Lai Lai Yong Hi Soy-Bean Milk, Shanghai

This is a Taiwanese store in Shanghai that serves soybean dishes and other small eats.

We found this outlet near the Bund and the food was surprisingly good as the place didn't look too promising at first. We went in because our feet were hurting and it was drizzling. The place was half-filled with mostly locals (you can tell by the noise level).

These xiao long baos were very good, better than those we had at one high-end shop at Nanjing Lu.

 
Traditional Shanghai soybean milk served with seaweed, sliced you tiao (a long deep-fried bun flavored with salt and garlic) and many other stuff (can't remember) but I do remember that it was very tasty. It was creamy without being oily. I thoroughly enjoyed slurping it down and dipping the extra long buns into the soup soaking up every last drop.

Another dish I must have if I have another chance to go to Shanghai.  

This is soybean curd served Shanghai-style, savory of course with seaweed, a sprinkling of dried shrimps in a soy sauce base. It was good too but I like the soy milk more.

Pumpkin buns and dumplings, both yummy.

Dolar Hot Pot Shop, Shanghai

I love steamboat especially so when the weather is cold. It is so comforting sitting around a hot stove surrounded by family and food. 

This is one of  Dolar chain stores that serves steamboat which in Shanghai, is called hotpot. The difference between this hotpot restaurant to the rest is that here each patron has the choice of his/her soup base which is served individually in a small pot with it's own small stove. Cool. Put in whatever your heart's desire and create a soup that is uniquely you. 

Seafood soup which actually has two baby hairy crabs about the size of a spoon. My choice, obviously.

A sour soup with preserved veggie, hum choi, Leanne's choice, obviously.

Heather had the mushroom soup which looked very yummy too, San San and hubby had mushroom and seafood too. 

This was also one of the very few places in China that I was told I could not take pictures but I managed a few stolen shots when the waitress was out of sight. Please excuse the

rather shoddy images as I had to snap quickly from where I sat. It was a pity as I only managed pictures at our own table and wasn't brave enough to venture to the sauce station where the culinary happenings were. The sauce station is where you, as a chef for the night, go to concoct a designer's, one-of-a-kind dipping sauce from an immense (sooo many, tooo many) variety of condiments. I was like a child in a candy store...didn't know where to start at first but once got started, couldn't stop...:p. My first sauce turned disastrous as I got too greedy and piled on everything. The good thing was, you could start all over again until you get the prefect sauce to complement your hot pot.  

Too impatient, added too many ingredients at one go and the slice of beef landed in a cold soup :O

One pot each, a tableful of food and a night of total indulgence.

Shanghai

Pudong, viewed from the Bund side on a misty rainy morning

Shanghai is a city with many facades. My first impression of the city was of confusion, dusty, noisy and basically for someone like me who originate from a 'kampong' - village with only one main street, very perplexing. Even after ten days there, I was still disorientated but beginning to feel a certain charm in the city. Below are some of the places we managed to see.

Our near-midnight rendezvous in one of the many cafes dotted all over the city. Excellent desserts and tea.

Exclusive clubs, high-end boutiques, western cafes and small family-run alley stores, all exist side by side.

The area where we stayed, Luwan, belongs to a part of the old french concession. 

Between Fuxing Lu and Huaihai Lu, it has the most unique blend of old and new, the poor, rich and very rich, preservation and demolition, all working hand in hand. 

An old tea shop

The avenues in this part of Shanghai (as in many other parts of Shanghai) are all tree-lined with a deciduous tree called Plane specially imported by the French in the olden days. 

A park near Heather's place lined with Plane trees from France

The trees create a very unique feel to the city. 

The high-end shoppers

The most famous area has to be at the Nanjing Lu where many international brands like Zara, H&M, MNG parked their stores. 

But we preferred these small shops where we can find this...

And this...

Not to take home but just food for my camera :p.

The rod-iron gate that one sees at almost every alley. Within are either offices or private residences.

The one place in Shanghai that I like very much is here at Tian Zi Fang. This is where an old district is being transformed into a quaint niche while still retaining many of its old original charm. 

Many small stores where one can sit and have a drink or browse through some antiques.

Kind of touristy but in a very pleasant manner. 

Love this table.

There were crowds but yet there are many nooks where you can walk and browse and have a cup of tea or coffee in total isolation.

Many chill-out places for everyone... locals, expatriates and tourists alike.

Came across this amazing and amusing portrait of two old ladies (piecing ears??) displayed outside a cafe in the alley. Want to learn to take portraits that tell stories like this.

A garment for the young. Very unique in that it is also a baby carrier and there is a big opening behind to facilitate the young to eh.. discharge without having to disrobe. I wanted to turn the displayed item around to take a picture but the sales girl was watching and unless I buy that thingy she was not too happy with me and my camera. 

Hand-sawn baby foot covers.

Laundry day...

and..

business as usual...just don't look up when having a cuppa in one of these lovely cafes.

Another French influence...

Shanghai Xiao Chi @ Wujiang Lu

I am not quite done yet with the food in Shanghai and Japan but navigating through the maze in my flickr album is a daunting task. I keep telling myself I need to categorize my photos properly...

Xiao chi (small eats) can be found at every nook and corner in Shanghai but it would take a strong leathery gut, literary and figuratively, to sample all.

The place I like best had to be the Wujiang xiao chi road, a pedestrian food heaven with all the small eats of Shanghai congregate in this one small alley. This famous alley will be a thing of the past soon as there is a plan to revamp it to a more upmarket street like its western stretch which now, after renovation, houses all the branded stores like Starbuck, Coffee Bean and many shopping arcades like Marks & Spencer (but all these can be found in any city in the world!!).

The scene of this pedestrian walk taken on a Sunday about lunch time when we arrived. We were not able to get much to eat as almost every stall had queue line a mile long (not exaggerating but Heather said the line moves very fast as the food get dished out speedily with very little finesse). Undaunted, we went back again on our last day in Shanghai. Below are two days' worth of Wujiang Lu...

Look at the queue even at the smelly tofu stall. 

But we managed...

Another queue for the chinese burgers, small buns which were stuffed with meat of one's choice.

All kinds of fruit candies that claimed to have some healing benefits.

Very popular kebabs with with meats ranging from tame to wild.

These tepanyaki cuttlefish looked delish but line too long.

Potstickers, a very hot item too.

Find the skin a little thicker than our dumplings but still good.

I love this bowl of spicy noodle soup. Not the bowl though...

The noodles were just like the Korean glass noodles.

It was topped with thin slices of meat (beef) and a whole array of condiments like peanuts, sesame seeds, fried shallots, garlic, preserved veggies, cilantro, chili paste and see the basin of red hot sauce at the right hand corner? That's the finishing touch. Sooo good especially in this cold, cold Shanghai weather. I am drooling writing this...

 

This was from the same stall. Eaten cold but packed with fury heat too. The noodle is much like our hor fun but thicker and with more bite.

Yang's fried dumplings, the most famous sheng jian bao and it is NOT over-rated. We only get to eat these on our second trip. They were worth the long wait. The skin was smooth, not quite as thick as bao's skin but thicker than dumpling's, with a bite and held the most delicious soup within which was real stock and not lard like the few we had by some roadside stalls. 

Leanne has decided she loves these more than xiao long bao, me too.