*originally posted 25 October 2007
I don’t think it’s any great secret that our stay in Shanghai revolved around eating. The last two days, especially, were phenomenal. I’ll give you the condensed version.
Now I know, freaking xiaolongbao again! But that stuff from the day before at Din Tai Fung was amateur night. Thanks to our new hero Gary Soup we were pointed in the right direction to Jia Jia Tang Bao. You spot the locals lining up outside half a block away. There’s 8 tables total and everybody sits together–no such thing/need/care for privacy. We get shown to a table with three other hungry peeps, now staring at these two white people who apparently are hungry too, and Steve–always affable, magnetic, and knowing exactly what to say in these situations–exclaims, “Xiaolongbao!” And they immediately all start laughing too…like, yup, xiaolongbao–that’s what we’re all here for too! Through the kitchen glass you see about six young girls rolling dumpling dough like their lives depended on it, rolling their asses off. Oh, and it was sublime. We were giddy. And then (just because that’s how we roll) we marched across the street to yet another xiaolongbao place–Yang’s Fry-Dumpling. We’re making all-out messes on the table and on our clothes while we’re slurping up the soupy stuff, and we’re snapping pictures, basically all the stuff you wouldn’t do unless you wanted to stick out like a sore thumb, but who cares?
Yungfoo Elite teahouse–the most charming teahouse in the entire world. But I’ve never been to any other teahouse. Well, it’s definitely the most beautiful in Shanghai, a perfect oasis set in the middle of the French Concession neighborhood. On the outside is hectic & chaotic horn-honking world, on the inside is “aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh” (that’s my choir of heavenly angels singing a perfect soprano note). We sit in the garden and watch the sun setting while the candles are being lit…candles on the tables, in lanterns hanging from trees, candles everywhere. It’s the perfect place to spend an hour (or two), drinking a pot (or two) of chrysanthemum tea and my new favorite dish of ‘glutinous rice balls filled with black sesame, ningbo style’. Just….wonderful.
But I’m still not at the best part! Southern Barbarian. Southern Barbarian! The restaurant Steve had read about in some magazine back in the states. They serve southern Chinese cooking–oh. my. God. All I said to the owner was, “Serve me whatever you think is best”–did he ever. From the aubergines with roasted tomatoes on top…to the freshest-of-fresh grilled white mushrooms with red & green peppers…then the chicken wings on skewers (Steve’s like, “don’t just say chicken wings, they won’t understand how awesome they were–” But sometimes the simplest things…)…then beef on little wooden spears with fiery red chile peppers and mint. mint!…then the shredded potato pancake with chili powder and lime, a combo that made our mouths numb exactly 2 minutes after we took the first bite….then the fried wonton veggie dumpling wrap things in some cilantro goodness…but I haven’t even mentioned the best cheese of my life! The Yunnan fried sour cheese. I don’t think this computer can spit out any more exclamation points so I’ll stop here. But it was all a heavenly meal. We were the only ones there for the first 45 minutes, and the staff was so gracious. They hovered at the back of the room in a way that would have annoyed me back at home but I found it endearing here. This–all this, including the xiaolongbao from earlier today–was amazing. This is Shanghai. Shanghai = eating, and you eat damn well here.
Then we took a taxi to the Bund (for some reason we haven’t been hoofing it on foot like we were in Beijing. The running joke is that we’ve seen Shanghai from the back of a taxi. We’re enjoying being lazy bums who just eat, sleep, wake up and eat again…). The Bund is like Times Square meets Boston Harbour. Right on the water, lots of huge, lit-up skyscrapers, very larger than life. It’s wonderful to walk it holding hands, avoiding all the peddlers selling their crap which apparently they think we foreigners would just love to have, since they’re only hounding us. “Hello hello hello–my friend, my friend–hello, hello, HELLO!” They get more insistent the more we ignore them. So we start making up languages to throw them off…Steve is especially fond of this saying this line very fast: “smedge smedge smedge, pada-da”…to which they usually respond with nervous laughter and backing the hell off our asses. Score! Lest you think no eating is to be had on the Bund, let me mention that I did indulge in fresh cotton candy made in front of me. Yum.
And let me not forget one of my most favorite eats–Chun’s. For two hours on October 24th, we had a Chinese grandmother. This place has four tables only so you either get really really lucky or you need a rezzie. We were late for ours (like 55 minutes late–due to a ball-less cabbie. Steve was telling him what roads to take), but the proprietress responded like a typical no-nonsense grandmother would–as we think what she was saying in Mandarin was–”sit, no worries, you’re hungry, you’re here, might as well eat.” Then she brought out our feast (no ordering here–just eat what Chinese grandmother makes you!) : prawns (Marmee, Steve ate prawns!), crabs (no, he did not eat the crabs. we should just be happy that he ate prawns), duck in plum sauce, chicken soup, rice, the Best Snap Peas I’ve Ever Had, thick potato noodles, and for dessert, two perfect tangerines.
Sigh. It was all marvelous. And now we’re in Xi’an. Our hotel costing us $40ish has a computer inside the room with internet connection. So no more trying to type while the bitchy French lady is waiting for us to get done, tapping her foot inpatiently and exhaling deep breaths through her nose like a bull. We’re feeling a wee under the weather (which, really, might be a good thing: stuffy nose=loss of appetite=less pigging out) so our only plans for today are to climb the Drum and Bell Towers (something amazing and life-altering is supposed to happen there but I have no idea what) and ride bikes atop the ancient city walls.
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