Day 7, part II, Shanghai, Thursday, December 3, 2009
The first thing we need to do after breakfast was to get a new cell phone at a nearby telecomm shop. We quickly found a place to buy another SIM card for ¥118 for the second Samsung cell phone we bought from the U. S. The phone works just fine except that it couldn’t show Chinese characters. As such, I couldn’t read any text message sent to me by the phone company or others.
We asked the sales guy about my lost cell phone and our effort to retrieve that taxi driver’s phone number. He said that we could try Shanghai’s sales office of China Mobile or 中国移动 “zhong1 guo2 yi1dong4” at 第一八佰伴 “di4 yi1 ba1 bai3 ban4,” a giant department store in Pudong not far from the financial district. 八佰伴 was a chain department store originally from Japan. The company declared bankruptcy after Asian currency crisis in 1998. The company’s 450 stores were bought by another Japanese company but kept the name for its Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei stores.
We rushed to 第一八佰伴, found the sales office on the 6th floor and informed the sales person about my dilemma. Her answer was that it was impossible to retrieve the telephone number unless we can locate the lost SIM card. In other words, I had no way to inform the taxi driver that it would be okay for him to pick us up at our hotel in Puxi tomorrow morning and take us to 朱家角 (zhu1 jia1 jiao3.) I wasn’t sure that she gave me the correct answer because I thought there had to be a record somewhere in China Mobile’s server of my communication with him. She didn’t give me the answer I wanted to hear probably because I was nobody. Another option was to go to China Mobile’s HQ in the 普陀区 “pu3 tuo2 qv1” Puxi. Since that place was too far away and it would take at least 2 to 3 hours to take care of this matter, I decided not to pursuit it any further. Well, I’ve put in a reasonable effort but the situation was beyond my control and I just had to let this go. We’ll find another way to go to 朱家角 on Friday.
Since we were in Pudong and not very far from 金茂大厦 “jin1 mao4 da4 xia4” or Jin Mao Tower, we decided to visit the second tallest building in Shanghai. Bao and I knew a restaurant in 金茂大厦 from a Chinese TV food show and we had planned to try its food. The restaurant was called 天萃庭 “tian1 cui4 ting2” or Paradise Garden specialized in Cantonese cuisine, dim sum and Shanghai cuisine. To reserve a table, you needed to call the restaurant at 57575777. In Chinese, it reads wu3 qi1 wu3 qi1 wu3 qi1 qi1 qi1 which sounds like 我吃, 我吃, 我吃吃吃 wo3 chi1 wo3 chi1 wo3 chi1 chi1 chi1.
The fancy restaurant occupied ½ of the top floor of a 6-story shopping mall adjacent to the 金茂大厦. The mall has numerous top notch shops and restaurants and天萃庭’s kitchen was located on the 5th floor. Although we didn’t have a reservation but, since it wasn’t very busy, we got a table by the rail overlooking the lower levels of the mall. The restaurant has another section which included a big dinning room and many rooms for private parties.
As we sat down at our table, a waitress gave each of us a warm bar towel. We were asked if we wanted tea. I asked for choices and she gave me a few selections. I chose 西湖龙井 xi1 hu2 long3 jin3 since it was the best in this area and she said it was something like ¥50 a cup or nearly $8 in US. I said yes. She asked how many. I replied three. Well, I knew it was expensive before I came here but didn’t know it was that expensive. This was some expensive tea. It’d better be worth the price tag. Well, 即來之則安之 “ji4 lai2 zhi1 ze2 an1 zhi1.”
The ambiance of the casual lunch area was cheerful and elegant with gold and red-colored decoration around us. The jade-colored table setting and the red-colored menu with a gold-colored logo were very stylish. The wait staff was quiet attentive but not pushy.
Logo on menu
One dish we had to order was 果汁鹅肝冻 (¥128) or chilled foie gras in fruit jelly. We saw a special program recommending this restaurant and this beautiful dish. It attracted our curiosity and we had to try it.
Other dishes were:
Appetizers
- 萝卜丝拌海蜇 “luo2 bo1 si1 bang4 hai1 zhe2”- julienned white radish with jelly fish
- 松子冬菇 “song1 zi3 dong1 gu1”- Roasted pine nuts with Chinese mushroom
- 素雞 “su4 ji1” – Vegetarian chicken made from soy bean
Entrées
- 蟹粉獅子頭 “xie4 fen3 shi1 zi1 tou2”- Braised pork balls with crab meat
- 醬肉煎包子 “jiang4 ro4 jian1 bao1 zi3” – Pan-fried dumplings with meat and sauce
- 蟹粉豆腐 “xie4 fen3 dou4 fu3” – Tofu with crab meat
Dessert
- 酒釀湯圓 “Jiu3 niang2 tang1 yuan2.” Sticky rice balls with sweet fermented rice wine.
Our jade-colored placemats were removed before the lunch was served and we each got a white dinner plate instead. Shortly after we placed our order, we were served with a nicely prepared before-dinner xiao cai including pickled root vegetable, gelatinous pork and mushroom with 枸杞子”gou3 ji2 zi3,” and a salty fish of some sort. The fourth container had soy sauce if I wasn’t mistaken.
The gelatinous pork and mushroom with 枸杞子was the best among them. The pork was well seasoned and枸杞子 added a nice touch to this savory dish. The 枸杞子 ”gou3 ji2 zi3,” or wolfberries, are the dried berries of an easy-to-grow, low growing (about 6’ tall by 6’ wide,) deciduous flowering shrub. Its branches have very sharp thorns and the flowers are small and purple in color. The small, bright-red colored berries ripen from August to November depending on its location. In fact, my parents have to such plants growing in their vegetable garden at their house. One could also buy them from Chinese grocery stores at very affordable prices.
wolfberries, 枸杞子, are mild in nature and slightly sweet in taste. It has been said that taking a small amount of 枸杞子 on a regular basis, like 5 to 10 pieces a day with water or wine, can be beneficial to your lungs, liver, kidneys and eyes. It is also said that枸杞子have been used as a sexual tonic. There have been many recent researches on枸杞子 at University of Hong Kong, China and Korea. In addition, there are no known side effects from taking 枸杞子 which has been used as food and herb for hundreds of years in China and other Asian countries.
Of all the appetizers we ordered only the 果汁鹅肝冻 (¥128,) or chilled foie gras in fruit jelly, was exceptional. Its presentation, taste, sauce, foie gras and fruit jelly were all top rated. Other appetizers were ordinary. The texture of the pork meat balls was slightly firm and the flavorful chicken broth was infused with crab meat; something I usually would not do. The tofu with crab meat was the best tofu dish I’d ever had: the tofu was soft and coated with tangy sauce. The golden colored sauce got its color from none other than 枸杞子 too. The small amount of Crab meat augmented the flavor of the sauce and tofu to a higher level. A great dish by the chef! The pan-fried 醬肉煎包子 tasted liked Cantonese 叉燒包 “cha1 shao1 bao1” but the ingredients and the sauce of the 包子餡 “bao1 zi3 xian4,” the inside of the 包子, were different. It also didn’t have red coloring as it usually did in Cantonese 叉燒包.
The dessert was another favor of mine and I knew bao liked it too. The湯圓, made from sweet rice powder, was slightly chewy but not sticky to my teeth. I could taste the slight sweetness of the 酒釀 and smell the alcohol from the fermentation process as it escaped from the surface of the soup. The meal took about an hour and half and I actually enjoyed it very much. I wasn’t sure how much Xiaobao liked it because he didn’t like seafood at all. Well, we’d give him some more jiao3 zi1 and cong1 you2 bin3 later.
After the lunch, Xiaobao wanted to take us to see the dinning room up on the 86th floor of the 金茂大厦.We walked around the building and found the elevator to the restaurant. We told the hostess that we wanted to have some coffee but she won’t let us in because the restaurant was still busy with its lunch crowd. She sent us to the bar two floors down on the 84th floor.
The interior of the bar was very impressive. There was an elevated stage at the center of one wall which was flanked by an open bar on both sides. The semi circular room had probably 20 tables, each with two or three sofa seats. The bar had a very high ceiling, probably 300’ tall. The open space extended all the way to the glass roof which made it a very unique place to have a cup of coffee or a glass of martini. I wondered what the band would sound like because of the high ceiling and acoustic effect. We ordered a coffee and a tea and the bill came to ¥100.
Before Xiaobao left Taiwan, his friend suggested a few place to visit while in Shanghai. One of the places was 南外灘輕紡面料市場 “nan2 wai4 tan1 qing1fang3 mian4 liao4 shi4 chang3” or South Bund Soft-spinning Material Market, a three-story fabric market, located in South Bund at 399 陸家濱路 “lu4 jia1 bang1 lu4.” Note that Shanghainese pronounced 濱 like 幫忙’s ”bang1 mang1” 幫 instead of 檳榔’s “bin1 lang2” 檳.”
The big character in the middle is 布 "bu4" or fabric
When we got there, it was almost 6 PM; their closing time. The guard won’t let us in so that we had to look for a shop outside near the huge sign at the front of the building. The owner of the shop and his two female assistants talked us into buying two suits (¥1,400) for me and four shirts (¥1,200) for Xiaobao. Turned out that the owner was also a 湖北人 “hu2 bei3 ren2” but I didn’t think he gave me any special discount at all. His two young, female assistants were very helpful and I bet they sweet-talk to all their customers in order to make the deal. We paid half of the price as downpay and agreed to come back on Saturday to pick them up. Since it was time for lunch, we took the owner’s suggestion and went to a near by Sichuan restaurant called 川妹魚庄酒樓 “chuan1 mei4 jiu3 lou2,” Sichuan Sister Seafood Restaurant, a suitable choice for a chilly evening.
We ordered three appetizers, four entrées, soup and a 大餅”da bing3” as our 主食 “zhu3 shi2” and dessert.
- white beans with fermented sweet rice 酒釀白豆 “jiu3 niang2 bai2 dou4.” This was a very simple dish to make. It was sweet and full of the aroma of sweet rice wine.
- Pickled radish with edamame beans 豌豆蘿蔔干 “wan1 dou4 luo2 bo1 gan1.” I started to eat 蘿蔔干 when I was a little boy growing up in Taiwan. Back then, we ate a lot of 蘿蔔干 because it 下飯 “xia4 fan4” or made rice easier to eat because of its saltiness. It was very cheap and easy to make. My Mom would cut the white radish into sticks of ~3” long and ¾” wide on four sides. She’d rub them thoroughly with plenty of salt and dried them under the sun for a few days. Because of its saltiness, it could be kept without refrigeration for several days. It was also a regular dish in the morning with congee. Nowadays, I occasionally make this dish because it reminded me of the old days in our small house, tiny kitchen and a round table just outside of the kitchen. I no longer have to make 蘿蔔干the old way because it is widely available in Chinese supermarket. Instead of stir-frying 蘿蔔干 with edamame beans, it can be made with scrambled eggs and green onions which was another regular dish on our table 50 years ago.
- Gelatinous pork 肴肉 “yao2 rou4.” My Mom used to make this dish when I was a small boy. It was one of the dishes Mom made for Dad’s many college friends who came to our house regularly. I haven’t made this for a long time not because it was difficult to do but because I have had more things to choose from now.
- 干扁四季豆 “gan1 bian3 shi4 ji1 dou4” or string beans Sichuan Style. Our restaurant also carries this dish but this one was more flavorful and hot. The aroma was more pungent because of various spices, including 花椒 “hua1 jiao1” or Sichuan pepper, a specialty spice from Sichuan province.
花椒 “hua1 jiao1”
- 絲瓜炒青豆 “shi1gua1 cao3 qing1 dou4.’ This dish, not very common at a Sichuan restaurant, was very pleasant to look at, fresh, tender and delicious. It didn’t have much sauce which was different from how I would cook it. 絲瓜 is a green, hairy fruit vegetable about 12” to 18” long and 1” to 3” in diameter when matured. It’s slightly sweet and has a mild taste. It is called 絲瓜 probably because when the skin is peeled off, it produces a sticky sap which stretches like spider’s silk (絲.) I am very fond of this vegetable but not good at cooking it. I often cooked it too long which made it too soft and turned it into a darker color. From time to time, Dad would plant this in his vegetable garden in Virginia and we have had some of this wonderful vegetable a few times in the past. We used to have 絲瓜 at our house in Taichong, Taiwan as well. We ate some and kept a few till maturity for seeds. We also left a few hanging on the vines until they completely dried. After peeling off the skin and getting rid of all seeds, we saved the network of tissues as sponges to clean dishes. They could also be used as bath sponges and body scratch which was called 絲瓜筋 “shi1 gua1 jin1.”
- 香干肉絲 “xiang1 gan1 rou4 shi1” or shredded pork with dried bean curd; another one of my favorite dishes; tender pork coated with mild hot sauce, slightly chewy dried bean curd and green onions. Very little sauce like what it supposed to be. Not too much cooking oil but enough to make it shinning on the outside of every piece of pork and bean curd slices. Our restaurant recently added this dish to attract Chinese customers. However, our dried bean curd, to me, is a little too chewy at times.
- 麻婆豆腐 “ma2 po2 dou4 fu3” was the quintessential Sichuan dish we had to try here. And we weren’t disappointed: soft Tofu, ground pork, hot pepper, unique Sichuan spices, right amount of cooking oil and topped with green onions. Just the way we liked it except it was a little to hot for us. I bet my daughter would love this dish. It was another dish that’s so 下飯 we could eat a whole bowl of rice with this dish only.
- 湯 “Tang.” I actually forgot what kind of soup I ordered and I didn’t keep any notes either. It looked good. The 10 or so 枸杞子 floating on top of the soup, the green onions, the pan-seared meat in the soup, the clear broth and the clay pot made it a savory addition to our meal. Too bad I didn’t remember what it was now.
- 黑芝麻大餅 “zhi1 ma2 da4 bing3” or black sesame paste thick flat bread. This was a wonderful dish and I was glad that I ordered it. Xiaobao liked it and we also liked it too. I often saw this kind of flat bread sold at Chinese grocery stores. However none of them had sweet black sesame paste inside. The bread was leavened and pan-fried and the sesame paste was sweet and had a very fine texture. The flat bread was served right off the hot pan which was soft and smelled so good. I wished I could ordered a few more and bought them back to the U. S.
Well, as usual, I ordered more than what we could finish. But it was a satisfying meal and we were all stuffed.
Before we headed back to our hotel, we went to the famous 南京东路步行街 “nan1 jing1 dong1 lu4 bu4 xing1 jie1” which was not too far from our hotel. This part of 南京东路 was designed for pedestrians only. The street was lined with department stores, fashion shops, brand-name stores, and restaurants, by the time we went there, it was too late because more places were getting ready to close for the day. We walked around and found a place to have some coffee and latte before walking back to our hotel.
We’d go to 朱家角 “zhu1 jia1 jiao3” tomorrow. I’d figure out how to get there after we got back to our hotel since I lost my cell phone and couldn’t get hold of that taxi driver tonight. Well, it was too bad that we had to pay for the Internet service at the hotel at ¥20/hr or ¥120 a day.
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