Day 4 - The Best Brunch in Shanghai

fantastic. thats all i have to say about this restaurant. there's no better word to describe it. i'm telling you now, in the whole trip, this WAS the best restaurant that we ate at. in fact, i'll go as far as to say that this is one of the best restaurants i've ever eaten. ye shanghai in shanghai. its so good that we went there a second time on our vacation! ok, i think i'm getting a little over-excited here. i think i should start by introducing a little about the restaurant.

this restaurant is located in xintiandi, aka the french consession. there's a whole block of restaurants around that area, and its great to just take a nice walk there in the mild cold. the place has a rustic, old colonial feel to it, with brick buildings and nice cobbled walkways. i love the fact that the inside of this restaurant is decorated beautifully. nice and colorful, perfect for a weekday lunch or evening dinner. its two-storeyed, with a stage for singers and more tables on the second floor. wonderful. the restaurant was supposedly started in hk, but they opened a second outlet in shanghai and the shanghai one is said to serve better food. (d says that the shanghai one is definitely better than the hk one coz she went there, especially in terms of ambience)

so we sat down and took a look at the menu. there's lots of food to choose from, all of which looks incredibly good. so in the end i ended up ordering alot (whats new), and got some recommendation from the waitress too.

drunken chicken - 10/10

first came the cold drunken chicken, recommended by the waitress. DAMN this was good. i initially took a look at it and scoffed to myself, saying that it looked kinda gross plain. but DAMNN once again. this was incredible. its like a jack in the box. boring on the outside but lots of fun and surprises on the inside. the meat was incredibly tasty, and the skin was not even too fatty. extremely tender and full of alcoholic goodness. you could taste the wine and sherry, seeping deep into the moist flesh. and it wasn't the least bit oily. i haven't been so shocked by a dish in awhile. what a good way to start the meal. but read on..

river shrimps - 9/10

next up was the river shrimps. if you've been following the shanghai series, you'd know that i really like this. its really good and tastes fantastic. the freshness of the shrimps and the crunch of it makes it wonderful.

har kau - 9/10

excellent har kau. perfectly, compactly wrapped with the skin of just the right thickness; and a juicy, succulent shrimp filling inside.

siew mai - 5/10

ok. this was the only disappointing dish. or maybe we just weren't acquired to the taste. what we have here is ye shanghai's version of siew mai. so what they did was instead of having a regular meaty filling, they somehow puréed the meat and now we have puréed siew mai. i thought it tasted really unusual. personally, i didn't like it that much. but thats ok because..

ORGASM ON A PLATE

steam shanghai pork bun/sheng jian bao - 10/10

like having pocket aces for your starting hand in poker, this dish just makes you want to do the happy naked dance. This Sheng Jian Bao beats those in Taipei hands DOWN. Unbelievably fantastic. The bun is baked, but the moisture is so well retained that the outer layers are still soft and chewy. However, the bottom is perfectly cursted. With each bite, you can taste the chewiness of the bun, along with the crust from the bottom, brining out an intense flavor. Combine this with the meaty moist filling inside, so well made that the broth from the meat is retained, leaving a reservoir of juices trapped inside the bun. The outcome is mindblowing. it was so good that i was totally unaware of what d was yapping about. but then i proceeded to stuff one in her mouth. that seemed to help.

stewed tofu cooked in crab sauce - 7.5/10

this was really nice. i thought it went really with with the fried rice (pictured below). the tofu was soft to the touch, mildly spicy with a nice tinge of crab meat that created that robust flavor. went well when paired with the freshness of the fried rice.

steamed rice with spring onions and slices of meat - 8.5/10

The rice is steamed, not fried, so the moistness remains, creating a simple dish that goes well with the bolder flavors of the others.

xiaolong bao - 7/10

Xiaolong bao. Apparently we ventured to find the best of these in Shanghai. Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung come out tops. Its a tough call between the two. Though these were done well too.

i'm sure that i've overemphasized this, but this restaurant was good. all the dishes were of a very high standard. you can tell that the chef really put his heart and soul into every single plate, without a single detail left unattended to. so if you go to shanghai; please, please, eat at this damn place and tell me about it. but even if you told me you didn't like it i would never believe you.

keep a lookout for part deux of ye shanghai!