Shanghai

I visited Shanghai over the Easter break and had some delicious food (which left me with too many ulcers though it was worth it!) I hope you enjoy the pictures - xiao long bao features a lot ;)

On our first day we decided to check out the famed xiao long bao at 南翔馒头店. Luckily, it was within walking distance from our hotel because I would not have been impressed if I actually made a trek out for these xiao long bao's. They were alright, but not the best I've had and not really worth the wait.

xiao long bao @ 南翔

fried shrimp balls and glutinous rice @ 南翔

giant xiaolongbao @ 南翔

We walked around the old town and then headed over to the former French Concession, which was close to our dinner destination. Along the way, some potarts for a snack :)

portugese egg tart from Lillian's

I'm sure the Macau version is even better but these were pretty damn delicious. Though I don't know if Lillian's cake shop really exists in Macau?

For dinner, we went to Le Shang, a modern Shanghainese restaurant on the outskirts of the French Concession area. It was actually opened by David Laris, a Greek from Australia who's now living in China and owns a number of restaurants in Shanghai. Also, the restaurant seemed to have some affiliation with Dragonfly, the best (at least for Westerners) massage retreat in China.

interior

huge bowl of complimentary white rabbits!

spare ribs @ Le Sheng - delicious!

drunken chicken @ Le Sheng

chilled cucumber @ Le Sheng

old fashioned shanghainese smoked fish @ Le Sheng

stir fried rice cake with wild vegetables and shredded pork @ Le Sheng

xiao long bao @ Le Sheng

mango pancakes @ Le Sheng

more white rabbits to end the meal :)

I enjoyed every dish we had, aside from the mango pancake dessert (the pastry was really hard). The drunken chicken had a much more subtle flavour which worked to my benefit as I usually hate the dish with its overwhelming stench of alcohol! The spare ribs were amazing in their sweet sauce, and the Shanghainese smoked fish to die for. I also found myself addicted to the stir fried rice cake. All in all, a very enjoyable meal at decent prices (each dish was under 40RMB and most hovered around the 20RMB mark!)

On the second day, we had lunch at tian zi fang, a bustling area with lots of small boutiques, galleries, and arts and crafts. It kinda reminded me of nanluoguxiang in Beijing. We chose a pseudo-Italian restaurant to eat in as they had a lovely rooftop terrace.

pesto linguini with mixed vegetables

There was nothing special about this dish, and I remember it being really pricey - I think close to 120RMB! I guess you don't really come to this area for fine dining :P

froyo time!

Shanghai's froyo's just don't match up to HK standards! The yoghurt tasted a bit off and the consistency was way too thick and creamy.

Second day dinner involved more xiaolongbao's of course!

hard at work

making vegetarian ones

veggies!

ready to be steamed and eaten by me :)

On our final day, we headed out to the Waterhouse at South Bund, a small boutique hotel which used to be a Japanese army headquarters during WWII. The architects kept the concrete facade and exposed brick but completely renovated the interior into nineteen beautifully modern and minimalist rooms. I loved it!

the waterhouse

We snagged a table at Table One for Easter brunch - three courses for 178 RMB.

apparently they have an affiliated restaurant in Singapore!

bread basket - the spreads were delicious (pesto, tuna fish & cheese, and butter)

appetizer - asparagus veloute with sea bass fritter

appetizer - BBQ mackerel with toast, salted cucumber, and horseradish

main - roast young lemon chicken with carrots, golden raisins, and almond salad

main - roast pork tenderloin with red onion tart and roasted beetroots

main - risotto of lettuce, spring onion and poached egg

dessert - lemon and lime pavlova

ice cream and sorbets (chocolate, grapefruit and vanilla)

complimentary hot cross buns for easter!

This was an amazing meal from start to finish. My asparagus veloute was soo creamy and smooth, but that sea bass fritter stole the show! The pork tenderloins rivaled the ones I've raved about at Bloom in HK, and I loved the red onion tart which was just the right amount of sweetness. Ice cream was nothing special, but I liked how they gave you chocolate and strawberry sauces for dipping!

today's snack of vitamin water after a satisfying lunch - only 5RMB in Shanghai???

Our last meal was in xin tian di. Not much to eat around there so we ducked into one of the few Chinese restaurants which didn't have a queue.

can't get enough of the Shanghainese smoked fish

creamy creamy prawns

pigeon - not as good as HK

some much needed veggies

All in all, I had some pretty fantastic food and can't wait to be back to try the twenty odd restaurants that we didn't manage to hit up this time!

Memo's

The Pun really is getting quite exciting with more and more international restaurants cropping up. I've had my eye on Memo's for the past month now ever since I noticed the new restaurant front close to the Chicken Man on High Street. Their opening kept getting delayed but finally they're up and running and I had the chance to try out their dinner one Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I put off blogging about Memo's for a while now so my memory is kinda hazy on this meal. What I do remember though is that the food was pretty darn good and Elvis serenading in the background made the meal all the more enjoyable - though I'm sure some may be bothered by the cheesiness of it all :P

interior was very homey

free complimentary bread with delicious olive paste

jamon & calamari salad ($115)

This salad tasted super fresh with perfectly grilled calamari, crisp lettuce, and ripe, juicy tomatoes. The Spanish jamon was just a tad too salty for me, but would probably be perfect for cured meat lovers. I thought the portion was pretty decent for the price.

prosciutto pizza ($138)

This looked absolutely gorgeous when it came out and I couldn't wait to dig in to my favourite classic pairing of parma ham, rocket and mozzarella. They were very generous with the ingredients and the rocket perfectly balanced out the strong flavours of the ham. The only thing I thought could be improved was the pizza base which I felt was just a tad too crispy.

lasagne ($108)

This was one of their Chefs Specials and rightly so. It was cheesy, meaty, saucy - everything a good lasagne should be! I wolfed down my first portion in heaped spoonfuls and couldn't help getting more despite how stuffed I was already. It's pretty comparable to the lasagne at Grappa's which I also really enjoy, though this one was slightly more meaty with less pasta.

We didn't have room for dessert but I'd definitely like to try their tiramisu and their Croatian pancakes (the chef's mother's recipe - it's interesting that this Italian restaurant has a Croatian chef). They do lunch sets as well which change daily and are priced at $88 for a soup/salad, main and dessert of the day.

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Memo's

#62 High Street,

Sai Ying Pun

one-thirtyone revisited

When I visited one-thirtyone for dinner last year, I was pretty certain that it was the best meal I've had in Hong Kong. ..While I've literally been counting down the days until I had a chance to revisit (Countdown Timer Pro makes it very easy on iPhones), when my lunch date finally arrived I have to say I was a little nervous. I guess it's like a second date after the first one goes seamlessly. Little idiosyncrasies might pop up that you never noticed before. Or you take a closer look and realise you're just not attracted in that way. The bottom line is, all your raised expectations from the perfect first date come crashing back down and you feel worse off and more cheated than before.

That's how apprehensive I felt about my second visit to one-thirtyone. I was realllyyy hoping that the second date would not be a dealbreaker. Luckily, all my expectations were met and I'm happy to say that one-thirtyone remains solidly at the top of my favorite restaurants list :)

We were fortunate enough to book a table on the same day as a dog party! There must've been at least 15 dogs running around the yard causing havoc while their owners sipped champagne and took pictures. I managed to snap a few too (though I definitely didn't have the same calibre of camera as everyone else at the party :P)

This is the owner's doberman Broccoli. He was actually adopted (I can't imagine why anyone would abandon a doberman) but he was surprisingly well behaved! Gorgeous.

One of the owner's other adopted dogs. I think this is a French bulldog? He looks like he's serious about guarding his territory.

There were 3 greyhounds (all quite young) who were adorable in their doggy sweaters and looked perpetually terrified. But my favourite was the husky in the background. He was gorgeous with his thick double coat, and looked so elegant and athletic running around the yard. It was funny how he took no notice of the other dogs and ran around doing his own thing. I guess he's above all that ;)

This dog came with two retrievers and they all had cute bandana's around their necks :) I liked him the most though 'cause of his auburn hair. Not too sure what breed he is.

After working up an appetite outside, we were brought to our table in the house where we hungrily devoured the bread basket:

The bread is delicious here - I especially enjoyed the rye - and I like that it comes with hot stones underneath to keep it warm throughout our meal. Unfortunately, they didn't give us the cranberry sauce that we had on our last visit which was so deliciously sweet.

salmon - scottish.charcoal.ikura

Our first course was also my favourite of the meal. It reminded me of Amber at the Landmark Mandarin - their tasmanian confit salmon also comes encased in smoke and was coincidentally also my favourite course out of their tasting menu! Once the cover is removed, you get this lovely smokiness that smells sooo good. The salmon had a remarkably creamy texture and really just melted in your mouth. I loved the ikura on top and the bits of lobster underneath in the salad. It was just a perfect party in my mouth ;)

scallop and lobster bisque

The scallop came beautifully sculpted in the shape of a rose. I was really impressed by how intricate it was.

chef caith pouring the lobster bisque

rich creamy bisque!

The flavours and texture of this were spot on. The bisque was really thick and creamy, and seasoned to perfection. At first I thought the scallop itself was a slightly strange texture (perhaps too raw for me) but it grew on me (or just slowly cooked in the hot soup :P) and by my last piece I was wishing I had more!

"forest"

Chef Caith described this as his Alice-in-Wonderland. It did look really whimsical and I liked the asymmetry. I thought it was quite amusing that he said those black dots were swamps to get stuck in! :) The US prime beef was really tender and juicy (though the cut on the right was definitely more succulent). I loved the sauce it came with and the truffle that was sprinkled on top. I do have to make a special mention of the potato in the middle of the plate. It seems strange to wax lyrical about a potato but that potato was unbelievable. I don't know how it was that delicious but it had this luscious buttery smooth taste that was enhanced by whatever goodness goes into an organic, locally grown potato. Out of this world :)

pineapple sorbet

I actually found this palette cleanser as yummy as the actual dessert! :P It was really refreshing after all that meat and I enjoyed the crumbs at the bottom.

"breakfast"

Our dessert came as breakfast because naturally everyone loves breakfast! I think this might have been the most creative dish I've ever eaten and the presentation blew me away. The egg was made out of mango (for the yolk) and a coconut pancake (for the egg white). The minute you pierced the "yolk" with your fork, it burst out lovely gooey liquid just like a real egg! I really liked it with the pancake - both of which were quite light. On the right hand side is a mini brioche, lightly cameralised on the top. It's meant to be eaten with the "butter" which was actually sauternes ice cream! This was my favourite part of the dessert plate. I love sauternes wine (a French dessert wine) and it is even yummier in ice cream form! Finally, there's a few "coco pops" and crackles in the pot at the back, accompanied by some homemade yoghurt, and the "sausage" was chestnut puree. The yoghurt and cocopops were fun to eat but I wasn't a fan of the sausage. The chestnut puree was a little too strong and thick for my liking.

All in all, this was a delicious lunch in a beautiful setting and I had just as much fun and excitement the second time round. While signing his guestbook again, I found my previous entry on 5 November 2011. Brought back such good memories :) It's only taken me four months to come back and I'm already thinking of my next visit!

I'd highly recommend everyone to try this restaurant at least once, though bookings are hard to come by. Lunches are $600 per person (4-courses) and probably more worth it than the dinners which are now $1200. (6-courses).

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One-thirty one

131 Tseng Tau Village

Shap Sze Heung

New Territories

(I'd advise taking a $30 cab from Ma On Shan)