Shanghai Bites:

Urbanatomy

Gary Soup — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:52:27 +0000

I haven’t done much with this blog for a while, largely because I haven’t been to Shanghai since I began it, my travel demands being eastward (from here in San Francisco) to New York or Montreal these days, as I have fish to fry there. Hopefully, I finally will be back in Shanghai in the fall to chase down some more good eats. In the meantime, I accomplished something in a passive way, namely got myself published in slick new Shanghai guidebook. “Urbanantomy: Shanghai 2008″ was published in Shanghai on February 24, and is now available in the US from Amazon. The book runs to 600 pages, but two of those pages are special to me because I wrote them: page 354, which contains a full page box labeled “Shanghai Snacks” and page 356, which contains another full page box titled “Gary Soup’s Top Dining Spots”. (Sandwiched in between is a Hooters girl, that is, an ad for Hooters featuring a modestly-Hootered Hooters Shanghai girl — ah the fantasies!)

Dianping.com’s “A” list for Shanghai Specialty Eats!

Gary Soup — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:01:51 +0000

Dianping.com, the giant of democratic restaurant review sites in China, has just released a definitive short list of the best places to go for some of Shanghai’s most famous small eats, as reported by Shanghaiist today. This is definitely a major development for those seeking out Shagnhai’s tastiest. Some, like Xiao Yang’s for shengjian bao (a slam dunk) and Jia Jai Tang Bao for xiaolong bao (which I’ve lobbied for often) are obvious choices, but you’ll get second and third choice picks for these, as well as the scoop on where to go for hong shao rou (Shanghai’s hallmark “red cooked pork”), you bao xia (stir-fried fresh-water shrimp in the shell) and xiefen doufo (hairy crab meat with tofu). Shanghaiist gives more details, as does the link provided to the original Chinese posting (where you can at least find some user-uploaded photographs, even if you don’t know Chinese). As a public service (for myself, if no one else), here is a summary list to clip and put between the pages of your Frommer’s:

Shengjian Bao:

Xiaoyang Fry-Dumplings, 54-60 Wujiang Rd (the Wujiang Lu food street)
Caijing Shengjian, 530 Sichuan Middle Rd.

Xiaolong Bao:

Jiajia Tangbao, 90 Huanghe Rd
Fuchun Xiaolong Shop, 650 Yuyuan Rd. (Jiangsu Rd metro stop)
Delongguan, 473 Jiangxi Middle Rd.

Hongshao Rou:

Jesse Restaurant, 41 Tianping Rd
Yuanyuan Restaurant, 550 Wanping Rd
Keven Chinese Cuisine, 1A Urumqi Rd.

Youbao Xia:

Lanting, 107 Songshan Rd
Lüya Restaurant, 372 Jiangxi Middle Rd
Chun, 124 Jinxian Rd.

Xiefen Doufu:

Lang Yifang Restaurant, 168 Lujiazui West Rd
Ye Old Station Restaurant, 201 Caoxi North Rd
Xiao Nanguo, 214-216 Huanghe Rd.

Another Vote for Jia Jia

Gary Soup — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:00:23 +0000

“Pane” (Colleen) on recommendations for me and the Erica mentioned in her post, just reported this on Chowhound.com:

With some input from Gary Soup and reports from Erica, I drew up a list of chow-ish places to visit on a trip to Beijing and Shanghai last week. I ended up hitting quite a few of the recommended stops, as well as others I happened by or heard reports of through other venues…. Jia Jia Tang Bao. The best xlb I’ve ever had. I ordered crab dumplings as well as pork and leek dumplings and favored the pork. No English spoken, but they have a scrap of paper with English translations you can point to.

The photo atop this post is by her. Twelve dumplings, as I remember, with the vinegar dish in the long, but it looks like they’ve taken to having the customer filling the dish himself.

If the Top [chow]Dog himself hadn’t recently kicked me off theboards, I’d raise a virtual glass of Reeb to Colleen in Jia Jia Tang Bao brotherhood and ask her if it’s still RMB 8 for the steamer.

Passing the Mantou ….er, Mantle

Gary Soup — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:11:31 +0000

For the last five years or so, I’ve been the registered owner of the xiaolongbao.com domain name. I never did much with it, just put up a placeholder web page with links to a couple of other of my websites, thinking I would figure out where I wanted to go with it. Mostly I just enjoyed the pride of ownership; I relished telling people I was such a nut for xiaolong bao that I owned the domain name. I even rebuffed an anonymous suitor whose offer for the name (via a broker) climbed to $2500 before he/she/it gave up; I’d be damned if I would give it up to someone whose intentions may not be completely honorable. But when a young man named Edward Chiu came along and pleaded for me to give him the name so he could memorialize his undeniable love for xiaolong bao, my hard-as-a-Jinhua-ham heart softened and he is now the proud owner of the domain name. The terms of compensation are in final negotiations, but will likely be 64 dumplings made by the “best dumpling maker in Shanghai”, Ed’s mother.

So check into Ed Chiu’s xiaolongbao.com website from time to time to see how he’s doing, and if he’s neglecting the little darlings, let him know that you are hungry for more. I will.

Bourdain Blows It

Gary Soup — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:00:05 +0000

I was excited to hear that the latest installment of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” had him in Shanghai, sampling local small eats. When I caught the re-run, though, I found it to be a huge disappointment. Although the episode was identified as “Shanghai,” there was a scant 10 minutes or so of an hour-long blitzkrieg Long March to Shangrila, and it was stock travelogue stuff. AB at the Nanxiang Steamed Dumpling Shop, proclaiming their xiaolong bao product to be “the best dumplings in the world.” AB stopping by Xiao Yang’s for some shengjian bao (a.k.a. “fried dumplings”). And finally, the really exciting and titillating blip of Anthony Bourdain buying “stinky tofu” from a street vendor and representing that it was something new to him. Then poof, off to cormorant fishing (another travelogue yawner).

The Nanxiang is certainly photogenic in its setting and activity (as in the above photo), and deserves a visit simply because it’s a shrine to xiaolong bao. But it was galling to see Anthony Bourdain, as has been done with almost every video tour of Shanghai before, hunker down with the locals and agree with them on the party line that the Nanxiang’s XLB are the best anywhere. True, they once were, but if AB’s team did their research, he would know that the Nanxiang’s culinary glory has faded and there are probably mom-and-pop shops making tastier, nore delicate-skinned xiaolong bao in almost every Shanghai neighborhood today.

Shengjiang bao from Xiao Yang’s establishment and even chou doufu from street vendors are also covered in almost any guide book a visitor is likely to bring with him. But I forget, Anthony Bourdain’s show is on the Travel Channel, after all.

Xiao long bao now a “protected traditional treasure”

Gary Soup — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:28:53 +0000

According to this article in Shanghai Daily,

SHANGHAI named 83 folk arts as its first batch of city-level intangible culture heritage today as part of the city’s efforts to protect and promote these “traditional treasures.”

The popular “Huju Opera, Lion Dancing, Dough Modeling and the Longhua Temple Fair” can be found on the list, which has 10 categories — folk music, dances, operas, folk art, acrobatics, handicrafts, medicine and folk customs.

The familiar Nanxiang xiaolongbao from Jiading District is also on the list.

Hmm, is xiao long bao a handicraft? Medicine? Folk Art? Methinks it’s a whole opera in a steamer.

Something to tide you over…..

Gary Soup — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 03:36:05 +0000

I’ve been preoccupied with a number of projects, including drafting a piece on Shanghai xiao chi for an upcoming guidebook, taking care of some health issues, and planning my annual New York - Montreal turnaround trip, so I haven’t posted lately. One of my projects in the works is to start adding come content pages to this blogsite, and one of the first is going to be a guide and portal to various videos on the web of Shanghai street eats being prepared and sold. It was the one below, posted on YouTube by “sunnata” that made me realize that YouTube had a higher and better use than just plain vanity and dumb silliness. It was shot near the Shanghai Uiversity of Finance and Economics, but the goody in question is identical in manufacture and ingredients to the jian bing (or dan bing, as Shanghainese like to call them) vendor’s work near our Hongkou apartment, over on the Tongji side of the Universities district. Enjoy!

On-campus eats in Shanghai: go for the education, stay for the beef noodles

Gary Soup — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:11:50 +0000

In Googling around in search of whatever it was, I stumbled across an informational website for Shanghai with something different to offer a foodie. While websites listing or recommending all manner of eating places in Shanghai, it wasn’t until I discovered shanghaitown, a website rich in information for overseas students, that I ever saw a guide to on-campus dining in Shanghai. This is a topic of particular interest to me, since last year my wife bought an apartment conveniently located to both Fudan University (scrumptious beef noodles) and Tongji University (terrific T-bone steak). The full rundown, school by school, begins here; the website’s recommendated list is here:

Shanghai University Baoshan Campus: Xinjiang mixed Long noodle with vegetable in the Islamic Restaurant, Boiled Beef in Hot Sauce, Rice Cake with T Bone Steak, Pan Fried Beef Bun, Sandwich and Coffee in No.5 Street Restaurant.

Tongji University: T Bone Steak, Fried Egg with Tomato, Beef Noodles.

Shanghai Normal University: Saute Rice Noodles with Green Bean Sprouts on the second floor of West Restaurant, Korean Well-Done Rice by Stone Pot.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Beef Ramen Noodles,

Northeastern University, China: good snack bars

Shanghai Medical College Fudan University: Savoury and Crisp Chicken, Pork in Soy Sauce

East China Normal University: Earthenware Casserole, Malatang.

Fudan University: Beef Ramen Noodles

Foreign Trade College in Songjiang University-Town: Breakfast

Shanghai International Studies University: Steamed Bun

Lixin University in Songjiang University-Town: Barbecued pork, Steamed Bun

East China University of Politics and Law in Songjiang University-Town: Pan Fried Pot Sticker, Fried Egg with Tomatoes

Northeastern University in Songjiang University-Town: Spicy Chicken

Nanxiang Town seeks protection for the Cutural Heritage of its xiolaongbao

Gary Soup — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 08:04:13 +0000

My town, San Francisco, managed to get National Landmark Status declared for its cable cars, making them the only National Landmark on wheels. If San Francisco had invented xiaolongbao, I’d be the first in line lobbying for National Landmark Status for those, too: imagine being able to pop a National Landmark into your mouth!

The town of Nanxiang, in Shanghai’s suburban Jiading District, whose claim to have invented xiaolongbao has never been seriously disputed, is now trying to accomplish something much like that for its signature dumplings. It’s not National Landmark status precisely, but the Jiading District Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Office (whew!) is trying to get Natonal protection for the “intangible” Cultural Heritage of it’s xiaolongbao. More precisely, it’s trying to stop others from making “fake” Nanxiang xiaolongbao, by essentially copyrighting the term “Nanxiang Xiaolongbao.” Here’s the way Xinhua put it:

(more…)

Bow-wow stuffed baozi creates controversy

Gary Soup — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:45:25 +0000

No, this is not something Michael Ohlsson (”Weird Meat”) missed. It’s a Yankee-style hot dog place, and the weirdest thing about it is its location: the northeast corner of People’s Square, near the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. I tried the dog last December, when I took the picture. There seemed something not quite right about the bun, but otherwise it walked like a hot dog, talked like a hot dog, and looked like a hot dog to me. And I should add tasted like a hot dog.

The controversy, if it can be called such, relates to the graphic logo of the jauntily leaning dog. Others in the blogosphere have pointed out that it’s a copy of the logo used by Top Dog, the beloved and venerable mini-chain in Berkeley, California. I think it has also been reported that the Mac Dog owner once worked at Top Dog for a few months. Is Top Dog complaining? Not that I’ve heard. Should they complain? Unless they are planning to expand beyond their three East Bay shops to Mainland China, I think not. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.