xiaohua

上海游記 Nov. 28 – Dec. 16, 2009 Day 2, Shanghai December 23, 2009

上海游記 Nov. 28 – Dec. 16, 2009

Day 2, Shanghai, Saturday, November 28, 2009

Xiaobao was waiting for us at the luggage claim area just outside of the Immigration check point when we arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport. It was around 9:30 PM on Saturday, November 28, 2009. His 2-hour direct flight from Taipei on 中國南方航空 “zhong1 guo2 nan3 fang1 hang2 kun1” or China Southern Airline arrived about 2 hours before ours. We came in from Washington DC with a 3 hour stop over at Narita. We were tired from the long trip but were happy to see Xiaobao.

On the way in, our temperature was remotely monitored for fear of H1N1 flu. The immigration officer didn’t ask me anything and waved me to pass quickly as if he was getting ready to go home. It must have been a long day for him too. After the immigration check point, our luggage wasn’t checked at all and we didn’t even have to fill out any forms for the Custom Agency. I stored one piece of our luggage in the storage station, the heaviest and largest of the three, in the airport for about $4 per day so that we didn’t have to drag it along.

The cab ride to our hotel in Pudong 浦东 pu3 dong1 took about 40 minutes with little traffic on the highway. I chose Oriental Riverside Hotel – 浦东东方滨江酒店 “pu3 dong1 dong1 fang1 bin1 jiang1 jiu3 dian4” with a great view of Huangpu River – 黃浦江 “huang2 pu3 jiang1” and the Bund – 上海灘 “shang4 hai3 tan1.” The hotel is in the same building as the Shanghai International Convention Center – 上海國際會議中心 “shang4 hai3 guo2 ji4 hui4 yi4 zhong1 xin1” where many important Chinese leaders such as 江擇民 “jiang1 zhe2 ming1” and the others, have had meeting here. I chose this Pudong hotel for our first leg of stay in Shanghai because it is close to where the action is: the 东方明珠 “dong1 fang1 ming2 zhu1” or Oriental Pearl Tower , 金茂大厦 “Jin1 Mao4 da4 xia4” or Jinmao Tower and 正大廣場 “Zheng4 Da4 Guang3 Chang3,” a six-floor shopping center on the edge of Huangpu River. It is also very close to Riverside Promenade or 滨江大道 “bing1 jiang1 da4 dao4,” a stretch of riverside opposite to the Bund where we had fond memories last time we were here.

After we checked in and settled down, we decided to get something to eat. It was a little before 11 PM. By that time, the hotel restaurant has already closed and there was no restaurant near by that was opened at this time. If we wanted to get something to eat, we had to go to 浦西 “pu3 xi1” or west of 黃浦江 “huang2 “pu3 jiang1.” Well, why not Pu Xi 浦西?

Our taxi driver suggested 黃河路 “huang2 he2 lu4.” He said that 黃河路 used to be very popular with Shanghainese people for a late night dinner even 10 to 15 years ago when Shanghai just started to grow. It now has been replaced by more glitter and flashy places such as 淮海路 “huai2 he3 lu4” or 新天地 “xing1 tian1 di4.” He said that back then many late night singers, business men and movie goers liked to come to here for a midnight snack and taxi drivers were known to flock to this place for a chance to take half drunken customers to their destinations. He said that the food was still good but it lacked the showy appearance of new places frequented by younger crowd and foreigners.

We gladly accepted his recommendation because this was exactly the type of restaurant I wanted to have a typical Shanghainese food.

Well, we weren’t disappointed.

We walked around and saw as many as 10 restaurants still opened on this stretch of street with very dim street lights. Several guys wearing heavy coat paced in front of some restaurants in order to lure passer bys to their restaurants. We chose 悅來酒家 “yue4 lai2 jiu3 jia1,” a traditional Shanghainese restaurant and ordered several popular Shanghainese dishes as our first meal in Shanghai.

Cold Plates:

馬蘭頭香干 “ma3 lan2 tou2 xiang1 gan1” (¥18) – 馬蘭頭 is a small, low growing (2” – 4”) green leaf plant commonly seen in Jiang Su Province. It grows easily in the field and is a famous dish in the city of Nanjing. 香干 refers to flavorful dried bean curd, white in color, cut into very small pieces. This dish was made with small amount of salt, rice wine and sesame oil which complemented the slight sweetness of 馬蘭頭. It was nutritious and healthy.

四喜烤麩 “si4 xi3 kao3 fu2” (¥10) – 烤麩 is a side dish made by practically every family in Shanghai and consumed on a regular basis. 烤麩 is made from soy bean milk with a sponge-like texture. It is chewy and maybe soaked with sauce. It is typically prepared with bamboo shoots, black wood ears and peanuts hence the name 四喜 or four times of happiness.

Entrées:

糖醋石斑魚 “tang2 cu4 shi2 ban1 yu2” (¥168/斤) 石斑魚 is groupers with slightly firm meat and very little bones. It is one of my favorite fish. 糖醋 literally means sugar and vinegar. It is a common cooking technique consisted of

• Carefully slicing both sides of the fish with several cross cuts to expose the bone in the middle so that the fish can be quickly prepared,
• Lightly seasoning the fish with salt and covering the fish with corn starch and/pr flour,
• Dusting off excess starch and/or flour,
• Deep frying the fish to golden brown and place it on the serving plate
• In a hot wok, quickly stir-frying green onion, minced ginger and garlic slices
• Adding chicken broth, tomato sauce, sugar, vinegar and rice wine and then bringing  it to boil,
• Thickening the sauce with corn starch (in water,) adding a little sesame oil and pour it over the fish.

The shrimp on top of the fish was not necessary though.

蟹粉獅子頭砂鍋 “xie4 feng3 shi1 zhi1 tou2 sha1 guo1” (¥58) – This is a very special dish because I like to make and eat 獅子頭, ground pork meat balls, very much. Unlike the 獅子頭 I made which sometimes took on an odd shapes because I was lazy when deep-frying them, these ones had crab meat in it and was made like a ball; the way they were supposed to be. The meatballs were served in a 砂鍋 or clay pot which retained heat longer. It came out bubbly with steam rising from the soup. With Chinese cabbage or Napa cabbage, it was a fitting dish for a chilly and windy night. It was also very good for older people because it was easy to digest and nutritious.

As for 主食 “zhu3 shi1” or starch, we had 雪菜肉絲麵 “xue3 cai4 rou4 shi1 mian4” (¥28). It was a nice comfort food on a damp cold night. 主食 in China referred to the starch portion of a meal. It can be white rice, fried rice, soup noodles, pan-fried noodles, 饅頭 “man2 tou1”, or 銀絲卷 “yin2 shi1 juan3”, or 大餅 “da4 bin3,” etc.

The service was spotty but the food was very good. Every dish was lightly seasoned just the way Shanghainese dishes were supposed to be. 糖醋魚 was crispy on the outside, tender and fresh on the inside. The sauce was tangy with right balance of sweetness and sourness. We liked it a lot and consumed the fish quickly. We also finished the cold plates probably because we were pretty hungry when we first arrived at the restaurant. Xiaobao probably didn’t have a lot to eat on the airplane. I only ate cold noodles and salad and some ice cream on ANA. I skipped ANA’s main course completely so that I could enjoy 正宗的上海菜 or authentic shanghainese Cai. The crab and pork meat balls had the right texture and the broth was light but savory. We finished almost every dish and the whole thing only cost us less than $36. What’s even nicer was that we didn’t even have to tip the waiter; a saving of $7 for me. I already liked what Shanghai had to offer the first night.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed. It was a nice beginning for our vacation is Shanghai, albeit in an old and dull section of Shanghai where streets were narrow, lights were dim, the roads were uneven and houses were low and old. Some places on the street even had puddles of water which we had to walk around. Some restaurants had neon lights which helped us navigate the darker sections of the street because shops were closed for business. Some restaurants, including the one we went to, converted the dinning room into two levels; each with a low ceiling in order to accommodate expanding businesses in their heydays. The tables were old and the chairs have been used for many years. there weren’t fancy table cloth, silverware or wine glasses. There weren’t waiters with electronic gadget on their wrist and food runners that you haven’t met to bring your plates to your table. There wasn’t any service to speak of but the basic level of taking your dish to your table with a half-hearted announcement of what it was. But, the place reminded me of many restaurants I went to in different parts of Taiwan about roughly 40 years ago. It made me felt like I went back to a place in my memory where everything was so familiar and warm.

Well, enough nostalgia because we had to go out into the cold and call for a taxi to take us back to our hotel. By the time we got back to our hotel, we were ready for a good night sleep. The room was modest in size and in decoration but comfortable. It has a big window facing the Huangpu River and The Bund. I couldn’t wait to see The Bund tomorrow from my window because I paid $40 extra for a room with the grand river view instead of the less appealing garden view. I hoped the extra money was worth it.

Well, time to sleep because we still had a full day of sight seeing ahead of us tomorrow.