Over the years, the rich duck has brought foreign dignitaries to China, and as a story goes, US President Richard Nixon was only encouraged to come to China in the 1970s after Henry Kissinger feasted on the fowl with Premier Zhou Enlai.

After searching the Bund for one of my favorite comforts from the north, I have discovered Shanghai’s very best versions of Beijing roast duck.  These are my Top Three:

Photo courtesy of CITY WEEKEND MAGAZINE

1. Xindalu China Kitchen : ¥¥¥ 1/F, 199 Huangpu Lu 电话 +86 6393 1234, The Bund

With a seven-ton brick oven imported from Beijing firing up succulent roast duck, it’s no wonder that the birds at Xindalu China Kitchen are as tasty as they are authentic.  Thanks to the open kitchen, diners can marvel at the crispy, thin-skinned fowl roasting over a bed of red dates and green apple wood.  Xindalu’s duck is so good that there’s no longer any need to trek north to the capital to get a taste of this imperial delicacy.

2. Lao Beijing : ¥¥¥ 9/F, 592 Nanjing Dong Lu 电话 +86 6351 6617, The Bund

Lao Beijing offers some of the tastiest roast duck in Shanghai.  For ¥165, be prepared to loosen your belt buckle, as this price gets you a duck feast with all the trimmings.  If you’re lucky, they’ll go geavy on the rich, crispy skin.  One of our favorite parts of the meal is watching the carver come out and quickly and effortlessly slice the bird.  But if you can’t be bothered with the theatrics of eating in the restaurant, order your duck to go for just ¥98 and enjoy at home.

3. Ya Wang : ¥¥¥ 20 Tianyaoqiao Lu 电话 +86 6464 9169, The Bund

It is no coincidence that Ya Wang translates literally to “duck king.”  The duck here (¥168 or 108 for takeout) is one of the most tender and juicy in town, served with all the standards: pancakes, sesame buns, hoisin, cucumbers and scallions.  This appropriately-named Beijing duck chain offers up the entire bird, so once you’ve finished your meal, they’ll wrap up the carcass for you to take home so you can make some equally tasty broth.

Note: the ¥ rating here refers to the price of the duck with trimmings

This article was featured in a past issue of CITY WEEKEND MAGAZINE

Freshly made burrata being tied off with strands of water celery

CNNGo.com recently published an article about my conversation with Kyeong.  Check it out here to learn more about China’s only artisanal mozzarella maker.

• Ms. Kyeong Joo Lee
• Sololatte
• +86 136 6153 1657
• sololatte1@gmail.com

City Deli, located in the Golden Eagle Mall, serves up some pretty mean sandwiches.  And in a city that likes things delivered – and quickly – this deli definitely has found its niche: power lunchers who can’t bear to leave their desks, Sherpa’s junkies, and all those who crave large quantities of meat in between two slices of bread.

As they are strictly a take-away and delivery venue, one of my favorite things to do is grab one of their tasty lunches and bring it to Jing’an Park, which is just a short walk to the west.

Their specialty sandwiches include Steak and Cheese (62元), BBQ Pulled Pork (48元), Bánh Mì (58元), which offers a neat twist to the Vietnamese classic, and many others.  Their Bánh Mì is pretty rocking, actually – tender slices of chāshāo, pâté, house pickled daikon radishes and carrots, cukes, and jalapeños, all stuffed into a mayonnaise slathered baguette.

Pretty ridiculous.  And equally delicious.

But today, I grabbed my standard – a classic Rueben (though a close second tie would be between the aforementioned Bánh Mì and their over sized Turkey Avocado).  My friend Giulietta opted for one of the two fresh salads – the Cobb with thousand island dressing (54元).  With lunches in hand, we strolled over to the park.

The Rueben – actually one of their smaller sandwiches – is pretty great for the ‘Hai.  Considered a deli “standard,” it boasts well-seasoned pastrami, sauerkraut, a slice of Swiss, and thousand island dressing on rye (though the rye is barely rye).  Certainly not comparable to any deli in the American Northeast, but it hits the spot when I need a sandwich.

The Cobb salad is one of the best in the city.  It offers fresh avocado (today’s slices were a bit too ripe), bacon, chicken breast, cheddar, a hardboiled egg, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce (typical Cobb stuff).  But what makes this salad so good is the quality and freshness of these vegetables.  They don’t skimp on the portions of each of those items either – “healthy” wouldn’t really be a word to describe a Cobb salad anyway.

So, when you’re in your office counting down the minutes to lunch, or sick in bed (they also have great soups), dial up, order from their menu online, or even log onto your Sherpa’s account, and within a half hour (more or less), you’ll be one happy customer.

• ¥¥
• City Deli
• 6/F, Golden Eagle Mall, 278 Shaanxi Bei Lu
• Jing’an District
• 电话: +86 6288 3912
• www.citydeli.cn

★★☆☆☆ (for everything else)

Dinxi Lu – just southwest of Zhongshan Park – offers some great eats (so many in fact, CNNGo.com published a tour of the area.  Check it out here).  Of the street’s many eateries, there are a fair amount of joints offering Cantonese food.  Hankering some chā shāo – honey glazed roasted BBQ pork – Ling and I recently ventured over to the Dingxi to grab a Canton-inspired lunch.

As required of any diner here, we opted for a plate of their deliciously tender and succulent roast pork.  The thick slices were juicy and doused with a liberal amount of their house maltose-based glaze.  This is serious zhūròu – the restaurant constantly has a line outside where hungry people can order this pork and their honey roasted duck to bring back home.

Their dry-fried green beans with chilies were standard and expectedly tasty.  I’ve had this Shanghai staple now at several places and I have yet to really find different variations of this classic vegetable.  It seems the adage “if it’s not broken…” applies to this dish.

We then became a little trigger happy with the menu.  We ordered a fried silken tofu with braised eggplant dish, mápó dòufu, and beef shuǐjiǎo.

The fried crust of the tofu delicately – and deliciously – enveloped its oozing silky and soft interior.  Although difficult to grasp with kuàizi, the effort was absolutely worth the trouble.  The accompanying thick slices of eggplant were equally delightful and were scattered with scallions and sesame seeds.

Even though it is neither Cantonese nor Shanghainese, when I see mápó dòufu on menus, I have a hard time resisting it.  I find the dish addictively, if not punishingly spicy, though Yongxiang’s Cantonese adaptation danced along the mediocrity.  Nevertheless, I didn’t have a hard time shoveling down an entire bowl of the stuff.

There was something about their beef shuǐjiǎo that was both unfamiliar and confused.  Perhaps it was the quality of the meat or the spices used, but these were some of the least palatable ones I’ve had in this city.

The Cantonese food here is great, and I highly recommend their BBQ meats (pork, duck, goose).  The fare from other regions – perhaps appropriately – is not as well executed.  But on your next stop to the Dingxi, be sure to check this place out.

• ¥¥
• Yongxiang Restaurant
• 1271 Dingxi Lu near Wuyi Lu
• 电话: +86 6226 1987

Heaven in a half-fried dough shell from Josh Chin on Vimeo.

On my way out yesterday morning, I was desperately seeking my favorite jiānbǐng vendor for a delicious, cheap, and savory breakfast.  To my complete disappointment, Mei Ling – jiānbǐng extraordinaire – was already sold out of most of her ingredients (it was 7:45 A.M.).  Seeking some kind of alternative, I stumbled down the rabbit-hole lane of my neighborhood wet market.  Having passed up everything because they all seemed to be fried, I actually wandered back out near my apartment complex, making a complete circle (it is very easy to get turned around in these markets that extend into various lanes).

Seeing I was getting late for where I needed to be, I went to the closest stall selling something: I ordered a bag of guōtiē.

Yes.  Fried, greasy, pork filled guōtiē for breakfast.  I guess what’s the different between that and bacon and toast, anyway?

The black cast iron griddle, which were frying and crisping the dumplings, was just coming off its flame when I approached, which meant these were ridiculously fresh.  Sprinkled with scallions and black sesame seeds, six (the minimum order at my stand) were dropped into a Styrofoam plate, doused with the requisite cù, and then wrapped into a plastic bag.  That ran me 4元.

I knew better (from painful past experiences) than to eat these immediately.  Instead, I walked to the metro, guōtiē in tow, and eagerly waited for them to cool.

These potstickers were incredible.  I was pleasantly surprised that they did not boast nearly as much greasy broth as their cousin, the shēngjiānbāo, which normally burst with melted pork fat.  Instead, these were somehow – I dare say it – light.  The wrappers weren’t overbearing or too thick, the bottoms well browned and crisp, and the interior meat was tender, but not overly juicy.  After the first, I quickly shoveled the rest down.

So, this is not quite the most traditional – or healthy – breakfast out there, but if you can stomach them in the morning, get these guōtiē while they’re hot.

• Dongxin Lu Wet Market
• Dongxin Lu Extension and Dongxin Lu near Wuning Lu
• Putuo District
  

For this Expo meal, I traveled to Mexico to get a taste of one of Shanghai’s newest and already most buzzed about eateries – Mi Tierra (they have an outlet in the Mexico Pavilion, in addition to their actual restaurant in the Former French Concession).

While the food here was not bad (not as good as reviews indicated for their flagship joint), it was vastly overpriced.

We enjoyed a basket of tortilla chips and freshly made guacamole (75元) to start.  Clean, simple, delicious.  Mildly spiced with cilantro, the avocados were creamy and tender and well complemented by diced tomatoes and a little spice.  Nicely done, but I’m not sure it was worth 75元 – which (in case you don’t know the exchange rate here) is nearly $11 USD for about ¾ a cup of the Mexican staple.

I had a perfectly grilled piece of beef atop spicy marinated tortilla strips, with a side of refried beans for my next dish.  Usually when beef is so thinly sliced, it is easily overcooked and dried out.  This steak was both tender and juicy and even pink in the middle.  Well done.  The tortilla strips, however soggy, were spicy and covered in a sour cream mixture – and although it had the appearance of a green mess, the strips were fine.  The beans tasted as if they had come straight out a can, and not even warmed first.

My friend Laurel grabbed a pork burrito, which was stuffed with tender roasted pork and rice.  Although there wasn’t a whole lot going on with her plate, the food was good.

I don’t remember exactly how much each individual entrée was, but the entire bill was 345元.  Considering the average Shanghai resident makes around $11,000 USD a year, a $50 USD lunch at a place that is supposed to be showcasing and teaching other people about its culture and food (not simply just making a profit), seems pretty inappropriate.  Especially since for $50 USD, we really just got a lot of chips (as you can see, chips came with everything we ordered).

The food here is fine, but absolutely not worth its value.  Come to this pavilion if you need to buy an intricately designed sombrero, not if you are curious to see what kind of food Mexico offers.

So on this quest, I bring to you one of my favorite southern comforts – Shanghai’s best BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.  These are my Top Three:

Photo courtesy of CITY WEEKEND MAGAZINE

1. Bubba’s Texas-style Bar-B0Que and Saloon : ¥¥ 2262 Hongqiao Lu 电话 +86 6242 2612, Hongqiao

With their barbecue pit proudly on display out front, Bubba’s out in Hongqiao slow smokes some mean pig, and their pulled pork sandwich (¥75) is one of the most authentic in town. The meat is so tender that it’s easily pulled apart with a fork, and the vinegar and pepper flakes in their house sauce help bring out its smokiness. If the accompanying bread and ’slaw are getting in the way of enjoying your pork, order a straight pound of the stuff for ¥120 and enjoy.

2. Boxing Cat Brewery : ¥¥ 82 Fuxing Lu 电话 +86 6431 2091 ext. 801, Former French Concession

Served on “fresh calzone bread”, Boxing Cat’s southern-style barbecue pulled pork sandwich (¥75) is succulent and hearty. The tender meat, smothered in the Brewery’s house-made spicy barbecue beer sauce, is best enjoyed with their tangy cabbage ’slaw. Served with thickly cut fries or a salad, one of the best parts of this sandwich is that it can be enjoyed with one of the brewery’s many beers.

3. City Deli : ¥ www.citydeli.cn 电话 +86 6288 3912, Jing’an

Moist, slow-roasted pork sits atop the requisite ’slaw on a roll slathered with barbecue sauce at City Deli on Nanjing Xi Lu. Although it’s not the most traditional–the sauce is a bit thick–their pulled pork sandwich (¥48) is both delicious and available via delivery. Served on a baguette instead of the usual kaiser roll, the bread offers a little crunch to go with the savory meat that most barbecue sandwiches don’t have.

Note: the ¥ rating here refers to the price of the sandwich

This article was featured in the latest issue of CITY WEEKEND MAGAZINE

Shanghai has been hot and humid these past few days, and the weather has been reminding me of one of my favorite places in the world – Thailand.  The people, the culture, and especially the food, keep me coming back to this place almost every time my China visa expires.  Finding good Thai eateries in Shanghai is no problem – they are pretty much everywhere.  But my search for a truly authentic and great restaurant led me to Kangding Lu’s Chiang Mai.

Greeted with the cadences of “Sawadee-ka,” and seeing the walls adorned with gold frames of the King and Royal Family (the mark of any true Thai eatery), I knew we were in for an authentic lunch.

We ordered a few dishes to share: the spring rolls (30元), the homemade Chiang Mai style sausage (40元), papaya salad (32元), grilled pork salad (38元), and a large plate of Pad Thai (40元).

The rolls were delicious and served with a citrusy peanut condiment.  The sausages, which are hand stuffed by the chef, were a little less palatable.  Although the flavors were great – lime, ginger, and chili – the meat was extremely dry.  Even when wrapped with the accompanying lettuce and cucumber, the appetizer just didn’t work.

Papaya salad is one of the greatest fruit salads – it is incredibly spicy, sweet from the added sugar (as is found in most Thai food), and salty from the crushed peanuts.  Although cool, the dish will make you sweat from the intense heat of the chili peppers.  Chiang Mai’s version was spot on and delicious.

The pork salad was equally tasty.  The combination of fresh cilantro and mint make this dish both clean and refreshing, and the same heat found in the papaya salad brings the ingredients all together.  With a dash of fish sauce, the flavors delight: this salad is the perfect melding of all of the tastes that I seek in good food – savory, salty, and sweet.

We probably could have thrown in the towel after the pork salad, but our Pad Thai – a huge portion of it – was on the way.  While Chiang Mai’s other dishes were pretty exceptional, their Pad Thai was fairly average.  Served with the traditional condiments of chili powder, crushes peanuts, and sugar, the noodles were a bit greasy, and the sprouts soggy.

I think I have found my new favorite place for good and hearty Thai grub.  Chiang Mai is definitely worth a visit on these hot and humid days that remind us of one of the world’s steamiest countries.

• ¥¥-¥¥¥
• Chiang Mai
• 1019 Kangding Lu near Yanping Lu
• Jing’an District
• 电话: +86 5228 1588

Recently, I worked with Shanghai food expert and writer Joanne Yao on a piece for CNNGo.com, where we discovered and highlighted the 40 foods Shanghailanders simply cannot live without.  Of course, of those foods, we named some favorites like xiǎolóngbāo, and also some dishes that aren’t as well known, but are equally loved.

Check out our article on these foods, as well as the others on Shanghai at CNNGo.com.