3890 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306
650-858-2878
$
L&L Hawaiian BBQ, a chain fastfood restaurant that has a niche market in the Hawaiian food business, recently opened up a small shop down the street from Stanford, and having spent many vacations in Hawaii eating so-called "Hawaiian" food, I knew I had to take Jenny there to expose her to this unique cuisine.
It did not disappoint. For those of you who haven't had Hawaiian BBQ before, let me warn you that it is not for small eaters, vegetarians, or health conscious dieters. Their menu is either meat or seafood. Highlights include chicken katsu, a breaded chicken cutlet with katsu sauce to dip in (tastes like a better version of sweet and sour sauce), or the Hawaiian BBQ mix, which includes Hawaiian beef, chicken, and shortribs. Each dish comes with white rice and macaroni salad. The dishes portions are huge, so for $4.25, the mini-plates will still sufficiently stuff one person. Be sure to also get one of the Hawaiian Sun brand juices - guava is my favorite. They go great with the food.
Bottom line: If you're hungry, come here. If you're looking for quick, cheap food, come here. If you're looking to impress a date, skip it - the styrofoam trays aren't incredibly romantic.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Il Fornaio
Yummy but not amazing. The lamb risotto that Reid got was especially flavorful, although it's rather asian in taste. My sausage ravioli was good too, rather thin, not puffy like i had been craving. maybe the best part was dessert, zambioni cream with berries and sorbet in a martini glass. Mmm.
All in all, a good restaurant with a nice atmosphere, but rather pricy. Osteria still reigns as our Italian restaurants of choice in downtown Palo Alto. But maybe we'll walk on over here for dessert.
All in all, a good restaurant with a nice atmosphere, but rather pricy. Osteria still reigns as our Italian restaurants of choice in downtown Palo Alto. But maybe we'll walk on over here for dessert.
Friday, August 11, 2006
If You're In Shanghai...
Yes, alot of these are very ex-pat-friendly but still very very good.
Things You Must Do:
1) Go to the 7th floor bar terrace of '3 On the Bund' at night and get a 60 yuan cocktail (cheapest they have) and check out the view. It's such a chill environment there, and it's quite a thrilling experience. You may have to reserve a table if you're planning to go on Friday or Saturday, since there's bound to be alot of people there. 8621-6321-0909
2) Go to Pudong Science High-Tech Park at night. You can get there on Subway Line 2, and walk around, beautiful landscaping and architecture. There's also a symphony hall if you want to buy tickets for a concert beforehand.
3) Go to the Shanghai Museum, especially the first floor sculpture exhibitions.
4) Go to Duo Lun Lu in the HongKou area, the street looks like Shanghai in the 1930's, very serene, hardly any foreigners, sells lots of arts-related things. Even an Old Film Cafe showing Chinese movies from the 1930's and such.
Best Clubs and Bars:
Face Bar- Ruijin Guest House, 118 Ruijin Er Road. Get a feel for the French Concession area where there's lots of historic houses and beautiful parks.
Fuxing Park- 3 different clubs around there, go there to see the beautiful Shanghainese girls and really ugly Shanghainese guys
Cloud 9- Jin Mao Tower in Pudong- gorgeous bar and view from the top of all of Shanghai
Hengshan Lu- a bar street. Zapata's is one of the better known around there.
Best Restaurants:
- WuJiangLu- good xiao chi street in the city, with really good shen jian at Xiao Yang Shen Jian (on a big yellow placard). You can get there on Subway Line 2, stop at Shimen Yi Lu, it's right outside exit 2.
- Prime Taste- In XuJiaHui (you can get there on subway line 1), on third floor of Metro City Mall (the big round ball looking building), really good Singaporean restaurant for pretty cheap (30 yuan per dish, definbitely fills you up, good for lunch)
- Chatea- best red bean shaved ice and cold drinks in the city, something I sorely missed in Beijing after coming to Shanghai during national week, you can find Chatea in just about every shopping area in the city.
- Din Tai Feng in XinTianDi-- its xiaolongbao are better than Nanxiang although the pricers are much steeper (like 50 yuan for 8 xiaolongbao). Beautiful restaurant. Go there with a group of people and it gets much cheaper to order alot of food and not go over 50 yuan each per person.
- Shanghainese food, go to Shanghai Uncle, pretty pricey but very worth it. They have fantastic ribs that melt in your mouth and river shrimp that's unique to Shanghai and far better than any other shrimp I've tasted. Again a place to go with a large group.
- Gintei- all you can order Japanese restaurant for 150 yuan. Probably the best thing about Shanghai are these all you can order buffets that have amazingly quality dishes and all you can drink wine, beer and sake. Very close to XinTianDi. Address is B1-A,Shanghai Times Square, 99 Huaihai Zhong Road. Definitely reserve a table first. Telephone: 63918105
- Azul is a fantastic Spanish tapas place. Located next to Hengshan Lu, the bar street. Address 18 Dongping Road. Call 6433 1172 to reserve. Recommend the calamari. Highly recommend the large pitcher of peach sangria, very light but quite potent bc you want to just keep on drinking it. Don't order too much bc this place is pricey, and the portions are huge anyway.
- Da Marco- supposedly the best Italian restaurant in town. All the Italian ex-pats love going there. There's one in Yandang Lu, which is really close to XinTianDi.
Things You Must Do:
1) Go to the 7th floor bar terrace of '3 On the Bund' at night and get a 60 yuan cocktail (cheapest they have) and check out the view. It's such a chill environment there, and it's quite a thrilling experience. You may have to reserve a table if you're planning to go on Friday or Saturday, since there's bound to be alot of people there. 8621-6321-0909
2) Go to Pudong Science High-Tech Park at night. You can get there on Subway Line 2, and walk around, beautiful landscaping and architecture. There's also a symphony hall if you want to buy tickets for a concert beforehand.
3) Go to the Shanghai Museum, especially the first floor sculpture exhibitions.
4) Go to Duo Lun Lu in the HongKou area, the street looks like Shanghai in the 1930's, very serene, hardly any foreigners, sells lots of arts-related things. Even an Old Film Cafe showing Chinese movies from the 1930's and such.
Best Clubs and Bars:
Face Bar- Ruijin Guest House, 118 Ruijin Er Road. Get a feel for the French Concession area where there's lots of historic houses and beautiful parks.
Fuxing Park- 3 different clubs around there, go there to see the beautiful Shanghainese girls and really ugly Shanghainese guys
Cloud 9- Jin Mao Tower in Pudong- gorgeous bar and view from the top of all of Shanghai
Hengshan Lu- a bar street. Zapata's is one of the better known around there.
Best Restaurants:
- WuJiangLu- good xiao chi street in the city, with really good shen jian at Xiao Yang Shen Jian (on a big yellow placard). You can get there on Subway Line 2, stop at Shimen Yi Lu, it's right outside exit 2.
- Prime Taste- In XuJiaHui (you can get there on subway line 1), on third floor of Metro City Mall (the big round ball looking building), really good Singaporean restaurant for pretty cheap (30 yuan per dish, definbitely fills you up, good for lunch)
- Chatea- best red bean shaved ice and cold drinks in the city, something I sorely missed in Beijing after coming to Shanghai during national week, you can find Chatea in just about every shopping area in the city.
- Din Tai Feng in XinTianDi-- its xiaolongbao are better than Nanxiang although the pricers are much steeper (like 50 yuan for 8 xiaolongbao). Beautiful restaurant. Go there with a group of people and it gets much cheaper to order alot of food and not go over 50 yuan each per person.
- Shanghainese food, go to Shanghai Uncle, pretty pricey but very worth it. They have fantastic ribs that melt in your mouth and river shrimp that's unique to Shanghai and far better than any other shrimp I've tasted. Again a place to go with a large group.
- Gintei- all you can order Japanese restaurant for 150 yuan. Probably the best thing about Shanghai are these all you can order buffets that have amazingly quality dishes and all you can drink wine, beer and sake. Very close to XinTianDi. Address is B1-A,Shanghai Times Square, 99 Huaihai Zhong Road. Definitely reserve a table first. Telephone: 63918105
- Azul is a fantastic Spanish tapas place. Located next to Hengshan Lu, the bar street. Address 18 Dongping Road. Call 6433 1172 to reserve. Recommend the calamari. Highly recommend the large pitcher of peach sangria, very light but quite potent bc you want to just keep on drinking it. Don't order too much bc this place is pricey, and the portions are huge anyway.
- Da Marco- supposedly the best Italian restaurant in town. All the Italian ex-pats love going there. There's one in Yandang Lu, which is really close to XinTianDi.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Stacks = Best Breakfast
Stacks - 600 Santa Cruz, Menlo Park, CA
http://www.stacksrestaurant.com/
I've been to Stacks four times, but I still feel like a novice coming here, since their menu is filled with so many options! Belgian waffles, crepes, pancakes, omelettes, etc etc etc. Arrive early or make a reservation, since there is always a crowd here, especially on weekends.
I'd personally recommend the Crab Crepe, which has fresh crab meat stuffed inside a savory crepe and topped with Hollandaise sauce. Or try any of their Belgian waffles with thick whipped creme on top. Or the applewood bacon/avocado omelette. Or the Lox Scram. I think you could close your eyes and pick something and I'd be excellent.
So go here.
http://www.stacksrestaurant.com/
I've been to Stacks four times, but I still feel like a novice coming here, since their menu is filled with so many options! Belgian waffles, crepes, pancakes, omelettes, etc etc etc. Arrive early or make a reservation, since there is always a crowd here, especially on weekends.
I'd personally recommend the Crab Crepe, which has fresh crab meat stuffed inside a savory crepe and topped with Hollandaise sauce. Or try any of their Belgian waffles with thick whipped creme on top. Or the applewood bacon/avocado omelette. Or the Lox Scram. I think you could close your eyes and pick something and I'd be excellent.
So go here.
Soused Shrimp
Shanghai Uncle
Price: $$$
Address: By the Bund, google the name :D
Everything was excellent. There were too many dishes to remember, so I'll talk about my most memorable dish: soused shrimp! It's a dish of live shrimp who get drunk off the sauce, and so they won't move around much when you pick them up and eat them. They were so fresh and yum. (granted I only had one, had a bit of trouble getting over the being alive aspect) Anyways this restaurant is awesome, highly recommended for anyone who wants one proper dinner in Shanghai.
Price: $$$
Address: By the Bund, google the name :D
Everything was excellent. There were too many dishes to remember, so I'll talk about my most memorable dish: soused shrimp! It's a dish of live shrimp who get drunk off the sauce, and so they won't move around much when you pick them up and eat them. They were so fresh and yum. (granted I only had one, had a bit of trouble getting over the being alive aspect) Anyways this restaurant is awesome, highly recommended for anyone who wants one proper dinner in Shanghai.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
$1 Boba!
It's true. Right next to the cluster of Asian restaurants on Durant, are two competing boba stores that have bargained their boba down to $.49! Ah yes, but the catch is that with tax it comes to $.64. And if you want pearl's it becomes $1.19. But, it's such a deal! You can get either the regular milk tea or Jasmine green tea. And it's good too. I guess it's not that hard to make Pearl Milk Tea in the first place, though.
Thai Basil
2519 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA
I was at Berkeley this Saturday for a meeting and grabbed lunch in the infamous Asian ghetto (Lee calls it a Grotto) where there's a small cluster of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and boba restaurants. Thai Basil was the one I checked out today and I was quite impressed. I ordered the Pad Thai, a traditional favorite at Thai restaurants, but for a price of $6.30 with tax and a more than ample plate of noodles, chicken, egg, bean sprouts, and prawns, it was definitely worth every cent. The food is cooked fresh and unlike most restaurants in Berkeley that take only cash, Thai Basil takes credit card! The menu is cheap but the portions and quality of food is excellent. I caught sign of a bunch of "Best of Berkeley" awards posted on the door, and the food certainly confirmed that. We ate there for lunch and it was packed by the time we left; always a sign of a good restaurant. It's not the most romantic place to eat, but if you're on a budget or looking for something quick to grab, Thai Basil is you place.
I was at Berkeley this Saturday for a meeting and grabbed lunch in the infamous Asian ghetto (Lee calls it a Grotto) where there's a small cluster of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and boba restaurants. Thai Basil was the one I checked out today and I was quite impressed. I ordered the Pad Thai, a traditional favorite at Thai restaurants, but for a price of $6.30 with tax and a more than ample plate of noodles, chicken, egg, bean sprouts, and prawns, it was definitely worth every cent. The food is cooked fresh and unlike most restaurants in Berkeley that take only cash, Thai Basil takes credit card! The menu is cheap but the portions and quality of food is excellent. I caught sign of a bunch of "Best of Berkeley" awards posted on the door, and the food certainly confirmed that. We ate there for lunch and it was packed by the time we left; always a sign of a good restaurant. It's not the most romantic place to eat, but if you're on a budget or looking for something quick to grab, Thai Basil is you place.
Monday, July 10, 2006
1221
[exerpt from an email I wrote Reid]
I went out with Jon to dinner tonight. So first we were set on this one restaurant called 1221 that was in all the guidebooks. It's on the other side of town, and it took us both quite a bit of time to find the place. It's this very suspect spot that's in almost a back alley with a unprofessional-looking entrance, but I'm sure it was the spot we were looking for because everyone inside was either white or with someone white. Sadly we were turned away bc we hadn't made a reservation ahead of time, even though most of the tables were empty! Agh, I had no idea so many restaurants in Shanghai these days need a reservation. That seems very unchinese. Anyways, I took Jon to my favorite japanese restaurant and we stuffed ourselves silly there. By the end, we were looking at the tables on both sides of us, and one had delicious smells of shabu-shabu meating wafting at us, and the other table was happily slurping on udon noodles. Both looked incredibly tempting but by then we were on the verge of bursting. Jon was very conscientious; he ate all the chicken and steak pieces even though we had ordered too much and didn't want them anymore. Man, he's a restauranteur's dream.
Bottomline: Although we never had the chance to try it, 1221 is likely not good judging by the lack of local Chinese customers, the three customers who were there at peak dining hours, and the fact that they were all tourists who were lured there (as we were) by guide book dining suggestions.
I went out with Jon to dinner tonight. So first we were set on this one restaurant called 1221 that was in all the guidebooks. It's on the other side of town, and it took us both quite a bit of time to find the place. It's this very suspect spot that's in almost a back alley with a unprofessional-looking entrance, but I'm sure it was the spot we were looking for because everyone inside was either white or with someone white. Sadly we were turned away bc we hadn't made a reservation ahead of time, even though most of the tables were empty! Agh, I had no idea so many restaurants in Shanghai these days need a reservation. That seems very unchinese. Anyways, I took Jon to my favorite japanese restaurant and we stuffed ourselves silly there. By the end, we were looking at the tables on both sides of us, and one had delicious smells of shabu-shabu meating wafting at us, and the other table was happily slurping on udon noodles. Both looked incredibly tempting but by then we were on the verge of bursting. Jon was very conscientious; he ate all the chicken and steak pieces even though we had ordered too much and didn't want them anymore. Man, he's a restauranteur's dream.
Bottomline: Although we never had the chance to try it, 1221 is likely not good judging by the lack of local Chinese customers, the three customers who were there at peak dining hours, and the fact that they were all tourists who were lured there (as we were) by guide book dining suggestions.
Chatea
Red bean shaved ice
Address: all the trendy shopping areas
Price: 29 RMB
Chatea is a chain restaurant in Shanghai that I have mixed feelings about. I've come here once for dim sum and was not at all impressed. In addition, their service is fairly inattentive and all of their restaurants have a trend of being very dark almost to the point of feeling cavernous. However, they make fantastic cold drinks (albeit pricey ones), and featured here, the best red bean shaved ice concoction that I've had in Shanghai. This shaved ice is huge! About a foot tall. And it's incredibly flavorful compared to other ones that I've tried. Some people might wince at the 29 yuan price for a cold snack, but it's meant to be shared by two or three people. I tried to finish one by myself, and got 3/4 down before I had to admit defeat.
Address: all the trendy shopping areas
Price: 29 RMB
Chatea is a chain restaurant in Shanghai that I have mixed feelings about. I've come here once for dim sum and was not at all impressed. In addition, their service is fairly inattentive and all of their restaurants have a trend of being very dark almost to the point of feeling cavernous. However, they make fantastic cold drinks (albeit pricey ones), and featured here, the best red bean shaved ice concoction that I've had in Shanghai. This shaved ice is huge! About a foot tall. And it's incredibly flavorful compared to other ones that I've tried. Some people might wince at the 29 yuan price for a cold snack, but it's meant to be shared by two or three people. I tried to finish one by myself, and got 3/4 down before I had to admit defeat.
Home cooking!
I do miss going out to eat with Reid who not only likes food almost as much as I do but he also gets excited about writing these reviews and reminds me to do them.
After three weeks in Shanghai now, it's starting to get a little boring enjoying food by myself. That's why I'm very happy I live with a host family. They're absolutely wonderful people who invite me to dinner every night. And I do join them every now and then; it's a relief to not always ponder where I'm going to go for my next meal. It's nice to eat at a family table again. Usually my host grandma makes four dishes plus a soup. And invariably it's something delicious that I will never be able find in restaurants.
[Tomato and egg soup, green peas, bitter melon with pork, braised short ribs, a vegetable that I've never heard of before, and edamame beans with dried fish]
Hehe every night, I can always expect my host mom to come into my room and hand me a plate of fruit too. Oh I'm getting too spoiled here.
After three weeks in Shanghai now, it's starting to get a little boring enjoying food by myself. That's why I'm very happy I live with a host family. They're absolutely wonderful people who invite me to dinner every night. And I do join them every now and then; it's a relief to not always ponder where I'm going to go for my next meal. It's nice to eat at a family table again. Usually my host grandma makes four dishes plus a soup. And invariably it's something delicious that I will never be able find in restaurants.
[Tomato and egg soup, green peas, bitter melon with pork, braised short ribs, a vegetable that I've never heard of before, and edamame beans with dried fish]
Hehe every night, I can always expect my host mom to come into my room and hand me a plate of fruit too. Oh I'm getting too spoiled here.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Misc. Shanghai Yummies
Mango and Taro Ice Cream Scoops
Address: Inside Raffles Shopping Mall, Ren Min Guang Chang
Price: 5 RMB
Chocaccino
Address: TZG office
Price: 0
Bento Lunch- Pepper spareribs over rice + soup
Address: Free Delivery!
Price: 12 RMB
Banana Chocholate Crepe
Address: Basement of Trust-Mart, my neighborhood supermarket
Price: 12 RMB
Din Tai Feng
After hearing how sad Reid feels about Manz dining, I feel rather evil posting up pictures of all the food I've been eating, but since our only reader seems to want pictures, up they go! I have been getting much odd looks from neighboring diners who are wondering who is that girl eating and taking pictures by herself, so I hope the efforts are appreciated.
Din Tai Feng
Address: Xin Tian Di, the very back building, second floor
Price: ooh quite pricey- 100 rmb at the very least
This restaurant is part of a chain in Taiwan but it's been much touted in the NYTimes and other news sources as being a completely undiluted source of tasty xiao long bao. Its location in Xin Tian Di is beautiful and spotless, and the service is one of the finest I've had in China. I felt so at home and comfortable here, and best of all the xiao long bao were just as good as people said, the best I've had in Shanghai so far. However, the other foods- the meat buns, and the drunken chicken in wine sauce-- were only ok and the prices did raise my eyebrows a bit. So I had a very "jia chang fan" or a comfort food meal for a rather expenisve price in China, but again, the restaurant won me over into believing that you pay for what you get, and that includes the setting and the service.
Din Tai Feng
Address: Xin Tian Di, the very back building, second floor
Price: ooh quite pricey- 100 rmb at the very least
This restaurant is part of a chain in Taiwan but it's been much touted in the NYTimes and other news sources as being a completely undiluted source of tasty xiao long bao. Its location in Xin Tian Di is beautiful and spotless, and the service is one of the finest I've had in China. I felt so at home and comfortable here, and best of all the xiao long bao were just as good as people said, the best I've had in Shanghai so far. However, the other foods- the meat buns, and the drunken chicken in wine sauce-- were only ok and the prices did raise my eyebrows a bit. So I had a very "jia chang fan" or a comfort food meal for a rather expenisve price in China, but again, the restaurant won me over into believing that you pay for what you get, and that includes the setting and the service.
On the homefront at Stanford...
Things have been quite tame at Stanford, since I've been just saving money and twiddling my thumbs, waiting for Jenny to come home before we can go on our food adventures together. I don't know about you, but reading about Jenny's experiences in China is sure making me jealous, because Manzanita Dining is certainly not as appealing. Excitement ensued yesterday for me when we got Cinnamon Toast Crunch for cereal! Yeah, I had two bowls of that for dinner, because nothing else was good.
Sigh.
Sigh.
Independence Day Pride
MSN's Top 10 American Foods
This article makes me feel so happy to be an American. Oh I forgot how wonderful American cuisine could be! Happy Independence Day!
This article makes me feel so happy to be an American. Oh I forgot how wonderful American cuisine could be! Happy Independence Day!
Monday, July 03, 2006
Happy sushi hangover
Kisshin Restaurant
Address: 1168 Nanjing Xi Lu, 2nd floor of mall
Price: 158 yuan
Hmm I've noticed that all the recent for the past couple of weeks have been mine. Reid's been very bad, or very good however you might see it, about going out to resturants. On the Shanghai front here, I'm reeling from a sushi hangover. I got the all-you-can-order deal from Kisshin, this sushi restaurant I've been planning to go to ever since I stepped foot on Shanghai soil, and last night, I finally couldn't wait anymore for someone to go with me and charged in there myself.
It was amazing! Two hours of all the handrolls, sashimi, shrimp tempura, teppan steak, grilled unagi, egg custard, gyozas, plum wine that I could eat. They were all wonderfully prepared and I definitely had my fill of all. My bottomless capacity for salmon, unagi, and uni seems to have finally been filled. The service was also nice and fast. The place is located next to my workplace...dangerous, oh so very dangerous.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Lao Ban Zhai
Lao Ban Zhai
600 Fu Zhou Lu
When I first came to Shanghai, I had scoured Chowhound, the NYTimes, and all other websites to find the must-go-to restaurants. This one was recommended by Chowhound, and so I took a fellow Stanford CEAS friend here.
In short, it was pretty bad. We ordered the braised eel that was recommended, a small garlic-stirfry vegetable dish, and a Mongolian beef. The beef was soaked in that spring-roll dipping sauce, and both the other two dishes were nothing special at all. The restaurant also closes by 8pm, which was the strangest thing.
600 Fu Zhou Lu
When I first came to Shanghai, I had scoured Chowhound, the NYTimes, and all other websites to find the must-go-to restaurants. This one was recommended by Chowhound, and so I took a fellow Stanford CEAS friend here.
In short, it was pretty bad. We ordered the braised eel that was recommended, a small garlic-stirfry vegetable dish, and a Mongolian beef. The beef was soaked in that spring-roll dipping sauce, and both the other two dishes were nothing special at all. The restaurant also closes by 8pm, which was the strangest thing.
Haagen-Daz Cafe in Shanghai
Haagen-Daz
Addres: Nanjing Lu, every other Shanghai popular shopping area
Haagen-Daz has gotten pretty innovative in China. They have created these beautiful looking ice cream pastrie dishes that even come in dim sum themes, Japanese bento themes. Their menu is absolutely beautiful, I was tempted to photograph every page. Unfortunately that was only because their ice cream doesn't look nearly that nice in real life. I ordered an Italian ice cream concoction that should've looked like a delicate French high-end dish, but it had a glop of ice cream here and there in a pool of strawberry syrup. The fruits accompanying the ice cream were also frozen. Happily, the passion fruit sorbet and ice cream scoops were actually quite good, but I had paid 72 RMB for the presentation, not for two small scoops of Haagen-Daz ice cream.
I would only recommend coming here to get regular Haagen-Daz ice cream cones, not their creations.
Chai Ze
Chai Ze
Address: Shi Men Yi Lu, next to the Four Seasons Hotel
Price: 20-40 RMB
Chinese Dining Lesson #1) Avoid lunch crowds, bring a book just in case, and also bring a camera to capture all the pretty food.
This cafe is next to where I worked. I came here on my first day of work for lunch. I honestly didn't know where any restaurants were, and so I tried the never-fail plan of following a large crowd to wherever they were going to lunch, which happened to be here.
The first impression was how lovely the cafe looked, with western small tables covered with white linen and lounge-styled chairs, and black marble walls. And best of all, they had Chinese rather than Western pop songs playing softly in the background. The size of the menu could give the Cheesecake Factory a run for their money. Unfortunately this restaurant did the one thing that I absolutely hate- seating someone else at my table. Now eating alone in restaurants is already quite uncomfortable with other people staring at you, but it's quite another level of awkwardness altogether when you have a man across the table from you who is either staring at you or determinedly looking anywhere but you. That day, I had forgotten to bring a book so I could only sit in silence with him while I waited for my food.
I got the curry fried rice with chicken (12 RMB) and a liang feng (8 RMB), or cold rice noodle cubes dish. The rice noodle dish was good, and the curry fried rice didn't quite have the curry taste, but the portions were both huge, and I also got complimentary soups and watermelon slices. So my huge lunch kept me happily occupied from having to look up at my across-the-table lunch partner. It all cost 23 RMB, or the equivalent of $3. Pretty nice.
I also came back here for dinner the next night, around 5pm when the restaurant was happily empty, and got their Beef with Onion on Stone Sizzler (36 RMB), plus a Cold Cucumber dish (8 RMB). Both were just ok, so overall I concluded that this restaurant is good if you're in the area and want a restaurant that's not too Chinese, but it's not a can't-miss Shanghai destination.
Reporting from Shanghai
I'm in Shanghai from June 21st til August 25th, so expect many many restaurant reports as I will be eating out most of the times. Happily, Reid will still continue eating his way through Norcal.
The first thing I did when I landed in Shanghai was scour through Chowhound, the NYTimes, and other food websites that mentioned good eats. I made my little list, and have been slowly trying all of them, as well as other places that happen along my way.
Xin Ji Shi
Address: Xin Tian Di, Building 9, #2
This place was recommended by the NYTimes. And it is EXCELLENT!
Backstory: I had gone to Xin Tian Di, the most notorious expat hangout in Shanghai, because I was craving a steak and a friend of mine had mentioned finding a good deal there the other day. However I hit up every restaurant and could not find this freakin holy grail slab of meat. Discouraged, I wandered around for a drink instead. It was happy hour when I arrived and everywhere was advertising half-priced drinks, so I bounced into one place, and tried a watermelon juice. The sticker price was 40 RMB and I thought, dang, 20 RMB for a small juice, that's still pricey. Terrible choice. The watermelon wasn't sweet at all, the size of the cup was tiny, and sadly, this one bar of all the bars in the area was NOT having happy hour. 40 RMB for a drink, omg. Now left with a bitter feeling towards all the Westernized overpriced restaurants in Xin Tian Di, I looked for the one Chinese restaurant that I had heard about.
The place is very small but intimate and has an authentic Chinese feel to it, which deserves praise since it easily could've gone the tacky commercialized route to cater to expats. Another wonderful thing was that they seated me right away even though I didn't have a reservation, and they didn't seat me with another person to save tables, which Chinese restaurants have no qualms about doing.
I ordered the Hong Shao Rou, or the braised red fatty meat, that the NY Times recommended (38 RMB), and also this Nuo Mi Hong Zao, gluttonous rice in Jujube (28 RMB) that was one of their more famous dishes. The meat was VERY good, not too oily and contained a good balance of fatty to lean meat.
The Jujubes were even better, it's one of the best new dishes that I've tried in China. The restaurant also provided two small appetizer plates of peanuts covered with dried seaweed which were fantastic, and edamame beans mixed with pickles. They provided a really good balance to the two heavy dishes. Each dish was fairly small, more than enough for one person, and perhaps just enough for two people.
The service was quick and efficient. Really the first little treasure that I've found here in Shanghai.
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