Eating in 2013

Happy new year!  Yes, I have been tardy.  Yes, I have been MIA since October 2013.  Career wise, it was an unusually crazy 4th quarter.  It usually is anyway in the run up to the holiday season, but this time the craziness spilled right into it.  So no repeat of a vacation away but instead, a staycation in Singapore parked close to the work laptop had to do.

Fat Ma of Kwong Wah Store - picture credit to an unknown artist

It is probably appropriate to bid a proper goodbye to the following, some of whom we will miss badly.  I will miss Fat Ma of Kwong Wah Store most.  Almost an institution in the Tai Hang area before the advent of other more trendy eateries, Fat Ma finally threw in the towel ironically on my birthday and will no longer deal with rising rents, a systemic issue nowadays.  I will miss her cutting wit delivered in her loud booming voice and her home-style dishes which I had fondly grown to love eating at least once a week.  It was by no means gourmet but it was a slice of home.  Properly boiled soups which had been on the fire for hours, scrambled eggs with sea prawns, perfectly steamed fish and honeyed chicken wings.  I hope to someday have the privilege of eating your food again, Fat Ma.  In the meantime, have a restful retirement.

We also said goodbye to:

- Manor and its signature cholesterol sandwiches of liver and fat, which foodies affectionately coined

- Harlan Goldstein's Strip House now replaced by his new concept Comfort

I thought I saw a tweet that suggested that The Drawing Room will close too but wasn't able to verify it.

Joo Heng's steamed Soon Hock with bean paste and lard

In Singapore, we said goodbye Mr. Soon Ah Chai, the patriarch of Joo Heng Restaurant.  I will miss his awkward smile, one that I had been accustomed to seeing since I started patronizing the place in the late 90s.  Fortunately, his family is still carrying on the roaring business, and it is still possible to have Soon Hock fish steamed the old fashioned way with piquant bean paste and lard pieces liberally sprinkled over.

And on that note, here are my lists by city.  Please note that these are places I did patronize so if your favorite did not make my list, it probably just means I didn't make it there in 2013 and will hope to this coming year.

Hong Kong

Chinese - Ming Court, Tin Lung Heen
Japanese - Sushi Sase, Gin Sai, Ronin, Sushi Toku, Butao Ramen, Hana Sakazuki
Spanish - 22 Ships
Modern European - On Lot 10
South East Asian - Fatty Crab , Cafe Malacca
Private Kitchen - Ta Pantry
Pastries and then some - Beef pie from the Mandarin Cake Shop, macarons from Pierre Herme, Eric Kayser
Down & Dirty - Yuet Wah Wui, Keung Kee, Man Fatt, Kong Hing, Sing Fatt, Yummy Vietnamese
Coffee - Kitamura, 18 Grams

Ronin's Kagoshima Beef, Maitake, Egg Yolk

Cafe Malacca's Sago Gula Melaka

Singapore

Chinese - Cheng Hoo Tian, Chao Shan Cuisine, Jing Hua Restaurant
Italian - Valentino, Bruno's, Sopra
Japanese - Ikyu, Sushi Mitsuya, Wahiro , Hakata Ikkuosha
Mexican - Lower East Side
Peranakan - Candlenut, Daisy's Dream Kitchen
Spanish - Catalunya
Modern European - Bacchanalia, Toots Brasserie
Down & Dirty - Joo Heng Restaurant , Penang Seafood Restaurant, Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow
Pastries and then some - Eric Kayser, Tiong Bahru Bakery, B.A.O.
Coffee - Nylon, Penny University, Liberty Coffee, Jewel Cafe & Bar

Sushi Mitsuya

Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow

Bangkok 

Thai - Sra Bua, Issaya Siamese Club, Supanniga Eating Room
Italian - Enoteca Italiano
Bistro - Little Beast

Issaya Siamese Club

Beijing

Chinese vegetarian - King's Joy
Modern European - Sureno

King's Joy

Shanghai

French bistro - La Queue du Chiot
Vegetarian bistro - Green Vege Cafe
Chinese bistro - Yun Se

Yun Se's mountain yam with blueberries

Macau

French - Robuchon au Dome
Possibly my best meal of the year in terms of food and service.

Robuchon's mussels - just perfect

Thanks for staying tuned to EdEats and while there is no certainty that I will be blogging that often in 2014 either, I will continue to be active on Twitter @edenalow and Instagram edenalow so I hope you  can join me there also.  May 2014 be everything you wish for it to be.

Autumn Achievements - Hairy Crab

This year's hairy crab season was enjoyed entirely outside of the home.  A touch of lazy, a touch of convenience.  No messy steaming, no messy washing up.  Smiles..

Go traditional at Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai, one of Hong Kong's oldest Shanghai restaurants, where waiters are still in the traditional white shirt and black trousers, but both garments are washed thin and have seen better days.  But the knowledge of the waiters on the food is unsurpassed and if you find one that's friendly enough to share, he is going to tell you what the real deal is and you shall follow his bid and enjoy a traditional Shanghainese meal in the heart of Wanchai.

Goose liver pate smeared with Zhejiang vinegar and honey

Yes, even the Chinese know a thing or two about their foie.  And this is one fine way of enjoying it.  Smooth liver paste served chilled and given a breath of acidity from the vinegar and honey "jam" over the top.  Not greasy and very enjoyable.  Only complaint - it's a mighty small serving.

Steamed hairy crab

Then the real McCoy arrives.  And yes, please Mr. Waiter, I would like you to help open it up.  And this one does not disappoint.  The golden yellow hue of the roe is a sight for sore eyes and the accompanying crushed ginger in Zhejiang vinegar is an excellent way to cut through the richness of the roe.

Shanghainese pulled noodles with stir fried hairy crab

A wonderful way to retain the taste of the hairy crab is to have more of it - finishing with stir fried hairy crab, generously slathered over an al dente hand pulled noodles.

Glutinous rice dumplings in Osmanthus and Fermented rice syrup

This is probably one of the best of its kind.  Extremely fragrant and without the usual cloying and tongue clinging sugariness in lesser bowls.

Xin Ji Shi's hairy crab bowl

For those really lazy and happen to be in Shanghai, just go to any Xin Ji Shi restaurant in the city and order a bowl of hairy crab.  No peeling, snipping and digging necessary.  It's all right there, stir fried with a hint of ginger and served in a generous deep terracotta bowl celebrating the crab.  Just open up and say aaaaaaaah........

For those who want a touch of swank, with awesome views from within the No. 1 Peking Road building, another Shanghainese brand has set up its "premier" outlet there.  Unfortunately, the Xiao Nan Guo in Hong Kong is not anywhere close in food standards to its Shanghainese mother.

Stir fried river shrimps with hairy crab

Spicy rice topped with hairy crab in a stone pot

The quality of the hairy crab used was unlike its name.  It certainly wasn't premier since it didn't taste or smell like the crustacean we are used to.  So despite clever creations, the punchline wasn't delivered and the joke was on the diner.  Quite unfortunate.

A decent enough season but lesson learnt - enjoying hairy crab season is an aged old Shanghainese tradition which can only be enjoyed at timeless places.  Forget the swank and just get down and dirty.  You'll be a lot happier.

老上海飯店 Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant

UG1, Novotel Hong Kong Century, 238 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai

Tel: +852-2827 9339

新吉士酒楼(久光店) Xin Ji Shi Restaurant (Jiu Guang Department Store branch)

静安区南京西路1618号久光百货8楼(近静安寺) 

8th Floor, Jiu Guang Department Store, No. 1618 Nanjing Xi Lu, Jing An District (near Jing An temple)

Shanghai
Tel: +86-21-62883658

小南國壹號 Xiao Nan Guo Premier
10F, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852-2527 8899

Shanghai - 點石斋小宴 Dian Shi Zhai Restaurant

  

It's an interesting name to begin with.  But as CG's wife E explains over a pretty poor phone line, Dian Shi Zhai used to be a comic tabloid in the old days of Shanghai..

.. and so the explanation for the boy and girl caricatures at the entrance, etched onto old-style glass.  So in literal terms, it's a comic dining party.  The joke ends there though.  As you enter, it's like visiting a middle-class Shanghai family home in the '30s.  There is eager anticipation as we walk up 3 flights of stairs to our dining area, and happily to a table by the window.  As you soak in the atmosphere, you can almost imagine what it would have been like 70 years ago..

Since it was my first time, and I got the privilege of ordering, I chose some Shanghainese staples to test the place out.  After all, it would be such an anti-climax if they don't even do the classics right.  

The appetizer of chilled jelly fish heads were competently done.  However, unlike most places which deliver it tossed with a vinegar-based dressing already, this version came separate.  Interesting.  Chinese eat jelly fish heads for texture - it's also more expensive than the body for its slightly softer crunch.  Jellyfish is tasteless and so it acquires the taste of whatever it's dressed with.  In more cases than not, it is served cold and with vinegar which is dressed up, in this case, with soya sauce and a touch of sesame oil.  The dressing is a little bit more salty than usual but nevertheless went well.  

The deep-fried little yellow fishes were excellent and while done to a perfect crisp, it had a slight sweet-finish marinade which made it even tastier.

  Perfect with the aged Hua Diao wine we ordered, if only our servers remembered to bring it timely without our reminders.  It is the middle of summer but on a rainy day, it was cool enough to still enjoy a smooth yellow wine which I like for its almost herbal qualities, and a very subtle alcoholic finish.  

Our favorite appetizer was the bean curd sheets, a Shanghainese specialty, which were done the thinnest I have ever seen but still retaining enough elasticity to lend towards a chewy texture and soaking up the clean flavors of simply sauteed Chinese mushrooms, and made fragrant with Chinese parsley and sesame oil.  So simple but so very well executed. 

Our first mains was the quintessential dish which marries both the fresh river shrimps and the flash-fried crab meat, painstakingly extracted from crabs in nearby local lakes.  The freshness of the dish is apparent from the extreme crunch from the prawns and the creamy flavorful crab mixture.  My only complaint is that it seemed to lack much taste - perhaps after the good appetizers - that I thought the ginger in the crab overpowered everything else and became inadvertently bland.

However, the shrimps were still a lot better than the only disappointment of the night.  Our lion's head in a similar crab meat mixture was awfully bland, and unfortunately did not deliver the expectations we had placed on this - yet another Shanghainese classic.

For fibre, I get my favorite local loosely-translated into chicken-fur vegetables.  I never got round to asking why they are such and can only imagine its the way they look when plucked.

To finish, the Shanghainese noodles tossed in simple scallion oil and made even tastier by the adornment of deep fried dried shrimps.  阳春捞面 or Yang Chun Noodles is definitely a flavorful staple which any Shanghainese should be proud to call his/her own.  Such a simple way to blend otherwise none-too-exciting ingredients together for a brilliant taste.  

Overall, I thought it a great place to enjoy a local Shanghainese meal that wasn't too oily at all, and especially great for people looking for a touch of the old Shanghai.  If you're lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the neighbor enjoying his shower, modest only through very frosted glass.  The only thing you might not like is that China still allows smoking in restaurants, and it's not a big enough place for the smoke to not get in your eyes..

徐汇区永嘉路 320号 

(No. 320 Yong Jia Road in Xu Hui District)

Tel: +86-21-54650270/1 

Shanghai - Issimo by Cuomo at JIA Shanghai

It wasn't too long ago where access to good produce is not a given in China, even in the international city of Shanghai. But as the city opens up its doors to world class operators, fine food using quality produce from other lands far and wide is almost taken for granted now.

Salvatore Cuomo's second restaurant in Shanghai located in the trendily homey JIA Shanghai was fine testament, using traditional but simple methods to bring out the flavours of the ingredients. If not for my native Shanghai pal, I would have missed out since I try not to eat in hotel F&B outlets if I have company unless I am pressed for time or if they are truly exceptional.

Our starters of the shrimp and scallop skewers accompanied with spicy pesto were simply marinated and rightly so since they were some of the freshest and most succulent. About 80% cooked so the natural juices still intact, but nicely seared on the outside to deliver a pleasant smoky flavour. Garnished with julienned celery for crunch and topped off with a spicy pesto, for a little bit of bite.

The beef carpaccio was also very decent. While I found it a little too "young", and didn't melt in the mouth quickly enough, it was nevertheless very tasty. The fresh arugula and parmagianno played their roles to perfection, in support of the main character but delivering great tastes in themselves as well, making it a aged-old classic combination.

My personal favourite of the evening, beyond catching up with an old friend, was the Wagyu stuffed ravioli. Just the sound of it was making my mouth water - I love fresh ingredients in my raviolis and tortellinis and avoid them otherwise. Thankfully, we were relatively early for dinner since there was only one single portion left for the day! Apologies to the other diners who tried to order it afterwards but we were definitely not sorry! The smooth Wagyu bound into a mini burger and stuffed into the al dente ravioli skin and tossed in a beefy tomato sauce, was delicious hearty goodness. I could definitely eat this all day.

If you are dining in an Italian restaurant for the first time and Tiramisu is on the menu, order it. Every restaurant's rendition is different and in this case, a pleasant surprise. The traditional thing served in a mini casserole was delightful and for me, happily heavy on the mascarpone. I do detest it if I cannot even get enough of a hint or if the texture is too light because the proportion of cream outweighs the cheese. The bonus of crushed ice, drizzled with a great espresso as accompaniment was a perfect touch to wash down the casserole with. The crispy thin wafers were superfluous in what was already a great dessert but yummy on their own so no complaints there!

931 West Nanjing Road

(Entrance on Taixing Road)

Shanghai 200041

China

+86-21 6287 9009 (reservations essential)