lot of positive reviews for Yuxin Sichuan. I know it’s kind of weird to be looking for Sichuan food in Shanghai, but Amanda and I were craving it and going to Sichuan was little bit out of the question . We’ve mentioned Sichuan food in our past entries, so we figured it’d be a good to taste the real McCoy for a point of reference.

The first thing we noticed – when they say spicy, they mean it. No kidding around here, most of the dishes made our eyes tear (manda: tears of happiness!).

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

This was the spicy sliced beef which is a cold appetizer dish.  The dish is made with lots of crushed spicy peppercorns and like many Sichuan dishes, has a mouth numbing effect rather than a burning heat effect. This is not fu qi fei pian which I love to get at Sichuan places but it’s very similar.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

A dish that I had to have is Gong Bao Ji (Kung Pao Chicken). What I liked about this dish is that unlike kung pao chicken we’re served back state side, it’s a lot more savory and spicy than it is sweet. The dish was also predominantly chicken unlike the fair share of kung pao “chicken” that I’ve had that ended up mostly being celery or hot peppers.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Amanda and I ordered the mapo tofu more out of curiosity of how authentic mapo tofu is made and how it tastes. I was surprised to see that the mapo tofu was sitting in a hellishly spicy soup. The tofu that they used was a silken texture which made the dish very delicate despite the intense spicyness.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Of course we can’t go to a Sichuan place and not order the hui guo rou. In terms of taste, this actually wasn’t far off from what I’ve had before. This dish actually uses just regular scallions instead of leeks which I typically use. The main difference is in the spicy sauce that they use which makes this dish a lot more spicy than what I usually make. The pork belly is also sliced incredibly thin and likely cooked over a much higher heat to burn away some of the fat and also to give the pork belly a slightly crispier texture.

All in all, this was an exceptional meal even if it was way too much on the spicy side. If you do get a chance to visit this restaurant, I would definitely suggest coming with more people and ordering enough non spicy dishes as to not completely destroy your taste buds

[Click image to show Gallery]

[View with PicLens]

On Monday we went to the Metromix Hot Plates Live event at the Chelsea Market for tastings from some choice restaurants.  It was crowded, hot, and noisy but some of the dishes made it all worth it.

5 & Diamond

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Grilled Portuguese Sepia with Piquillo Pepper Puree, Sherry Shallots and Olives – did you know that Sepia is a type of cuttlefish? beautiful, colorful plate with sweet peppers and briny with the olives.

White Sangria – watered down but still refreshing (because it was so hot!) Still not sure why Metromix didn’t serve plain old water.

Bar Suzette

Strawberry Shortcake Crepes – sweet and delicious  morsel of food. It was a little messy because the macerated strawberries dripped a little on our fingers, but with the Nutella it was awesome.

French Onion Crepes – We were skeptical at first but they tasted great! Savory hearty onion flavor, and gruyere cheese?! I’m there.

Dickson’s Farmstand Meats

Barbecued Short Rib Sliders – Big slabs of tasty beef short rib topped with pickles and bbq sauce. The bread was outstanding, not too dry and sturdy enough for the fillings. These guys ran out of sliders and this was the Best Dish here.

D.O.B. 111

“Mind of Lamb” Ravioli with Prawns, Coral Sauce & Golden Chive – Just fyi, “Mind of Lamb” is the chef’s euphemism for lamb brains. I could only make out the taste of the fishy prawns though. Nice spicy heat in this little ravioli.

La Newyorkina

Hibiscus Flavored Mini Paletas – The  perfect summer popsicle: sweet, flowery, and refreshing. They should consider selling these in grocery stores!

Lucy’s Whey

Artisanal & Farmstead Cheeses – Slivers of Parmesan cheese, which went well with the bread from Pain D’Avignon.

Mikey’s Burger

Mikey’s Sliders – This was disappointing. I really wanted to like this slider because it’s a slider…but with corned beef! Unfortunately it had waaaay too much horseradish, and we had to put it down.

Pain D’Avignon

Cranberry Pecan Roll – Lots of cranberries in here, much better than the Cheese Bread.

Gruyere Cheese Bread – Had this been warmed up, the cheese inside the bread wouldn’t have been so hard.

Satay Junction

Beef Satay – The beef was tender but not too flavorful by itself. There were dipping sauces but they were slightly too chunky for skewers of this size so the satays couldn’t hold any sauce on them. The teriyaki sauce was pretty strong.

Vegetable Mie Goreng (Fried Noodles) – I thought these were okay albeit a little oily, but my friend who is Malaysian (and knows a thing or two about Mie Goreng) said these weren’t good at all. I’ll take her word for it.

Employees Only

These guys had impeccable stations: plenty of samples, quick refilling, and a good attitude. Every other stand seemed to be overwhelmed by the crush of people, so props to EO!

[View with PicLens]

Shanghai Renjia is a chain restaurant that has multiple locations throughout Shanghai.  As the name might suggest, Shanghai Renjia specializes in Shanghai cuisine.  Amanda and I didn’t really know much about local foods aside from soup dumplings so we ended up asking our waitress for her suggestions and favorites.  What we ended up with was a nice (and somewhat large)  meal that we hope is a good sampling of Shanghai food.

Amanda and I actually found this place on the tourist map that we picked up from Din Tai Fung.  The location that we went to was close to Jing An Si which is a really brightly decorated temple that seems to be in the middle of a shopping district.  The restaurant was really big and spacious and very well furnished.  Everyone inside happened to be wearing suits and fancy clothes but I don’t think there’s any strict dress code so no need to feel intimidated.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

One thing that I’ve noticed in China is that everyone orders in excess.  It’s actually slightly wasteful… so just be prepared for the amount of food you’ll get if you ask for recommendations .  Our waitress started us off with white cut chicken and Amanda and I wanted to try the soup dumplings.  These soup dumplings were absolutely massive and they were literally a sack of soup.  You eat this dish by poking a straw into the dumpling and drinking the soup which was made with pork spare ribs.  The soup was extremely flavorful and the skin managed to keep some texture despite all the soup.  The white cut chicken was very delicate and came with a vinegar dipping sauce that complemented it well.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

The main portion of a Chinese meal will usually consist of one or two meat dishes, a vegetable dish, and a starch and our meal was no different.  The main dish we had was a hairy crab dish that was cooked in some sort of garlic and black bean sauce, which the waitress told us was a specialty at the restaurant.  The crab was very strong in flavor and honestly, a bit too difficult and messy to eat for us to really recommend it.  The vegetable dish that accompanied the crab was Buddha’s Delight and in contrast to the crab, was very light and helped us balance the strong crab flavor.  Our rice dish was fried rice with bacon and “xue cai” served in a sizzling clay pot.

Overall, we were pretty pleased with the amount of food that we got and the price (converted to USD ).  In retrospect, it might make sense that the only people in the restaurant were the ones who were dressed nicely since the place might be considered a little too pricey for the locals to drop by on a consistent basis.  There was a large section of the menu with abalone, shark fin, and other very expensive delicacies that Amanda and I didn’t try and I’ve also read that their dim sum is quite good.  Plenty of excuses to come back for another visit!

[View with PicLens]

Before we left on the China trip, my mom told me that Beijing was known for it’s hot pot.   My mom occasionally set up a hot pot at home when she didn’t really feel like cooking and we did the same on frigid days back up at Cornell University.  It was pretty cold and rainy when we landed in Shanghai, so when our family friend asked me where we wanted to go eat, we didn’t hesitate to suggest hot pot.  Not exactly Beijing hot pot, but it satisfied our cravings until the real thing

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

This place was an interesting experience.  It seemed like a pretty popular hang out spot for the locals as it was absolutely packed with what looked like college students or recent graduates.  If you’re looking for a quiet more intimate experience, this is definitely not where you’d want to be.  The restaurant is pretty much one big cavernous rooms with smaller private rooms off to the side.  This place is set up for family style hot pot so all you have is one large communal pot.  What’s nice is that if you’d prefer two types of broth, they’ll add in a divider so that the two don’t mix.  When ordering, you place orders for the type of meat, the type of sides, and the sauces.  I was a little disappointed that the place didn’t have a open sauce bar like many hot pot places do.  The two broth types that we ordered were fish, which had actual fish carcasses in it, and a spicy broth.  One thing to note if you do find yourself in a restaurant in China, when the menu notes that something is spicy, think of it as at least twice the spiciness level of something labeled as spicy in an western style Chinese restaurant.  We were pretty impressed with the rich flavor in the broth but nothing else really struck us as amazing other than the sheer quantity of stuff you get for cheap.

You didn’t think we’d go to Shanghai and skip out on xiao long bao, did you?  Well, we didn’t.  In fact, we went to two restaurants for the sole purpose of trying out their soup dumplings.  I remember a while back, a debate came up about who had the best soup dumplings: Joe’s Shanghai, a NYC Chinatown favorite of our’s that originated in Flushing, or Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese restaurant that specializes in soup dumplings.  At the time, we said unequivocally that Joe’s Shanghai must have the best simply by virtue that we couldn’t imagine a better tasting soup dumpling.  We were wrong.  Oh so very wrong.

Din Tai Fung

[Click image to show Gallery]

[View with PicLens]

Din Tai Fung is actually a restaurant chain and has a lot of locations all throughout Shanghai.  I’m actually a little embarrassed to say that I can’t quite remember which one we went to, but I’m pretty sure it was the Xintiandi location.  The menu was chock full of amazing looking food but we had just come from another meal and sadly could only try their xiao long bao.  I’ve noticed that restaurants in China will charge you per person for tea, and Din Tai Fung was no exception to that.  But at 8RMB a person (or a little over $1), I didn’t really mind.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Amanda and I ordered a tray of their crab meat xiao long bao and a cold beef dish just because we felt bad about not getting anything else.  We had tried our hand at making this beef dish in an earlier recipe but it was quite humbling to see just how much better the real deal is.  The flavor on the beef was very subtle and the texture was melt-in-your-mouth soft. It was served in incredibly thin slice and with a vinegar based sauce.  The next thing we had was the xiao long bao and man, was it good.  First thing we noted was that the skin was incredibly thin and soft.  Fairly delicate, but won’t break on you if you’re careful picking them up  The meat filling seemed to be almost entirely crab meat, which gave an intense seafood flavor.  The soup inside the dumpling also had great flavor yet wasn’t as greasy or heavy as the soup dumplings that we get from Joe’s Shanghai.

Crystal Jade

[Click image to show Gallery]

[View with PicLens]

Another restaurant chain noted for their soup dumplings is Crystal Jade.  Amanda and I stopped by for dinner and this time, we were able to sample a little more of their menu.  We started with dan dan mian which is a pulled noodle dish.  It was a nice dish but nothing particularly memorable, we had ordered it in place of rice because we wanted to try something new.  The next thing we had was Crystal Jade’s pork xiao long bao.  I don’t know if it’s just my preference for pork based xiao long bao but I liked the xiao long bao from Crystal Jade over the ones from Din Tai Fung.  Aside from the flavor, the soup dumplings were almost identical in terms of the texture of the dumpling skin and lightness of the soup.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

We also ordered a pan fried eel dish with peppers because of our fondness for eel sushi.  Unfortunately, the texture of the eel was really rubbery and chewy in texture so we weren’t too happy with the dish.  Thankfully we ended on a very high note by ordering the deep fried turnip pastry.  The pastry dough on the outside was super flaky and the turnip filling was piping hot, another one of those dishes you should be careful with when biting into.  If you ever find yourself at Crystal Jade, this dish is an absolute must.

[View with PicLens]

Since we didn’t really know any locals in the area, we relied a lot on websites to point us in the right direction for good eats.  One of our searches led us to Wujiang Road which was described as the most popular snack district in Shanghai.  Being the diligent foodies that we are, we felt that it was our obligation to check it out

Lillian Cake Shop

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Lillian Cake Shop is a little pastry shop that’s at one of the ends of Wujiang Road.  Their specialties are dan tat (egg tarts) and they actually have two varieties that they sell.  Lillian also has a host of other pastries like the typical ham and cheese sandwiches, the hot dog buns, and the pineapple buns.  We weren’t particularly interested in the other pastries so we went straight for the egg tarts. The first thing to note about the egg tarts is that the crust is super flaky.  It practically starts crumbling as soon as you pick it up.  The egg filling is nice and soft and isn’t the unnatural neon color that we sometimes find back state-side.  It also has a very strong egg flavor that’s complemented by some sweetness instead of vice versa.  To top it off, the egg tart looks like it’s finished under a broiler to give a slight caramelization on top.  The other egg tart has a filling that is actually cheese based and reminded us more of a cheesecake than it did of an egg tart.  It was a little heavy for our liking and the texture was so fragile that it was actually a little difficult to eat.

Yang’s Fried Dumpling

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

This one was actually a little difficult for us to find.  It’s not located on the street side but is actually tucked away on the second floor of a shopping mall-esque structure off to the side.  The line there is pretty long and seating is very scarce so the easiest thing is probably to just order to go.  A neat feature they had was a large window in the wall where the line forms so that you can see the cooks making the dumplings.  I was very impressed to see that the skin and the filling was made from scratch.  The dumplings themselves were amazing and definitely worth the wait.  They’re roughly the size of a xiao long bao but the skin is much thicker so that it can withstand being fried.  There is such a high turnover rate that the dumplings you get are fresh off the fryer.  Our’s were so hot, they started to melt the plastic take out container!  The dumpling has a nice crispy skin and is tossed in sesame seeds to give it an extra crunch.  The meat filling is very flavorful and, like the xiao long bao, has a some piping hot soup so be careful when taking that first bite!

[View with PicLens]

If you’re ever feeling a little Asian’d out like we were, Shanghai Centre is definitely a place you’d want to check out.  It’s located near the intersection Nanjing Road West and the North South Highway. The complex is a huge building consisting of luxury hotels and apartment units.  At the bottom is a mall, a theater, and plenty of food options.  The two places we decided to check out were Element Fresh, a small chain specializing in western cuisine, and Paul, a French pastry shop.

Element Fresh

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Element Fresh was a welcome sight for us.  The staff there is well versed in English and the facilities were all modern and clean.  I had been craving a meaty sandwich for a while so I ordered the Warm Italian and Amanda decided to go the healthy route and ordered the Grilled Primevera Salad.  The Warm Italian was everything that I expected in an Italian sandiwich: piled high with deli meats and topped with a nice thick layer of melted cheese on top.  There were some greens in the sandwich that helped give the sandwich a slightly crispier texture.  Amanda’s Grilled Primevera salad on the other hand was pretty much the opposite of what I got.  The salad was made of some mixed greens and topped with grilled slices of eggplant and squash, thin slices of parmesan, and drizzled with some balsamic vinaigrette.  The prices for each item were slightly higher than what we had typically been paying with each dish coming in around $10 USD.  If you’re feeling thirsty, a bottle of soda will cost you about $4 USD.  It definitely isn’t cheap eats and I’m not even sure if I would consider it worth the price, but it definitely provides a reprieve from Asian food if that’s what you need

Paul

[Click image to show Gallery]

[View with PicLens]

Paul is a small pastry shop that’s also located within the Shanghai Centre complex.  It’s conveniently located right next to Element Fresh, so I would definitely suggest skipping the dessert menu there and hopping to Paul to satisfy any cravings for sweets that you might have.  The place is very fancy looking and offers plenty of seating.  It also has a standard cafe offering and even has a sit down menu but we didn’t get a chance to look into those.

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Rendering of template singlepic-dual.php failed

Amanda and I were both pretty full so we only tried the chocolate eclair and the gourmandise.  Both pastries were freshly baked so they were nice and flaky.  The eclair had a healthy amount of chocolate and is an easy recommendation for anyone chocolate lover.  Something we had noticed while we were in China was that sweet food, whether it be chocolate or a Frappacino, were more muted in flavor.  I was glad to see that these pastries weren’t lacking in the chocolatey-ness.

The second stop on our trip was Shanghai.  Amanda and I were completely on our own for this leg of the trip so we relied a little more heavily on travel guides and food sites to find the good eats here.  Shanghai is all about the xiao long bao and seafood and we definitely made sure we got a fair share of both while we were here.

Shanghai Centre

• Paul
• Element Fresh

Wujiang Road

Xiao Long Bao

• Crystal Jade
• Din Tai Fung

Nan Hua Huo Guo

Shanghai Renjia

Yuxin Sichuan

[View with PicLens]

We saved the best for last! Tonkichi is a cozy, swanky japanese tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet) restaurant nestled in the World Trade Centre mall in Causeway Bay.

The first thing you notice at Tonkichi is the crowd waiting for tables…on a Tuesday night. That’s always a good sign.  Once you get in, you’re seated at a table with some of the cutest, niftiest tonkatsu “gear”: a bowl with grooves on the inside and a pestle to grind your own sesame seeds for your sauce, and a little wooden stirring spoon, little pots for salad dressing, soy sauce, and the actual tonkatsu bbq sauce which is uniquely tangy with (I’m assuming) mirin, rice wine vinegar and worcestershire sauce.

So after you grind the sesame seeds, just pour in as much desired bbq sauce. Simple and fun!

Overall, this was the best meal I had in Hong Kong.

This will be a pretty short post, since we didn’t spend tootoo much time here (much more time was spent in the casino)

The Rossio is one of the buffet dining places inside the MGM Macau and when we got there on a Tuesday afternoon in March, there was no one here. We got seated, ordered birthday smoothies, and went to work on the buffet. The buffet had a variety of Asian and Italian dishes, along with a section for fresh sushi, prawns, raw oysters, and even a salumeria (italian cold cuts) section. And I have to say that we really only enjoyed the seafood bar and salumeria. The asian section featured the westernized chinese food crap like General Tso’s Chicken and Chow Mein. The italian section featured heavily sauced dishes and meats like rolled beef that were dry and unappetizing. The pasta bar where you create your own pasta was gimmicky. If they had just stuck to one type of cuisine, their dishes would’ve been better.

That being said, we still enjoyed ourselves. We probably liked the italian cold cuts so much because we missed our NYC pastrami and corned beef.  The dessert offerings were only ok: most of them were made of sponge cake and a light frosting. The one we did actually like was a mango jello/pudding.