Interior Barbarossa
After the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall we walked out and through the People’s Park to a restaurant within its grounds called Barbarossa. The restaurant has a Moroccan theme and turns from a cafe during the day to a cocktail bar in the evenings. There Richard had a coffee and I ordered a herbal mint tea, properly made, it turned out with a bunch of mint in the tea pot, and we shared a blueberry
cheesecake in a glass (an interesting concept). There were lumps of crumble-type material
Richard studying the Menu
in the bottom followed by the sort of jelly and fruit mix you’d find in a trifle and then on top was a custard-type mixture that seemed to have been mixed with cream-cheese. So rather than a cheese-cake, I’d have called it a cream cheese trifle, but then it probably wouldn’t have sold.
328 Jianguo
We were resting and marking time really before moving on to the Old French Concession to have dinner at No. 328 Jianguo, a restaurant that specializes in Shanghaiese food. We were meeting a number of Richard’s colleagues, some of whom I had met before and three QA professionals who’d arrived in Shanghai during the week and were on their way to the factories the following week for 6 month’s work in the country. There was a worrying sign that was pointed out when
UK PM photo
we entered, a photo of yet another UK Prime Minster, my second since we’ve been here; David Cameron had been to this restaurant. I was concerned of course, but it is a much, much less blingy a joint than the white and shiny restaurant of Da Dong Duck that Tony Blair had visited and I already felt much more comfortable. The restaurant had been booked by one of Richard’s Chinese colleagues, so we asked him if he could order traditional Shanghai food for us. We ended up with a veritable feast:
David the accountant putting on his accountant’s face
The Gang
Richard’s guffaw松子香干马兰头
Pine nuts, bean curd cube and Indian aster- 老醋海蜇头
Jelly fish in aged Vinegar - 呛花生
Marinated peanuts with vinegar and spice - 糖醋小排
Sweet and sour rib - 蒜泥白肉
Sliced boiled pork with Garlic mud (a thick sauce) - 酱油虾
Braised prawn with soy sauce - 特色红烧肉
Pork stewed in soy sauce (Braised pork with soy sauce) - 八宝全鸭
Stuffed Duck with 8 Treasures - 蟹粉虾仁
Crab meat shelled fresh shrimps - 本帮炒鳝糊
Shanghainese braised eels with Bamboo Shoots. - 松鼠鲈鱼
Sweet and Sour Bass(Squirrel-shaped Bass) - 鱼香茄子煲
Yu-Shiang Eggplant in Casserole - 麻婆豆腐煲
Mapo tofu - 咸肉冬瓜汤
White gourd soup with Chinese bacon - 酒酿圆子
Glutinous Rice balls in fermented rice wine - 葱油拌面
Noodles in Scallion with oil and soy sauce. - 酱爆土豆烧刀豆
Stir fired potato and Canavalia - 蒜泥米苋
Stir fired Amaranthus with Garlic - 蒜泥西兰花
Stir fried Broccoli - 时菜炒牛肉
Stir fried Beef with Seasonal veggie
The food didn’t come all at once, which was fortunate, hence the two different photos of the food. It was also fortunate that the table had a lazy Susan so that everyone could get access to all of the dishes (even if they had to wait a little) and it was good that because there were so many of us we could have such a variety of local delicacies to try. None of the food except sweet-and-sour spare ribs (which lets face it is probably in every Chinese takeaway in the UK) was in the Cookery book we have on Shanghai food and cooking. I’m not sure whether that is a good or a bad thing for our book claiming it has “75 authentic regional recipes from eastern China”. The sweet and sour bass, called Squirrel-shaped Bass because of the way the flesh is scoured and turned inside out to look at bit like a hedgehog, came with a sweet and sour sauce. The two together replicated exactly the flavour of fish and chips!
A couple of accountants from one of the factories had also joined us that evening – they come into Shanghai quite often at the weekends to get their “more cosmopolitan fix”. I think it was all a little overwhelming for the three new QA people who’d only been in the country for the first time 3 days beforehand. But I think it was a good introduction for them before they headed out away from central Shanghai to the areas where the factories are. All of it very different from rural Lincolnshire where one of them comes from and where, no doubt, it will be exceedingly bewildering.
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