Shanghai Trip.. PART 2

Here we go again..

Before I start typing, I just wanna tell you guys how lucky I am to be close to my siblings.. They're like my best friends and to them, I wanna say thank you for coping up and for being my personal tour guides when we were in China. As I have mentioned in my previous entry, I couldn't speak or listen to mandarin. I just know the stupid basics that elementary students know (I think they are smarter than me) : ni hao, wo ai ni, zhe ge, na ge, shen me and so on.. I know, it's quite embarrassing and very frustrating not to be able to talk to the locals.. English is just useless there.. Only a very few people might understand you.. Once I opened my mouth and said something in mandarin, the people will know in an instant that I am an outsider, and believe me, they will rip the hell off of you (when it comes to bargaining). So, my effective tactic is just to keep quiet and nod along because after all, I look exactly just like one of them ;p

The next day... Gloomy Shanghai, it was raining.. Well, it's no cats and dogs, fortunately. Just drizzly enough to make your hair damp. We only brought one umbrella from Jakarta. It's quite funny actually, try to picture this, the three of us, my big sis wearing a light tosca maxi dress, my brother wearing just casual shorts and myself wearing yesterday's blue dress, squeezed together under one tiny umbrella and pacing quickly to find a grab to bite.. If that's not eye catchy, then I don't know what is..

 Breakfast..
We started early in the morning to have our breakfast. The day before this, we have spotted a cafe called Wagas, just a few blocks away from our hotel. We decided to grab a bite in there before we continue our tourist journey. It was located in the ground floor of an office building and you can easily spot it from the street..

If we were in Indonesia, I would consider their price normal, but since generally everything in China is relatively cheap, so I considered the food in here is quite pricey. But on the other hand, they come in this huge western portion so I guess it's worth it..

This is our fusilli with bacon, chicken, onion, cream and Parmesan (52 yuan). It may looked small but trust me, they really serve plenty of it. The three of us were gobbling for it and the meal survived! There was still left overs when my sister and I decided to give up gobbling.. It's very rich. At first, I thought it needed more salt, but as the cheese started to melt, I think the taste was perfect

This is the Roast beef, gherkin, tomato, onion, gouda, rocket and mustard mayo sandwich wrap (52 yuan).. With Chinese style pickles at the side. lol. It was so huge! And thick. It's a challenge for me to take a bite from this sandwich. 

The best cappuccino I have ever drank in my entire trip. Yes, hands down! They have great coffee!  My big sis is a cappuccino lover. Pretty much any place that we went to, she'll order a cup of cappuccino and this one was definitely one of the best!

The whole area.. They have plenty of cakes as well..

In the afternoon, we were making a few stops for a snack. My sister was obsessed in finding a very specific egg tart in a specific road. But when we went there, it was closed. They moved into a new place near an underground train station.. After walking and walking and walking, not forgetting the rain, my feet was drenched in water. I didn't care about them anymore. My sandals were completely soaked. WE FOUND IT

Just a small shop. They are from Macao and they serve you with the most yummy egg tart EVER! Actually, Lillian Bakery has several branches, we just didn't know..

Original egg tart and cheese egg tart. My sister didn't go for the cheese ones, she's too much in love with the original flavor 

Cute packaging..

SUPER YUMMY. It's soft yet you can feel the outer crust crunch, combined with the mushy egg sweet oh so heavenly sweet bright and fragrant filling in the middle.. PURE HEAVEN I LOVE IT. No wonder my sister was crazy about it

I decided to go for some takoyaki that I found randomly in the middle of a cafeteria..

They made it all at once..

A cute little lounge/cafe to eat sweet bites and enjoy good wine.. hoF. It stands for house of flour. One of my sister's friends who used to study in Shanghai recommended this place to us. Along the streets, you can find many cute bars, cafes, restaurants.

I ordered the one on the right.. The chocolate one..

I didn't even know what these all were, but damn, it tempted me enough to make me press my face to the glass and drool.. (okay I think that's a little bit over dramatic)

Of course, cappuccino again.. 

It's cozy. It's intimate. Only a few were there. I always think this kinda place is somehow romantic for a secret rendezvous. 

hoF
30-1 Sinan Road, Shanghai 200020
(Near Middle Huaihai Road)
Phone : (86-21) 60932058
Website : www.houseofflour.com

Actually, before going to hoF, we dropped by into this Hongkong restaurant called CHA's Restaurant. It's only a few metres away from hoF, but the place was so packed! We decided to wait at hoF and had our dessert first while waiting for the lunch hour to pass.. It was a HUGE NO NO! The place was still packed. We got number 80 something and they were still calling number 50 something. So we waited.. waited.. and waited..

I decided to stroll around to the restroom while looking at what people were having on their table. Not forgetting to snap photos.. I think they thought I was some kind of a random weirdo, taking picture here and there.. I just didn't care.. LOL

See that Black&White Milk, when I was in Hongkong, the restaurant there used that brand as well.. Oh and that blue can called Horlicks, I LOVE IT! You can order horlicks at Ah Mei Cafe in Indonesia.. It's like cereal water with just the right sweetness..

Fresh pastries..

Finally...

Deep Fried Chicken Wing (14yuan) It smells so good! It's really hot and crunchy.. 

Deep Fried Pork Chop with Mayonnaise (39yuan). The name itself is intriguing already! Trust me, it's super yummy! It's sweet and sour sauce is so perfect combined with the mayo. I LOVE IT SO MUCH I PRACTICALLY MOAN WHILE TAKING THE FIRST BITE.. There, I confessed.. -_-

Scrambled Egg with Shrimp (38yuan). It's quite pricey, yes. But the shrimps are plenty and very fresh indeed. It still has that crunch in every bite. I don't know how they cook the egg, but it's still soft and gooey on the inside.. SUPER LOVE. Almost every table ordered this dish and we were curious. Worth every penny.

We ordered the milk tea, it has milk tea ice cubes, so when it melts, it wouldn't affect the taste. Clever.

"We were not that hungry, we just couldn't help it", straight quotation from my siblings..

I think going to CHA'S Restaurant was definitely worth it. Even though we had to wait for so long, the food itself proved that this restaurant is definitely a TOP NOTCH! They have won awards and it's a NO WONDER.. Seriously, you should drop by to this place if you were in Shanghai. I know they serve Hongkong style food, but I have always been in love with Hongkong anyway. All the time we were eating, the three of us were like, "OMG, THIS IS SO DELICIOUS" or "OMG, I WISH MUM AND DAD ARE HERE TO TASTE THIS" or "OMG I AM IN HEAVEN". 

CHA'S Restaurant
Sinan Road Shop : 30 Sinan Road, Luwan District
Phone : 6093 2062

NEXT STOP, TIAN ZI FANG~
Tian Zi Fang is another tourist spot in Shanghai. It was a French Concession area which has been renovated and turned into a labyrinth some sorts of alley ways of Tai Kang Road. It has several entries and the shops varies from food to arts and crafts. I have always loved ancient concession areas like these. Inside, you may find different bars, cute cafes, and souvenir shops. It's just the perfect tourist spot to spend your day. If I had more time, I'll definitely try the cafe one by one, but since we got only one day, we chose the Teddy Bear Cafe..

Before that, let me just show you pictures of us in Tian Zi Fang..

You can tell this place is really old just from the building

My favorite milk tea in Indonesia is COME BUY. I took a picture in front of it because Jessica Alba has been in here as well. LOL

THE TEDDY BEAR CAFE

The place is really packed with LOTS of teddy bears of different sizes, shapes, and colours.. A true teddy bear lover should be thrilled to go in here

This is the wall where you can put notes.. It's so full that it almost reached to the ceiling

We didn't order any food because we were completely FULL. Another addiction, cappuccino. LOOK HOW CUTE IT WAS. Everything is Teddy Bear..

Our table has 4 seats, so this big Teddy volunteered itself to sit by my side.. How sweet of him..

The first floor of this cafe is really cozy but you were not allowed to take any pictures. They really do have so many teddy bear decorations. It's like Teddy Bear museum. The second floor of this cafe is actually where they make their own teddy bears. We were also not allowed to take any pictures there. The weird thing about this place is they serve Thai Food, which I think is a little bit out of the context. It's definitely our sweet escape to be in this place because the weather outside was SUPER SUNNY. Sitting here for a while gave us time to chill in an air conditioned room was really a sweet bliss.. Thank God for AC.

Teddy Bear Cafe
Tian Zi Fang, 248 3 Taikang Road, near Jianguo Road, Shanghai, China

We spent the rest of the day in THE BUND
There, the three of us, tummy full, aching feet.. But somehow we managed to be excited to go to the Bund. It is located in Central Shanghai. We can see the waterfront area and also some of the French Concession buildings..

Before this, we went to that side of the city. We went under a tunnel which is under the river.. 

PRETTY INDEED.. Worth the wait..

French Concession Buildings..

To be continued.. Beijing trip..

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..