Shanghai – Day 1

I finally found my pictures from the first night in China so I can finally do a recap of our first meal in Shanghai. After we checked into the hotel, David and I went to check out the pool and gym and then got ready to meet up with my mom’s friend for dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant next to our hotel in Tomorrow Square – the restaurant was a gigantic banquet hall with lots of private dining rooms where you have you own set of waiters.

We ordered a lot of dishes (as usual) but I’m only going to do a quick highlight of my favorites, even though everything was pretty amazing.

The first dish I really enjoyed was the crispy shrimp sauteed with oregano:

Next, the escargot were served with a ton of delicious butter on top of a bed of mashed potatoes:

This might’ve been my favorite dish of the night – a shrimp, egg, and asparagus mixed together, fried, and served with a side of kewpie mayonnaise:

The fish we ordered was really special because apparently it’s from the bottom of the ocean and it’s considered a delicacy because it’s so difficult to obtain:

If the shrimp, egg, and asparagus dish doesn’t win for my favorite dish, this next one definitely does; it’s egg, crab meat, and winter melon, stewed together:

The texture was similar to a delicate egg custard but had an great additional texture from the winter melon. My brother can’t eat egg OR crab meat, so the people at the party were saying that he was their best friend because they could eat his portion (although in reality, I think I ate his portion because I went back for thirds)

We had an abalone soup with fish balls, but these fish balls aren’t anything like what you’d eat in a hot pot; they were the most tender and delicate fish balls I’ve ever eaten:

My mom actually asked how they made the fish balls so tender because it felt like they just disintegrated in your mouth but no one had a definitive answer, just guesses (one person guessed that they just hit the fish with a mallet until it’s the consistency they want)

The last dish, pork belly, was cooked and presented in a special clay pot:

The pork belly is first flavored with soy sauce and spices, then cooked down for hours in the clay pot so the meat is very flavorful and tender.

We were definitely lucky to be treated to so many special meals while we were in China; every afternoon and evening we were going to a different private room for a 20-course feast! After dinner, we walked around the hotel area, heading to the Opera house (across the street from our hotel and the restaurant) and then walked to a mall to eat some shaved ice (we tried to recreate our dessert from Meet Fresh again!)