Things I've eaten so far!

Being here for a week and a half, I've already had many meals. Everyone here wants to show me the best China has to offer in the way of food since I'm a chef. A little of it reminds me of the USA style Chinese food but most is very different and much better. In Shanghai, the people here like there food somewhat sweet. I find that when I think something will be like what I have tried before, it turns out to be much different. I have also found that most of the best places for food are the little tiny shops that are located all over the city. The bigger restaurants that are more expensive and flashier always seem to be more of a letdown. Another thing about China is that there are places to eat everywhere!!! The more expensive places usually have 3 to 4 floors of seating, sometimes taking up the entire building. There are smaller one floor places that are China's version of fast food serving noodles, buns, dumplings, soups, etc for anytime of the day. Then there are the small little shops where you can get even more authentic style food cooked almost in front of you, usually by a little old lady. These places are the best!! Mind you, there not the cleanest looking spots(I saw several American health code violations while I was in one :P) but damn if the food is not good. I plan on getting some pictures of these places in action at some point.

(Top to bottom: Cold Sweet Chicken Paw, Wild Mushrooms, Sliced Beef) On our first night here, Andi's father's driver took us out to a very expensive restaurant in Pudong. All the food comes out and is placed on a large Lazy Susan. They started us off with several cold dishes. Notice how they put several garnishes on the dish that have nothing to do with it at all-kidney beans, corn, tomato. Most of the time in America, if it's on the plate it compliments the dish somehow.

(From left to right: Top; Chicken Paw Version 2, Shrimps, Edamame. Middle: Bamboo Shoots, Sliced Stomach. Bottom: Pickled Fish, Vinegar and Mushrooms, Sliced Heart). This collection of cold dishes was hit or miss. The bamboo, edamame, heart, and fish was really good. The others, not so much.

There were so many hot courses that came out, I was only able to take a picture of two of them: tempura lobster and dumplings. The lobster was spinney compared to our smooth lobsters and wasn't as sweet. The dumplings were quite good.

The food just kept coming. I estimate that we ate about 20 dishes. There was so much food left over and nothing was taken home. I wondered if the staff ate some of this after we left or it all went in the garbage.

Another venture out with friends in Shanghai provided more local food. At the top is Sheng jian, a form of pan-fried Baozi(steamed bun) that was filled with pork and gelatin that melts into a liquid when heated. The bottom picture was pork belly with whole egg. Good but sweet since they like sweeter foods in this region. Andi's is much better! :) The two soups in the back are tofu on the left and sweet and sour on the right.

Duck Tongues. There is very little meat here as the tongue is the only edible part. It had the same taste as baloney.

Sliced pig ears. Didn't care for these at all. They seemed to be boiled down and were slightly rubbery. Also, there was a good deal of cartilage you had to get through to get any meat and very little flavor. I should mention that Chinese people love to eat cartilage and crunch bones where as in America we seem to prefer our dishes ready to eat.

While in Hangzhou, we ate at a famous place in the city called Grandma's Kitchen. It was so good and cheap with such large portions, that we returned twice more during our stay. The top photo is of a spicy fish and tofu stew that came out bubbling inside of the iron kettle. The kettle was so hot that the fish and tofo stuck to the sides and continued to cook making them nice and crunchy! The middle photo is fried green beans with spicy chili's, ground pork, and tea leaves. These were the best beans I have ever eaten and got them all 3 times we went back! The last photo above is of a spicy offal soup. The soup contained Chinese ham, blood, eel and pig stomach. I was expecting the blood to have a iron like taste and be unappealing but it was quite good as it took on some of the flavor of the spicy oil from the soup.