香辣八爪鱼 Sweet and Spicy Octopus

Pinyin: xiāng là bā zhuǎ yú


I love octopus and this was a surprisingly great dish. It was sweet but not startling sweet like your average sweet and sour dish, and it wasn't sour it was spicy and balanced nicely against the sweetness.

The chef added sauteed onions which I always love and add great flavor. Also added were mushrooms of varying varieties that are another one of my favorites. Me and my dining partner were both sort of surprised that the octopus in the dish were absolutley huge and you can see that in the picture here to some extent. Normally baby octopus are used and generally fit in your mouth in just a single bite, not the case here each piece was several bites.

As a fan of octopus I had to give this dish a try and I wasn't disappointed. The flavours were unique and fit my palate quite well. I think most people would like this dish once they get past the slightly odd sight of seeing tentacles in their food, which if you've been in China for any amount of time shouldn't be too hard.

蟹粉蒸饺 Crab and Pork Steamed Dim Sum

Pinyin: xiè fěn zhēng jiǎo

Something a bit different today. A little Dim Sum. Dim Sum as Americans know it, is more of a Cantonese style food. Dim Sum is essentially the Chinese equivalent to finger food and it's usually eaten while drinking tea. Lots of time the dishes are sweet and dessert like in nature, although that's obviously not always the case.

These steamed dumplings are filled with a mixture of pork and crab meat (which means they are salty/savory rather than sweet). I'm not usually one for liking crab, but I do like Dim Sum. Since I don't much care for crab I couldn't say I loved the taste of these little dumplings. The crab flavor was quite strong, the outer noodle shell was nice, not too chewy, yet it didn't just fall apart. And the little orange red things on top were just for looks essentially.

I'd definitely recommend trying some Dim Sum while your in China, there are tons of options available. For me I won't be getting these crab dumplings again, but hey if you enjoy crab, more power to you.

XO酱草虾 Shrimp with XO Sauce

Pinyin: XO jiàng cǎo xiā

Shrimp are just damn delicious so they frequently make their way to my dinner table. I'll give this dish bonus points for looking great as well as tasting great. I've never been huge on presentation one way or the other, growing up eating home cooked American meals of potatoes and canned vegetables there wasn't a lot in the presentation department, but I'm learning to appreciate it.

The shrimp have been sliced along the bottom from head to tail and they've been cooked in XO sauce. Then stacked nicely on this dish with just a few sprigs of onion added on top for some color contrast. XO sauce has a unique flavor that is sweet and salty and in my opinions suits an American palate quite well.

It was a bit strange that the shrimp were sliced along the bottom. It allowed the juices to sink in which was nice, but it was slightly different getting the shells off, more difficult but not impossible. This dish was a definite win and I won't hesitate ordering and then devouring it.

Update: A similar dish I wrote about before: 油爆虾 Shrimp Stir Fried in Soy Sauce

年糕八爪鱼 Octopus and Rice Noodles

Pinyin: nián gāo bā zhuǎ yú

Visually it's hard to get a feel for what is going on here, so let me explain. The rectangular block shaped things are a sort of rice noodle called nian gao (年糕）, they remind me of rice dumplings. There are also bits of baby octopus, some peppers, scallions and a few other minor ingredients. The whole dish is cooked in a thick sweet brown sauce reminiscent of terriyaki sauce.

It's classic Shanghai style cooking. The rice noodles, the seafood, and the thick sweet brown sauce are all commonly associated with Shanghai style food. The combination works very well together, the sweetness of the sauce is counterbalanced by the thick noodles which also provide some unique texture while the octopus adds that seafood flavor and a meaty texture.

A real surprise find for me and I'll be searching out dishes of this nature in the future. I'd like to find more options with those rice noodles and I'm always a sucker for something sweet.

豆浆火锅 Seafood Soy Milk Hotpot

Pinyin: dòu jiāng huǒ guō

God how I used to hate seafood. Crab would just about make me sick and clams, muscles, oysters were all too disgusting to actually eat. Fish was only OK as long as it wasn't too "fishy" tasting. But my oh my how things have changed since living in Shanghai. Seafood is amazing. All those little hardshell things like the clams and muscles and oysters are great. Shrimp are to die for, lobster is incredible, and just about every fish imaginable is excellent, cooked or not.

This seafood soy milk hotpot mixture was pretty tasty. Lots of good seafood, though not enough shrimp in my opinion, though one can never really have enough shrimp. The clams were a little chewy though so that was a real drawback, they obviously used cheap seafood as opposed to good seafood. But there was also tofu to be had aplenty and tofu is another one of those things that I've come to love in Shanghai.

There wasn't anything over the top about this soup it just worked out to be a good combination of seafood and tofu. Interestingly the soup was made from soy milk though that didn't affect the taste one way or the other, it just made the soup look a bit cloudy. I'd really like to see how another restaurant pulls off this dish. I won't be so inclined to order it again from this place, but I think the idea has potential.

水晶虾仁 Cyrstal Shrimp

Pinyin: Shuǐ Jīng Xiā Rén

Just looking at these gets my mouth watering. It's pure ecstasy in it's utter simplicity.

Plump shrimp that have been suateed in a little oil till they burst in your mouth when you bite into them have been laid out on a plate. In the corner of the plate is a small bowl with a splash of vinegar thrown in for dipping purposes.

The taste is heavenly, the shrimp are slightly salty but still fresh and lite. The vinegar adds a little acidic bite to them for just the perfect twist that makes it such a mouth watering dish.

油爆虾 Shrimp Stir Fried in Soy Sauce

Pinyin: Yóu Bào Xiā

Shrimp is becoming my new favorite food. As it turns out they are reasonably cheap here in Shanghai and the cooks (calling them chefs is an injustice to chefs everywhere) can do amazing things with them.

These shrimp are simple enough, lots of oil, bit of ginger, and some soy sauce. Stir fry them together and vuala you end up with this dish. It's all shrimp and it's pretty tasty.

Unfortunately those lazy cooks, they didn't bother to remove the heads, shells or tails! Well it's unfortunate right, but not a show stopper. The real show stopper is that in China you aren't supposed to use your hands to touch your food. That means using only your chopsticks and your mouth you need to successfully de-head, de-tail, and de-shell these shrimp. Needless to say most locals are ruthless about it and if you aren't equally skilled you'll walk away hungry.

XO酱炒螺片 Spiral Snails with Broccoli

Pinyin: jiàng chǎo luó piàn

Classifying this as seafood is a stretch cause the snails actually come from the river, and calling them spiral snails is quite a stretch as well. In actuality I don't know what it really is. It's certainly a snail like creature, I'm pretty sure it has a spiral shell, and it's pretty damn big.

So often I haven't a damn clue what I'm sticking in my mouth over here. I would say that eighty percent of the time I'm able to figure out what it is with a fair bit of certainty. But then there is that other twenty percent where you just aren't sure. The waitress might say it's meat, but that's about as much detail as she'll divulge. Then there are those times where you don't want to ask questions cause you are afraid of the answer.

Is it better to know, or is it better to remain blissfully ignorant?

纸锅鱿鱼 Paper Pot Spicy Squid

Pinyin: Zhǐ Guō Yóu Yú

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." If this is you, you'll get a kick out of this dish. From above it looks like an unassuming dish of food, but what you can't see is the plate of napalm sitting underneath it.

Almost every time I go for dinner at a decent to good restaurant in Shanghai I end up with fire on the table. It seems to be quite the norm that the primary dish on the table is being heated/cooked while it's on the table.

This one is some spicy squid in a paper pot (i.e. the white accordion looking thing). I believe it's a Hunan style dish, and frankly it's pretty damn good. I'm a huge fan of squid and octopus in all its forms.

On a side note though one time I was eating some squid I chomped down on a tiny tiny piece of the beak of the squid and crack goes my tooth. After several trips to the dentist, a lot of drilling, and a fair bit of pain, I now have a gold crown on that tooth!