Saturday 3 December 2011

Fattened in Shanghai (1) - Street food/Snacks

It's been more than half a year since this blog had been updated... not that we haven't been eating, so no, we're not cachexic; Nor that there was nothing we ate that was good to share... but it's been quite a packed out and eventful couple of months, so writing on the blog's been the least of my priorities! And it's been so long since i wrote, that i'd forgotten how therapeutic it is just sitting here writing about food... especially in the recent spate of battering and needless attacks from one whom i'm a direct minion to at work... sigh...
So, on this rare Saturday with no work and no call, i present the first of the entries from my recent Shanghai trip!


1. "Fresh Meat Mooncakes"
Well, that's the direct translation!
"Xian(1) Rou(4) Yue(4) Bing(3)"...
We had this (and queued for it!) on the first night we arrived, when we were taken to Nanjing walking street.
This little stall in the corner of a larger snack shop sold this interesting combination of a Bak Pau and a Tau Sar Piah... think Bak Pau filling in a Tau Sar Piah skin... YUM! The meat inside was tasty and juicy... tho for a split second, i thought about what the filling could really be... At 3 Yuen, it's a must try!




2. Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao
Found in Yu Yuan Garden, the snake-like queue to this Xiao Long Bao was phenomenal... but doing the tourist thing, we decided to queue for this famous must-try XLB which my friend brings all her visitors to... The interesting thing about this XLB was how hardy it was... unlike the very thin-skinned counterpart we find at home, which sometimes ruptures prematurely, this one is a little more thick-skinned that it could withstand the rough emptying of a "long(2)" of 16 XLBs into the little cardboard boxes they were served in. Soup remains intact, and everyone's happy!


3. The "straw pau"
This amusing snack comprises of a shallow bamboo dish with minced meat and soup (like a XLB), topped with a regular Pau skin, and a straw stuck into it so you can sip the soup before devouring the rest. Taste-wise, it wasn't great, but hey, for the novelty!


4. Pork chop on Nian Gao
This dish, the neighbour of the straw pau in the photo, was a yummy fried pork chop on chewy slabs of nian gao, drizzled with a salty sauce... the pork chop was good ol' artery clogging food, but the nian gao was just tasteless chewy flour slabs, slightly off what i expected... This one's good for sharing, cos it's really filling!


5. Lillian egg tarts
I'm an egg tart fan... but good egg tarts are hard to come by. Here at home, Tong Heng egg tarts are my favourite, and i never thought i'd find something better... until i found Lillian.
Crisp light pastry holding smooth silky egg custard... when eaten warm, just sent me going "mmmmm....". It's slogan says "Could be Shanghai's most delicious egg tarts". Totally agree. Ten thumbs up.


Ok, til the next installment of Fatttened in Shanghai, keep savouring the little joys of life... :o)