Airport Lounge in Shanghai

Previously:

Hangzhou

Before our plane departed, we enjoyed a few more Chinese meals at the Airport lounge in Shanghai.  Not many choices but they were spotted on.  Soup noodle was warming and tasty.  Both red bean soup and beef with carrot soup were surprisingly delicious too.  They are simple but tasted great.  They have a huge dining space.  Of course, being Asian, food is always number one.  

Thank you for reading my Shanghai and Suzhou posts.  This has now come to an end.  The trip happened during the New Years break.  However, it takes me a little longer to post them.  Let see you all again in my next journey.  Take care all 💖

Wokman in Hongyi Plaza, Shanghai

Previously:

A Day in Shanghai

There is one restaurant inside Hongyi Plaza that serving Hunan food.  It is located on the basement of the mall.  The place is always busy.  They have a few interesting menus that we would like to try.  Ended up, it was one of the best meals we had in China.  All the dishes that we ordered were absolutely delicious and tasty. 

Their pork belly was so soft and tender.  Their fish and sour cabbage soup was very flavoursome and pungent.  It warmed up our cold chilly night with its warm soup and spicy chilli.  Most of all, the one that impress me the most was their stir-fried green with garlic and pork lard.  Vegies were cooked perfectly.  It was still crunchy and that salty pork lard enhanced the boring vegie dish to the next level.

I highly recommend this place.  The price was low, I would say and yet the portion was generous.  Food taste was spot on.  The restaurant looks clean and serving was prompt.  I would easily give them 10 out of 10. 

Super braised pork belly CNY 45 (about AUD 9.60)

Large pot sour cabbage fish CNY58 (about AUD 12.40)

Super stir-fried pork CNY 59 (about AUD 12.60) 

Stir fried red cabbage sprouts with oil residue CNY22 (about AUD 4.70)

Wokman

Hongyi Plaza, 299 Nanjing Lu (Level B1)

Stay tuned for the next blog in Suzhou:

Xi Yuan Temple, Suzhou

A Day in Shanghai

Previously:

M&M's World, Shanghai

Our visit to Shanghai lasted two nights, with only one full day available for touring around this massive city.  I attempted to visit numerous iconic sites within a tight timeframe and have summarised them in this post, which I hope my lovely readers will enjoy it.

First, Chinese mochi for breakfast. The shop is located at the intersection of Nanjing road and Zhejiang Road.  People were continually arriving to buy their mochi, but the queue moved fairly quickly.  We were initially uncertain about what to get, so we decided to buy one each.  They were surprisingly good.  The texture was soft and chewy and the fillings were plentiful.  The one with black sesame filling and coated with coconut flakes was my favourite.

On that day, we also visited Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Disney store, Yu Yuan or Yu Garden, and Jade Buddha Temple.  Travelling around Shanghai city with their Metro is very convenient and cheap as well.  You can buy ticket from ticket machine and there are English language signs everywhere.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower (nearest station is Lujiazui Station)

Yu Garden

In Yu Garden, there is a less busy POP mart, although the shop is way smaller than the one on Nanjing Road but it makes buying things much enjoyable.  There are also a few must-try Shanghainese snacks which you can find here.  For example, giant soup dumpling, tanghulu or crispy sugar-coated fruits and also some skewers.

The giant dumpling is for me just something to try once in a lifetime.  It is definitely something new for me, unfortunately taste wise, didn't meet my expectation.  It was huge yet plain dumpling skin with full of soup inside.  But hardly any meat in it, I believe is zero meat actually.  They gave us a straw to suck all the soup.  It was more like drinking some kinda broth rather than eating a dumpling.  I still prefer just the normal xiao long bao. 

Giant soup dumpling CNY 29 (about AUD 6.20)

Deep fried shallot cracker CNY 16 (about AUD 3.40)

Tanghulu - sugar coated fruits (grape is CNY18 or about AUD3.85)

Jade Buddha Temple

Stay tuned for the next blog still in Shanghai:

Wokman in Hongyi Plaza, Shanghai

M&M's World, Shanghai

Previously:

Crab Roe Noodle from Zhuang Shi Long Xing, Shanghai

If you are a family with young kids or you are just simply young at heart and have a thing with chocolates.  Then you must visit this famous M&M World, the flagship store in Shanghai on Nanjing Lu/Road.  The two-storey store is more like a little M&M museum for me.  It's another theme park for my little ones as well.  They have everything from colourful M&M's chocolates to merchandises to your own personalised photo and initial on each button.  

I was mesmerised by their Great Wall of Chocolate.  More than 10 meters long wall that full of colour organised M&M's chocolate candies.  Many colours that I've never seen before.  They have the mini chocolate, milk chocolate to my favourite one, peanuts.  We went crazy filling up a candy bag with a bit of here and there until we got two full bags of these goodies.  Actually, it wasn't me but my kids.  Once we felt proud of what we're getting, we then saw this personalised candy where you can print words or picture on the chocolate button.  It was too late because we got two bags full of chocolates already on our hands.  So, unfortunately, we gave it a missed otherwise we all are going to be hyper.

  

 

It was our lucky day, we got to meet Red while visiting the store

M&M's ice cream

M&M's World Store

G Floor Shimao Festival City No. 829

Nanjing East Road, Shanghai

Ph: +86 2316 2888

Open: 7 days from 10am -10pm

Stay tuned for the next blog still in Shanghai:

A Day in Shanghai

Crab Roe Noodle from Zhuang Shi Long Xing, Shanghai

Previously:

Hefu Noodle in Hongyi Plaza, Shanghai

Your trip in Shanghai won't be complete without indulging in one of their national noodle dishes.  It is none other than crab roe butter noodle.  Shanghai is famous with their hairy crab.  You can have them super simple, like just a steamed crab or treat yourself to this version where they handpicked and done all the hard work, so we as customers can just enjoy those sweet juicy crab chunks minus all the hassle. 

Before coming here, I had been searching and searching for the best crab roe noodle restaurant.  And this restaurant called Zhuang Shi Long Xing made into my top three selection and they won an extra point from us because of their location which is only less than 10 minutes' walk from our hotel.

So, on our second day, we planned to have this crab roe noodle for our brunch.  Because based on people's reviews, this restaurant could get very busy around dinner time.  We started with a light breakfast like some mochi and coffee while waiting for our early big meal.  When we were there at around 10 in the morning, the store was still pretty much empty.

 

First look on their menu, I thought Geezz!!!!  Their noodle is very pricey, they are all about 168 CNY per bowl.  But then to think again, it is pretty reasonable though, as crab is sooo expensive, right!  We ordered a couple of crab roe dishes, one with noodle and another one served with steamed rice.  It sounds weird to have them on rice but it turned out to be my favourite dish of the day and of course that deep fried pork was delicious as well.

 

Golden crab dried noodle CNY 168 (around AUD

They cooked their noodle al dente, still chewy which is exactly what I like.  And Oh Boy!!! They gave generous amount of crab roe butter sauce.  They come separately, so we need to pour the sauce on top of the noodle and give a little stir to mix them well.  Don't forget adding some splash of vinegar.  That tanginess enriched the flavour.    

Golden crab steamed rice CNY 168 (around AUD 

With the rice dish, we did not actually pour all the sauce in because we didn't want to get it all mushy.  Somehow that creamy buttery sauce goes super well with a plain steamed rice.  It gives the feeling like eating a rich rice porridge. 

Fried pork chop CNY 28 

I totally recommend this pork side dish.  It was cooked to perfection.  Crispy and flavoursome.  

Crab & pork xiao long bao (soup dumpling) CNY 58 (around 

To be honest, I could not really tell that there is crab meat inside this dumpling.  Don't get me wrong!!  They were delicious and it is one of good dumplings I've ever tried, but the pork and other seasoning overpowered the crab meat so the crab itself didn't shine. 

Overall, we had a very satisfying brunch.  A must try dish while you're visiting Shanghai.  And definitely do an early lunch to avoid the crowd.

Zhuang Shi Long Xing Restaurant

441 Zhejiang Road, Huangpu, Shanghai

Ph: +86 21 63226152

Open: 9:30 am - 9:30 pm

Stay tuned for the next blog still in Shanghai:

M&M's World, Shanghai