I stumbled upon this beautiful house last year at night when walking on DongHu Rd. The place is tucked in an alleyway next to the hairsalon, so they lit candles along the cracks in the wall, creating a glowing trail into the house and front garden. Just inside the house, there's a cigar lounge area with comfy black leather sofa. Further in, there 2 dining areas with a bar that's converted from the original fireplace. Upstairs there's a small gallery and a boutique shop with cutting edge designer fashion from Japan and Europe. The Japanese owner took great care to restore the house with period antiques and decorative elements. There never seems to be many people there so I worry about their survival. They have good-value lunch and afternoon set deals, starting at $30 something. The food is delicate but I'd go there just for the ambiance. Behind Diage toward the back of the house, a little shop called Ushigokoro has opened up. This peculiar shop is also Japanese owned (same owner as Diage?) and offer little cubicles for rent to anyone who wants the space for display. Many of the cubicles are occupied already, which a range of handmade jewelry, bags, art pieces, clothing, etc. They have recently held a flea market also.
The first time I went to Guyi was with my American ex-boss and his Chinese girlfriend. Because I have relatively low tolerance for spicy food, they were nice enough to order some non-spicy dishes. I especially liked their pumpkin and baihe cold appetizer, and the steamed frog legs in bamboo casing. Then there's my boss' favorite salt'n pepper ribs, which were tasty but on the salty side. They are also decent on the spicy chicken dry pot. This place is wildly popular with foreigners because the food is pretty good and more importantly they have the menu in English and Japanese with pictures of delicious-looking dishes. If you're planning to go, make sure you call ahead and get your reservation. Otherwise, long line awaits. A cheaper alternative to Guyi is DiShuiDong on Maoming Rd near ChangLe Rd.
I just went there 3 times within the same week recently, because one of my friends visiting was vegetarian. Charmant is not a vegetarian place but does a wonderful job cooking up not only leafy veggies, but also tomato-tofu-egg soup, vegetarian 3-cup chicken (which is actually a bean curd variation), and vegetarian vermicelli. They also do a great job on the meat dishes, such as the popular kung pao chicken, hui-guo-rou (bacon with leeks), shi-zi-tou (lion's head). For those who have lived in Taiwan, you can also get your dose of pearl milk iced tea (pearls are thoroughly cooked and chewy), lu-rou-fan (minced pork sauce over rice), bitter mellon with salty egg. They do leave out the MSG and put in less oil upon request. For dessert, my favorite is the old fashion black sugar shaved ice, which has a bit of pearls, another type of chewy jello, mung beans, and other yummy toppings. Their shaved ice beats Bellagio's hands down.
Another pleasant thing about Charmant is that they really spend time on putting in beautiful flowers and plants. Their own staff go out the Caojiadu flower market daily to pick up fresh flowers and arrange them themselves. Their service and staff training is also very good, thanks to the Taiwanese management Charmant has a 2nd location in Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech park in PuDong.
This stylish, ambient pair of lounge and Italian restaurant is located in a little house on Julu Rd, around the corner from HuaShan Rd. Unlike the row of seedy bars next door targeting traveling business men, Velvet and Casanova are frequented by local residents. Velvet is a relaxing hideout with great music and reasonably priced cocktails, perfect for an intimate week-night date. Upstairs at Casanova, you can get a nice multi-course Italian meal. A lot of people like their thin-crust pizzas, which you can also order from Velvet. I also like their Caesar salad and breads. This place is definitely not one of those big productions on the Bund, but it's nice to have some place like this in the neighborhood.
Last Thursday (9/27) my new friend Max called and asked me if I wanted to go see the tidal wave of QiangTang River 钱塘江, which is the biggest every year around August 18 of the lunar calendar. This tidal phenomenon is something so famous that ordinary people and emperors alike from different dynasties have come to watch in the last 200o years. In the ancient times, the waves can get as tall as 10 meters; these tall waves are created when water rushes into the narrow, shallow QianTang River from the sea during high tide while water from the river is trying to flow out. There a 2 cycles everyday, so you can see a day tide and a night tide. In the Song Dynasty, expert swimmers, or "surfers" used to swim in the high tides while carrying bright colored flags, and whoever can keep his flag dry is the winner of the competition. In the modern days, the tides are smaller at around 1-2 meters, due to the construction along the river. There are only 2 places in the world where you can see such big tidal waves --- the other one is at the Amazon River.
Back to our trip --- we took the 4:25pm train, which turned out to be a slow "express" train that took almost 3 hours to get to HaiNing 海宁. We sat in the hard seat section and chatted with people who live in HaiNing to find out more about the tide. Max brought his sleeping bag as he was planning to sleep on the river banks, while me and my 2 other guests decided to stay at the hotel in HaiNing because we're too old to hack it. We stayed at the 3-star hotel (~$200) right next to the train station, only to find out that there's a brand new GreenTree Hotel one block up for only slightly more. Haining is a well-known area for buying leather and fur, but we had to pass on that given the summer-like weather. We went around HaiNing looking for a place to eat in tricycles, and ended up eating at a claypot place. Also bought some famous JiaXing "WuFangZhai" zongzi 五芳斋粽子 (steamed sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with meat or sweet filling). After dinner, we waited until almost 11pm and headed out to YanGuan 盐官, where you can see/hear the night tide. The taxi ride was about $60 going but $90 coming back because of the late night trip premium. The admission for the night tide was $20, while the day tide was $50. There were some outdoor teashops with tables lining the river bank. We walked further down to where it's darker and more quiet. We waited for almost 2 hours, enjoying the moist breeze. The full moon hung alone in the clear sky. At around 12:30, the tide finally came. For a few minutes, all you can hear is the noise that the tide was making. Then under the moonlight, we saw the thin white line of waves rushing before us. The waves were nearly lined up but didn't look very tall because the river bank was much higher up. Still, everyone was very excited and tried to videotape or take pictures. Right after the waves passed, people started leaving the area. We lingered a bit, bidded Max goodbye and headed back to HaiNing. The next day, me and my 2 guests hung out in HaiNing until almost noon before heading back to YanGuan (it was getting really hot). When we got there, the road to the observation area was blocked further up so we had to walk a bit. Within 20 minutes of us getting, the waves came. This time we were able to see the waves more clearly. It seemed smaller than the night tide. We all thought that the night tide was way better. We then took a taxi back to HaiNing where we boarded the real express train that brought us back to Shanghai in less than an hour. We were gone for almost exactly 24 hours --- what a trip!
Arugula is one of the dependable "brunch circuit" cafes that we go to frequently. The simple menu is nothing spectacular but the food has a consistent quality. The best thing about the 3-story cafe is the comfy couches on the 2nd floor. It's great for a weekend afternoon hangout or reading. They do have this one bad habit of telling you that fa piao has run out. One time I was so upset that I made them give me a $1000 fa piao to make up for all those times they "ran out."
The owner of Feidan (it means a "flying egg" in Chinese) is a master at selecting his merchandise. With a shop that's less than 20 sq meters (the Dagu Rd store is bigger), he managed to stock the shelves with desirable products from all over the world. From jars of jams, pickles, and olives, to cans of illy coffee, pates, to boxes of cereals, pastas, and cake mixes, to bottles of branded mineral waters, you can find pretty much everything you need last-minute to gather ingredients for your exotic recipe. They also added a fresh produce section, so you can also get a small selection of veggies, dairy, cheeses, and meat. They also carry baguette sticks and croissants, and pita breads, in addition to regular toast breads. The prices are comparable to those at City Super (they have opened a similar concept satellite shop on ChangDe Rd near Beijing Rd but don't have as nice a selection of products), considering it saves a trip for people living around the area. I think it takes a foodie to open a shop like this and a foodie to appreciate the value of having such a shop around.
I found Amokka on the way to the traditional market. It sits on the quiet stretch of Anfu Rd between Urumuqi and Wukang Rd near Shanghai Dramatic Center. It's a 2-story house with a big open space on the 2nd floor. The furnitures have a modern designer look. The menu is a standard fare of sandwiches, pastas, burgers, etc. The pricing is average for western meals, with business lunch sets around $50 and higher for meat dishes. The breakfast/brunch goes for $28 but doesn't include a drink. I like the baguette sandwich with bacon and eggs, with a small side of salad (although I made an equally yummy sandwich myself with baguette I bought down the street at Feidan the next day). The cafe is not yet that popular so you can enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. While I feel grateful that so many nice looking old houses are getting converted into cafes, something is amiss --- maybe it's personality??
When new shops started cropping up behind the Center, I was a bit doubtful of their qualities. And wine bar definitely sounded a bit snooty, knowing the wines are typically marked by quite a bit. Enoteca turned out to be a star --- people hang around until late in the evening because the atmosphere is so inviting. Last time we went on a Wed, and the place was packed at 10pm. The shop has a bar area, a dining area, and a tasting room, which can also serve as a auxiliary dining area. The wines are ordered by the bottles (as opposed to the expected by-the-glass arrangement in wine bars) because you can get a bottle for as low as $89RMB. I'm not an expert in wines, but I liked what I tasted (tried the Rose Chardonnay, and Bordeaux). They also have some of the best meat and cheese selections I've tried in Shanghai (much better than Franck's and less expensive). Since they don't serve real dinner type dishes, we pretty much ordered every tapas on the menu. Have to say every one of them was yummy. They also have a brunch menu, and I want to try it out soon.
This Australian chain is among the many foreign contenders for the espresso market. Since I'm always in favor of the minority shops, I try to go here and Coffee Beans over Starbucks. Their drinks are made better than Starbucks in my opinion. They use the "green label" type of milk that ordinary consumers cannot get their hands on. One time I asked the barista if I could buy their milk, and instead, he taught me how to make perfect frothing with your regular Bright Light milk (blue carton kind which tends to puff up too much when you try to froth). The trick is to heat up the milk a bit (but not burning it), put it in the frig for a couple minutes to cool down, and then froth it. I tried it and was happy with the results.
Anyhow, my point is that Jamaica Blue is holding its own in this competitive markets, and they just need to have more locations to compete with the bigger guys...
Charmant has a 2nd location in Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech park in PuDong.
