wandernut

Had visitors over the weekend. It was good fun, but it also meant I stuffed myself silly like a tourist as well. T & S were in town from Germany and Macau respectively. First stop, Pin Chuan, the trusty place for delicious Szechuan cuisine. We had the famous mandarin fish in oil, salted egg prawn, crab meat tofu, chicken with red dried chillis and szechuan peppers and green veges. Some of the most delicious classics here in my opinion.

After stuffing ourselves, we walked down to Dong Ping Lu, stopping at the little shops and they bought some pretty ceramics from the Zen store, followed by drinks at Sasha’s, housed in a mansion which used to belong to the Soong family.

The next day, I played squash with the gang, followed by a lovely brunch at Citizen Bar, an old school type establishment. Totally delicious Egg Benedict and decent coffee.

After which I met up with T & S to Wujiang Lu for Shengjianbao. It was a long queue but we were lucky to get seats. I was too full to eat any, but it was fun watching them enjoy it.

CK was in town visiting from Hong Kong. So a group of friends took him for dinner at Osteria, a new restaurant in town (hence, no link). The set menu was amazingly fantastic. It was pricey at about RMB 188 per head (not including the wine), but we got heaps of good food to eat.

First, a selection of sliced bread and grissini with an espresso cup of mildly spiced pumpkin soup. I really loved the foccacia with the bits of sun dried tomato. So lovely, without being overly dry or oily unlike some other places. A wooden slab followed with cold cuts of parma ham, salami, prosciutto, and a fresh oyster for each person.

Next, seared juicy scallops (1pc each) and grilled squid (yummy), as well as a big bowl of assorted salad (finely sliced so it was easy to eat). There was also a bowl of roasted potatoes. We washed everything down with 2 bottles of a French Pinot Noir. VERY good wine it was too.

Then there were 3 different bowls of pasta to share - a wonderful gnocchi dish (potato dumplings) with earthy flavourful mushrooms, a fettucini marinara and a pesto penne. They were all pretty good, but the gnocchi with mushrooms really stood out.

The mains came. You could choose from quite an extensive list, be it lamb or beef or pork or chicken. I felt like chicken that night and had some roast chicken (thigh meat), served on a bed of red cabbage cooked in balsamic red wine. MY had a lovely and cute tiny pork loin. So juicy and mildly porky. YK’s lamb cutlets were amazing too.

We were already quite stuffed before the mains arrived, but were surprised we still had room for dessert. 2 plates of their dessert sampler arrived with a blueberry souffle (so-so), a pannacotta (fantastic with real vanilla beans!), a banana mousse (lovely, not too sweet), a chocolate cake topped with sea salt (it gave the chocolate a real kick) and a lemon meringue tart (not bad).

I suppose we could get such extensive variety for what we were paying because there were 8 of us. I wonder if it would be the same if there were 2 people. Bill came up to about RMB 300 per person after we included the wine. But for the quantity, quality and variety of food we had, I must say it was pretty good value for money. We then hopped next door to Citizen bar after for some Martinis. They are famous for martinis. I personally love the Ginger one. They have some very interesting flavours too. Like basil!

The next morning I met up with T & S again at their hotel. We went for xiaolongbao at the new Din Tai Fung outlet in Yuyuan Bazaar area. It was quite a distance to travel, but interesting cos I haven’t been there before myself. Everything felt like a tourist trap, but at least the DTF here is pretty consistent with the other 2 branches (Superbrand Mall and Xintiandi). I finally got to use my vouchers to get RMB60 off! YAY! And they gave me another one too! Hahahaha! We had the pork XLBs, the crab XLBs, the prawn and pork siewmai, vegetables, their onion noodles (my fav) and their very good fried rice. Oh, we had dessert too. T & S are really cute. They’ve been gushing at every single thing we’ve been eating for the past few days. Hahahaa!

After breakfast and walking around a bit, I left them to join CK and some other friends for lunch at Di Shui Dong. We went to the Dong Ping Lu branch, although I feel the Maoming Lu branch has more character. We had their awesome cumin pork ribs (a must each time we eat here), the double chili fish head, vegetables and dry chili chicken. If you’re not feeling full yet, let me tell you about dinner that night. It was a night out with the gang and we went to Lao Beijing for roast Peking duck.

Oh, it was fabulous. The thin pancakes were just the way they were meant to be. The skin crispy, and was wonderful when wrapped up in the pancake with the sweet sauce, spring onions and cucumber. It was heaven. There was a plate of sliced duck meat as well.

The carcass and the rest of the duck went into the soup and some other smaller dishes, but those were so so, if not bland. After eating so much, we went to AW’s place for her housewarming, where we played Wii until our bodies ached, drank some booze and ate junk food.

I went home and had to retch a little to feel better. The food was all piling up until my throat. Felt totally bloated for an entire week after.