Shanghai Trip.. PART 1

I am BACK! Yes.. The reason why I haven't updated my blog for so long is because I was away.. I went to China with two of my siblings.. The three of us randomly decided to have a Shanghai Beijing trip.. I just got back yesterday and I am gonna post a hell lot of pictures.. food pictures, my pictures, our pictures.. We sure DID eat a lot! Like really really a lot.. I don't dare to get on the scale to see my own weight till this very second..  oh and one more thing.. I am going to write all the prices according to Chinese dollar aka yuan. It's approximately Rp1500 for 1yuan..

A thing or two that I know about the Chinese. They sure eat a lot of Jiao Zhi a.k.a Dumplings.. It's one of their staple food. Some even don't eat rice but they eat dumplings instead.. My mandarin skills are very poor. This is the one country that I find very stupid to be in, yet the one that I love so much because of so many reasons.. I love Indonesia, don't get me wrong, but I can't deny the fact that I have Chinese blood within me. The people there are awfully rude, it's a definite opposite of our friendly polite Indonesians.. But still, unlike the nowadays young generations, who often deny their "oriental essence", I am very much interested to find out about MY ORIENTAL ESSENCE.. I love their history, their myth, their buildings, their beauty of their language (even though I found it very hard to study). Okay enough ramblings from moi.. Let's just cut to the chase.. 

First off, SHANGHAI. DAY 1... We had a red eye flight, the plane took off from Jakarta at 11 p.m. The journey there itself took 6 hours and I didn't sleep one single second there, I just couldn't, I've tried.. It was bumpy and the turbulence was quite severe.. 6 hours of that.. andddddd... We were welcomed by Sunny Shanghai Morning! As soon as we checked in into the hotel, we started off our journey without even waiting a single bit more!

That lipton lemon tea was the first thing that I bought from the super market while waiting to be checked in. Next to it was SHENG QIAN. My new favorite oriental light bites. We don't have it in Indonesia.. It's almost the same like xiao long bao, but bigger, and they fried the bottom part till it is dark golden and crunchy... We just bought this on the street side cause we were sooo hungry!

Our hotel was in the East NanJing road. This was jiao zhi (dumplings) from a small street side restaurant in Nanjing road that we just randomly entered.. Nanjing road is the most crowded shopping street. You can buy all kinds of stuffs from branded products to souvenirs.. It's like Orchard road except this one is bigger.. 

Our next destination was Yuyuan Garden.. All the buildings are vintage, old-city like which I LOVE MADLY! This is the thing that I adore about China. They always take good care about their historical legacy. Instead of just abandoning it, they made it into a tourist spot.  

Yuyuan Garden has existed since 1577 and has undergone many changes as time travels.. It has many shops and places to eat, not forgetting cafes.. They even have Starbucks inside and of course, with a very vintage touch.. 

Dondurman ice cream! It's actually ordinary ice cream but the seller is Turkish I think, since Dondurma ice cream is Turkish after all.. They screamed out loud to attract the people passing by..

What's special is the way they give the ice cream to the buyer. They will play a little bit of trickery and flip the ice cream on top of your head. Just look at this kid, before the picture was taken, the ice cream was upside down on top of his head.. 

Snacks.. Weird light bites..

We bought the deep fried crab.. We thought it was soft shelled crab, but NO! It's an ordinary crab which made it quite hard to bite.. 

Okay this was just plain scary.. and I didn't want to know what it really was.. 

We stop at Kobayashi to buy their unique cookies.. Okay mind my face, I didn't sleep at all the night before.. I was trying so hard to keep it open..

Their unique traditional cookies are engraved with cute drawings.. 

Cute right? Great for souvenirs.. But I didn't buy any cause I'm scared it will all get crushed.. 

What are these people fussing about? Why are they all standing here? Look at the line of people to the very right side of this picutre.. 

They were in line to get the most awesome xiao long bao in Shanghai.. And I have to get in line like from a very far distance to the counter.. O ow... 

The most famous xiao long bao restaurant in China is Nan Xiang.. They made this nonstop! But the people in line were too many that it's just not enough.. Crazy..

I queued for an hour.. The line was almost 10-15 meters long..  We can actually go up to eat in the restaurant but it was also packed so we decided to get in line with this one..

For all that hardwork! At last we got it. Yes, it was steaming hot. But damnnnn, it was good. I was so hungry from the waiting. We finished this quite barbarically and we were not ashamed of it.. The skin is thicker than the xiao long bao in Indonesia, but I think that what makes it different and yummy as well..  

My sister and brother have both spent a year time studying in China. They both agreed that the best milk tea in China is Coco..

And yes, they are right.. It's so much better than all the other milk teas I have ever tasted in my life. Somehow you can really smell the milk and the fragrant of the tea.. It's just perfect. Oh and the reason why my eye brows were arched so high was because I was still trying to open my eyes.. 

For dinner, we decided to eat in Charme. It's inside a mall called Raffles City.. It serves Cantonese cooking with some modern touches..

The place.. Oh and those are my siblings.. My personal tour guides.. 

Charme Beef Curry (58yuan). Yummy! I love it! I am a curry lover.. The beef is so tender. The spices are just perfect!

Baked Wild Mushroom with Cheese (35yuan). Well, you know I am crazy for all types of mushrooms.. It's so cheesy that when I tried to scoop some to my plate, the cheese stretched along just like when you try to cut a pizza.. 

Strewed Broccoli with Crab meat and Straw Mushroom (42yuan). They also have bits of eggs as the sauce. But the crab meat itself is quite generous. Maybe it didn't show at the picture but I ate like a chunk of it.. The sauce was kind of bland though.. But for the sake of being healthy, at least we have to eat some veggies..

I LOVE THIS. It's Stewed Chicken with Taiwanese Sauce and Fresh Thai Basil (48yuan). I love the combination of the chicken, the sweet savory sauce and the smell of fresh basil. It's fresh. We definitely don't have this in Indonesia.. 

and for dessert! Voila.. This restaurant is famous for this Hongkong toast dessert.. This one is the original flavor and yes, again, my tummy was very happy indeed.. Not disappointing at all.. 

Charme restaurant is always packed! They even prepared many seats in front for people to actually wait to get into their table. We came early before dinner time, that's why we didn't get any fuss getting to our table. Even though it's a chain restaurant, I am not dissapointed at all. The food tastes great! The service is good, especially in China where people are so rude, so I have to give a credit to that.. The price is quite high but in terms of the big portions, I think it's worth every penny.. 

Charme Restaurant

Add : 6/F, Raffles City, 268 Xizang Zhong Lu 

opening hours : 11am-10pm

Wait, I see another line.. 

SHENG QIAN MADNESS! Yes it is the fried dumplings I bought earlier, but this restaurant is nationally famous for its sheng qian. I saw another branch on a different place and it was also filled with people waiting in line..

Look at how big the pans are. They are specially made for sheng qian. I got to see the process of the cooking. The chef has to turn it 360 degrees frequently.. The oil was only submerging the bottom part, which of course will be the crispy part. Before taken off from the fire, the chef will throw in some spring onions and sesame seeds.. 

One portion has only 4 dumplings. It only cost for 6yuan. The insides were sooo juicy, it squirted some juice in each bite.. It's just a perfect combination with the crispy outer skin.. 

The juicy yummy meat.. Oh I am currently drooling for some sheng qian.. It's a shame we don't have it in Indonesia.. 

Yang's Fried Dumpling

Add : 54-60 Wujiang Road, near Nanjing West Road / 吴江路54-60号 ,近南京西路 (They also have other branches)

Strolling Nanjing Road. I love the fact that the cities in China will always have a place for you to stroll around.. It's 9 pm and people were still busy with their own business. They even have people singing or dancing or playing violins or any other instruments on the street sides.. So lively.. The lights are adorable, it's just plain gorgeous.. 

On the way back to the hotel, we encountered with a smelly tofu cart! 

Of course we bought it.. I am personally not a fan of chou tou fu. It has a pungent smell which according to me is displeasing. But my brother loves it.. So I guess everyone has a different opinion in this delicacy.. 

The Giordano ad said it all.. I LOVE SHANGHAI

This post is just a start. I still have so many pictures to edit. Stay tune for more of my China trip.. :) I'm off.. well.. for now..