Across China with the vermin

[judiu]

Peter, thank you again; this is all so cool. I'm lovin' it!™ (Tee Hee)

[Peter Green]

I'm sorry to be late in posting, but there's been a tragedy.

My beloved 12" Apple Powerbook, Sasuke, was showing signs of age and infirmity. Yesterday, while attempting a disk verification and repair, it made a sound not unlike the noise Scud makes when I squeeze the pressure point on top of his foot, and then gave out a burning smell (Scud's smell is different).

It's not the end of the world - all the photos and writing are backed up on the main computer - but it's still a sad, sad moment.

I'll see if there's anything to be done, but I'm afraid it's the end of the road for Sasuke.....

(of course, this is the perfect time to hit Yoonhi up for a new machine! )

[liuzhou]

Commiserations Peter.

I am holding a two minute silence.

[Domestic Goddess]

Peter - I know how you feel. Joining Liuzhou in the 2 minute silence.

[Peter Green]

Day 18 – Change The Beat

Awakenings

Ah, the joys of sleep. To lie carefree in a bed and not have to be on a tour or at an airport or in a class.

I was up at 6 as usual.

We had internet access, although there were some problems with uploads (for which I figured I could use the business centre). I went online to find out about the oddly named Pacican Restaurant around the corner from us.

It seems this is a Canadian owned operation, whose primary business is placing English teachers. As an offshoot, they also opened this restaurant, and are working on pushing some Canadian ingredients (halibut heads in particular).

Nothing particularly wrong with this, and the menu looks okay, with braised Xucha looking interesting (edible frog’s oviducts); octopus and ribs soup with lotus; and braised pork and chestnut sauce.

The rest of the family arose in stages; Scud, then Serena, then Yoonhi. I took the kids down for another bout of suffering in the dining room, was joined by Yoonhi, whom I passed Serena onto, and then returned to the room to prepare for the day.

First were reservations. I made a booking for two at M for the evening.

Second was the gear. Batteries charged, phones charged, notebooks and pens. This was becoming a circus of preparation.

As a note for the modern traveler, I think the day has come where we need to start traveling with power strips. Now that we’d come to rest in a place with enough outlets, I started counting how many things had to be plugged in. Three phones, two videos, one digital camera, one Gameboy, the laptop, the anti-mosquito chemical warfare kit…Definitely time for a power strip.

We hadn’t been lied to about the distance to the Bund. We were actually only about half an hour away by foot, so we didn’t worry about a taxi. I take that back. We worried about the taxi for coming back, as I’d been very stressed out about this the night before. What we did is have the desk write-down the name and address in characters about an inch high. Now the cabbies would be able to read it. For my part, I practiced pronouncing Wu Song Lu. If that failed, I’d ask them for a beer.

The daytime view of Pudong wasn’t as cool as the night. You lose the Jetson’s quality of the vista. (Oh, and to give credit where it’s due, the Jetson’s simile is something I’ve stolen from the guidebook we’d bought – Time Out Shanghai…2006 edition even! A great guide, as they’re as concerned about fun as they are about the “sights”.) It was a little hazy out today, hazier than the day before, but not so bad as to crimp our style.

Somehow we slid by the Shanghai Land Subsidence Monitoring Show without Yoonhi making us go and watch. I shouldn’t be so critical, though. With around 4,000 skyscrapers now, the metropolis is sinking into the swamp under its own weight.

We crossed over to the Huang Po side of the street, to give us a better view of both Pudong and the Bund proper.

We were early enough onto the Bund that the crowds weren’t too bad, and we had a pretty good view. We toyed with the idea of taking the tourist tunnel to Pudong…we toyed with that idea for all of about a minute. We’d read stories about the Time Tunnel like effects, and the sheer pointlessness of the thing. This had a certain attraction, but we decided we’d put our time to more productive uses, like finding places for dinners. (Unfortunately, it meant we’d miss out on the sex museum. Oh well, you have to have priorities).

Once we were a little beyond the tunnel, the crowds started to thin out, and by the time we’d made it down to Yanan Lu and the crossover, we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

This was our plan. To work down the Bund, starting with Number 1, which used to be the McBain Building. Number 2 was the old Shanghai Club, but the one we were interested in was Number 3.

Number 3 was the first big pump of foreign cash into the Bund; the first building owned by a private group (The House of Three – a Hong Kong holding company). They went all out, using Michael Graves to redo the interior. We went around the corner, past the Armani entrance, and entered the way-too-cool elevator.

I’ve got to mention the elevator. Dark. One solitaire spotlight casting an oval of light onto the dark, polished wood of the floor. This was an elevator that cried out for a black silk suit and sunglasses. (Yoonhi wouldn’t let me in the Armani shop).

Working down from the top, there’s New Heights on the 7th floor, with the usual spectacular views looking down the Bund. This actually looked pretty workable for kids, with a wide, Australian feel to the menu. There’s Laris on 6 (David Laris had done well at Terence Conran’s Mezzo in London), with the Vault Bar, and a separate seafood bar that could be good for caviar.

On the 5th floor there’s the Whampoa Club, with chef Jereme Leung. He was out in Bangkok at the end of April, where he’s consulting at the Oriental’s China House. There was a short interview with him in the Bangkok Post’s Real Time section, where he talked about his interests in Shanghai cuisine, and the search for the authentic side of things. I admire his dedication, but it seemed to me that there were already plenty of authentic Shanghai places in town (although nowhere near as pretty). He’s also working with Jean-George’s sommelier, Yvonne Chiong, on pairing wines with the different regional cuisines (and writing a book on it), so I suspect it would be well worth visiting. Also, he’s opening a new place soon in Beijing, which I may add to my next string of expense account meals.

Then there’s Jean Georges on 4. They had some reasonable offers on for business lunches – Bento sets for only around 160 RMB, which covers your choice of four items (wait a second, didn’t we have a four course lunch in Guilin for 20 RMB?….). Down to three and there’s the Shanghai Modern Art Gallery, but this was closed to us as they prepared for a new exhibit. I hurried Yoonhi past the Evian Spa on the 2nd, and we were back with the rabble on the street.

The next stop, across the street (where’s Number 4?), was 5 on the Bund, with the famous M On The Bund, “The Pioneer of Fine Dining” in Shanghai. We peeked in, and it looked great. Lots of space, and big verandahs to look out from. And the menu confirmed my choice for the evening (but more later).

Below there’s the Glamour Bar, which I wanted to look in on later. And there’s the Moon Sha Teppanyaki place on the 3rd floor, and in the basement is 5, a pleasant looking bar with windows peeking out on the rich people’s shoes. This had been recommended as an easy place to do lunch with the kids, so we bookmarked this for later.

Wandering down the street, I spotted the Fest Brewhouse - “The Shanghai Bund Brewage Co. Ltd” - just down Hankou Road.

We ambled. Serena stopped for a photo opp with the replacement lions in front of the old Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building (Serena’s on Stitt, the “cross one”, named for the then-manager of the Shanghai branch), and we’d go into the buildings we were allowed in, which included the offices above the HKSB. The entrance was just beyond the bank’s entrance, and we were drawn in by the ad for the Bonomi Cafe. This turned out to be hidden far back on the rear of the building. It took us awhile to get there, and it was somewhat intimidating, as every office seemed to have its own security camera for keeping an eye on the hallway. The Bonomi is a pretty little thing, leather chairs and a distinguished looking bar. But we weren’t ready for a sit-down yet.

Past the Customs House at number 13, and then some more banks, and the oddly inappropriate Three Gun Chinese underwear store, which is just sort of “there” in the midst of everything. (“Three Gun”?)

After that, my next point of reference was 18. Bar Rouge, which had a good reputation, and Sens & Bund, which was advertising an Easter Sunday brunch. Tan Wai Lou wasn’t a name I was familiar with, but had a very slick interior, clean wooden floors, and lots of straight lines. Their blurb is “new Chinese” with a Cantonese direction. They also had a separate Sake Bar ensconced in their midst, serving (obviously) sake and sushi. Martini didn’t make the sign, being really just their “elevator lobby” bar, but it was a great looking bar. And I’m a sucker for a good martini.

We looked in on the Peace Hotel Annex and its Western Restaurant, and then crossed the street for old times’ sake to see how the Peace itself had fared.

The old girl was actually in pretty good shape. The Jazz is still there. I was curious to see if any of the old guys we’d seen there in 1994 were still breathing (more later).

There was the bizarre little kiosk, shack; the Outlet of Shanghai Tobacco Sales Network. As far as I could tell, they sold soft drinks.

Like troopers, we finished our tour down the Bund, making it to the last of the historic buildings, the old British compound. From there we turned right around, and headed back up the street to Number 5.

Not only did they have an acceptably kid-friendly menu, but they also had a pool table. The decision had really been made at that point.

We ordered a remarkably humdrum menu. After weeks of the exotic, the kids loved it. Onion rings, fish & chips, cheeseburger, lasagna, and (hold-out that I am) a grilled eel bento. I had a pitcher of beer brought over, and the kids and I chalked up.

It was a perfectly serviceable joint. And absolutely dead. I supposed they’d do a better business in the evenings, as they were set up for a live band. But for now, as Sheryl Crow says, “the bar was ours”.

The onion rings were just “alright”. Not a spot on the ones we’d had in Yangshuo. And the cheeseburger was what Serena wanted, so I won’t complain. I also won’t use up a photo on them either. The same goes for the fish and chips. Good, but not memorable.

The eel was good. (“Of course you say it’s good, you chose it”, pipes up Yoonhi). A thick cut, with the expected rich sauce to prep it against the rice (and this was good rice).

And Scud’s lasagna was interesting. Pretty standard lasagna, but with salmon roe added to the topping for a bit of salt. (Like I say, if you run out of salt, you can always use caviar).

Dessert for me was another beer; the kids went for banana splits. Yoonhi ordered the caramelized mango, and was pleasantly surprised at what came.

This was much more of a warm, pudding like thing, with a lot of liqueur of some sort in there. It was very good, as Yoonhi says. Just not what she’d been expecting.

After settling up, we made our move.

The Shanghai Natural History Museum

Yoonhi found the place. At first we followed the directions in the book, and it appeared that there was a new building of some sort that had taken its place. Scud and I daubed the tears from our eyes, and moved to console Yoonhi, but just then she spotted a trace of museum spoor across the road.

And she was right.

There are two reasons to visit this museum.

The first reason: it’s a neat old building. It started off as the Cotton Exchange, but was turned into a museum back in 1950. If you look hard, behind the peeling paint, broken windows, and hand-augered holes for the standard masses of tangled cables, you can almost see a bit of the old beauty. A very small bit, but a bit.

The second reason: once you’ve gotten past the ground floor with its dinosaurs and mastodons and such, and you get upstairs, it becomes a tour of “been there, ate that”.

This was really fun. Scud, Serena, and I went exhibit by exhibit and talked about which of the items we’d eaten, and which looked like they’d be good to eat in the future. “We ate that. And that. And that!”

The seafood all looked pretty good, the crabs and lobsters in particular. But they also a good selection of squid, fish, and clams on the menu….errr…display as well.

And once we moved into the mammals, there was a whole Korean bbq to explore.

Particularly funky, deer with fangs.

You see one of these puppies comin’ for you, and you can feel justified in hauling out your armour piercing bullets. (I told Serena that it was Bambi as a wer-deer).

And, for those items that couldn’t be firmly placed on a buffet table somewhere, at least you knew that they were fair game to go inside a bottle. Anything can go inside a bottle.

Once again, Yoonhi wins. Having done it, we were all quite happy to have visited the museum. I’d have to say, for foodies, this is probably the second best museum in town (you’ll have to wait for a couple of days for our favourite).

We taxi’d back to the hotel. The new cards worked like a charm.

Home, we decided the time was ripe (as were we) for a swim. There was a pool. It was indoors. It was heated. It was open. It had water. Everything was as it should be under Heaven.

We had to have swim caps.

I gave up. Luckily, Yoonhi interceded and found out that, while the “nice caps” were 50 RMB each, the “not nice caps” made from cloth instead of plastic, were only 15. We went swimming.

After that, the kids lounged while Yoonhi and I stopped in at Pacican to get them some dinner. We ordered a nicely braised bit of pig belly, some steamed pork with garlic sauce, and a corn and pork rib soup, all to take away. “Take away” was pushing the envelope a bit here, but after a one hour wait, we finally managed to get everything done up and ready to go. While this was going on, I tried a bottle of Kirin (which tasted much like everything else) and a Suntory (ditto).

We settled the kids to their meal, dressed, and headed out on the town.

Next: “So That’s What M Stands For?”

[Peter Green]

Day 18 – All Dressed Up With Some Place To Go

Don’t get me wrong, I’d enjoyed the trip so far. But a trip, like a good meal, needs texture and contrast (roughage is another matter).

Plus, if we didn’t use the silk jacket and long sleeve shirts I’d made Yoonhi pack, I was a dead man (she’s still miffed about stuff she had to pack for the Laos trip…..at least I didn’t bring the tux….)

It was dinner at M On The Bund, but I thought we might begin the evening a little earlier.

Martini had caught my eye when we’d passed it by in the morning. This looked like a perfectly civil place to relax for a bit.

I ordered a martini, dry, Grey Goose, two olives, shaken.

Yoonhi asked for the house special and was told it was the Dolce & Gabbiani (whose stores were fronting the bar). This was Absolut vodka, strawberry, lime, and honey.

A perfectly serviceable martini. I flip between gin and vodka as my preference. If they’d had an interesting gin (they were limited to the usual suspects; Gordon’s, Sapphire, Tanqueray, and Beefeater) I might’ve gone with that instead of the Goose, but this would do.

Yoonhi’s was “alright”, but hardly lived up to the riches promised by the name. I have trouble giving too much credence to these gratinated pulpy things they try to lable as martinis.

Suave, oh so suave, I leaned back with a bread stick, took one bite, and sent a big chunk of it flying at the neighboring table (the only other occupied table in the place). I looked disapprovingly at Yoonhi, and took another (shielded) bite while admiring the bar.

A pretty bar, and very well staffed. There was a staff of six working the place, all ninja-black clad and scurrying about fixing tables and pouring drinks. Being happy hour I took advantage of the situation to watch and film the bartender as he went through the ritual.

As we worked through our second round, I noticed a growing traffic to the elevator. They were either heading up to Sens & Bund orTan Wai Lou. It seemed a little early (around 7:30) for Bar Rouge to be taking off yet (but you never know).

We paid up and headed for Number 5.

It’s fun going to restaurants in Shanghai. There’s always security on the front door, and you do really feel special when you separate from the sidewalk crowd and head in on official business.

We were graciously received, and shown to our table, near to a window. The window tables themselves were taken, but we had a fine enough view from where we were (and that table didn’t fill for an hour).

It’s not an extensive menu, but it had enough of a selection that I wasn’t too worried. Among other things they were offering pan-fried foie gras with pomegranate molasses; mud crab omelet on a crab bisque; and seared scallops and pork rilettes.

What we went with were the twice cooked pigeon with boudin noir (I can never turn down a good bit of blood), and the Mandarin Beluga on a warm crepe Parmentier.

I figured a pinot noir would be safe enough, and order a bottle of Berringer’s Founders Estate. They’ve been working the WGF in Bangkok the last couple of years, so I can give them my support.

Orders in hand, we popped out to the balcony to wonder about George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy. The robot housekeeper was named Rosie, but I can’t remember the Jetson’s dog’s name for the life of me.

I’d mentioned earlier that M is considered the pioneer of fine dining in Shanghai. It all started when Melbourne-born Michelle Garnaut was cooking in the Peace in 1996. She saw more in Shanghai then than I had a couple of years earlier, and she set about starting up a business here to rival what she’d done in Hong Kong with M At The Fringe. 1999, and M On The Bund was open for business, and she was told that no one, but no one, would come all the way down to the Bund for dinner. That was then. In 2001 she opened the Glamour Room and Bar alongside the restaurant. And now, the Bund is getting crowded with very good restaurants.

An open space. Lots of clear fields of vision, so you get the benefit of the view from wherever you may be sitting. Nothing too frilly about it, and not cramped. The path to the terrace is kept open so that guests can get up during the meal (as did we) to take the spring air.

They’re used to this behaviour, so our waiter was able to come out and advise us that our starters would be here soon. This gave us just enough time to sit down before our plates came to the table.

The pigeon was, as advertised, very crisp on the skin, and very juicy in the flesh. The boudin had that sword-edge taste of iron that I like in blood products, and so met with my full approval.

But Yoonhi’s dish was excellent.

This was Mandarin Beluga. Smaller eggs than traditional Beluga, and not quite as soft. But the flavour was fine, and then serving size was more than fine. This was like being back in Moscow, except there was none of this fluff of trying to stretch the eggs out with onions and such.

The caviar is coming from Chinese white sturgeons, from somewhere over on the Russian border. Our waiter, Jack (from Inverness) filled us in on this. I snagged another spoonful of this from Yoonhi, and contemplated an order for dessert.

Appetizers done, we wandered back outside to enjoy the Bund.

Our mains showed up. I’d ordered the salt (rock) encrusted slow baked leg of lamb, with a warm salad of asparagus, morels, and roasted roots; dressed with lemon, parsley, and capers.

This came very wet, a nice jus to sop into the potatos underneath the vegetables. There was also some fig, which set nicely against the strength of the lamb, and some beets that tasted like they’d been sitting in some alcohol for awhile.

The only down side was that I was now kicking myself over having gone with the Pinot Noir. The lamb basically walked up to it blindside and bludgeoned it into the background. I should’ve done the Malbec. There’s nothing like a vicious little Argentinian to put some Kiwi sheep in its place.

The pork was just plain pretty. Crisp, crisp, crisp skin on the suckling pig, with saffron braised cabbage, creamy mashed potatoes, and a bath of mustard sauce.

The restaurant moved well, and I liked the attitude I saw from the expats working there. They were basically filling in the edges. If a table wasn’t bussed quickly enough, if a wine wasn’t brought out when it needed to be, our man Jack and his counterparts were in there and making certain that everything moved as it should. This is what expat staff should be doing.

Finishing off the main courses, we contemplated our happy fate. Everything on the trip had had enough variety to keep us enchanted. And finishing the trip in Shanghai gave a nice, luxurious finish to things.

Which brought us to dessert.

Normally, I’m not one to indulge in sweets. I’m as happy to make do with an armagnac and coffee at the finish, rather than puddings and cakes.

But this seemed like the time to go whole hog, and so after considering our options, we just said, “What the ….” And ordered their Grand Dessert Platter.

This consisted of a raspberry sorbet; a chocolate nougat with strawberries; poached vanilla beans and served with almond toast; Om Ali (one of the few things I liked about Egypt); Savarine (a yeasty Romainian cake with rum and syrup); tarte tatins; a chocolate syrup cake with lime and candied zest; M’s Pavlova (which Yoonhi approved of; a healthy dollop of ice cream; and probably one or two other things I’ve misplaced in my memory somewhere (it gets awful dusty in there…..)

And, seeing as we were going over the top (we were full after the first two courses), I figured we might as well have another wine.

I chose the Brown Brothers – an Orange Muscat from Australia. A civilized way to wrap up an evening.

It wasn’t late, so obviously, after these many weeks, Yoonhi and I needed to do the rounds. First stop was the Glamour Bar, just one floor down.

Ms. Garnaut opened the Glamour Room & Bar alongside of M in 2001, but within a few years it had outgrown its space and moved downstairs in 2006, sprawling out over that floor.

It looks good. Dark light. A lot of red. Space, but broken up by pillars that it’s easy to hide behind, and lots of balconies to sneak out onto and gaze at Pudong or the Bund. Yoonhi and I went back to martinis – drinks, not the bar - Gordon’s for me, Absolut for Yoonhi.

The crowd looked good, although there was the odd shabbily dressed tourist about, looking uncomfortable with cameras slung about neck (I can be such scum, I know). The room had a good pulse and I was quite enjoying myself.

After another round there, we ventured into the night. The lights of the Bund were now off, but we navigated the sidewalk easily enough, aiming for Rouge Bar, but stepping past it altogether. Instead, we found ourselves at the Peace. For old times sake, we stopped in to see if the old guys had lived through their last cardiac moments or not.

They hadn’t it seemed. Everyone in the band looked a lot younger than they should have, based upon our visit of thirteen years ago. The fellows up front only looked like they were in their 60’s, rather than their 80’s. But what was confusing was that they still played just as poorly. There was that painful wheezing, and blustered attempts at solos that fell apart after a hacking cough or two.

A waiter came by to inform us that we had to pay some astronomical cover charge if we wanted to have a drink. Yoonhi and I conferred for about….oh….three seconds, laughed outrageously, and walked out.

We considered our options. I pointed out that there were plenty of good clubs in the French Concession. Yoonhi pointed out that it was getting well on into the next day, and we did have two kids. Plus, we had whiskey in the room.

She always wins.

We returned by taxi (seeing as I’d refused to spoil the black lines of my clothes with such travesties as a warm coat).

I settled in for a long, peaceful sleep.

Next: The Plague Years

[judiu]

Orders in hand, we popped out to the balcony to wonder about George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy. The robot housekeeper was named Rosie, but I can’t remember the Jetson’s dog’s name for the life of me.

It was Astro, and he could talk.

[Peter Green]

Hmmm, did you ever wonder if Scooby Doo was one of Astro's ancestors?

(I suppose this might be considered slightly off-topic)

[prasantrin]

Orders in hand, we popped out to the balcony to wonder about George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy. The robot housekeeper was named Rosie, but I can’t remember the Jetson’s dog’s name for the life of me.

It was Astro, and he could talk.

←

But was in serious need of a speech pathologist...

[Domestic Goddess]

The Shanghai Natural History Museum

... and you get upstairs, it becomes a tour of “been there, ate that”.

Scud, Serena, and I went exhibit by exhibit and talked about which of the items we’d eaten, and which looked like they’d be good to eat in the future.  “We ate that.  And that.  And that!”

After that, the kids lounged while Yoonhi and I stopped in at Pacican to get them some dinner.  We ordered a nicely braised bit of pig belly, some steamed pork with garlic sauce, and a corn and pork rib soup, all to take away. 

←

Peter - I have done the same thing "Been there, ate that" but I usually do t when we go to the COEX mall Aquarium exhibit (one of the largest in the world). I would point out what fish is good in what sauce (or manner of cooking) Hubby swears that I eat anything that lives in the sea. LOL

Hey, in that take-out pic, what are those white rolls with the brown sauce on it?

[Peter Green]

←

Hey, in that take-out pic, what are those white rolls with the brown sauce on it?

←

Hi, Doddie!

Starting from the top left, we have

- corn and rib soup

- rice

- another container of the corn and rib soup (sorry, the flash just caught it at the exact angle of incidence)

- below that is the one you were questioning(see below)

- and finally in the bottom left is the braised pork

Those "white rolls" are steamed slices of pork, topped off with a garlic sauce. They were very good, light on the palate, and juicy. The garlic wasn't too heavy, and Scud mowed through them in pretty good time (Serena didn't care, she had two things of soup).

I should've put more effort into the shooting, but I was kinda enthusiastic about getting away for dinner.

Cheers,

Peter

(sheesh! I've had to edit twice for glitches on my part!)

Edited May 6, 2007 by Peter Green (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Quote: I should've put more effort into the shooting, but I was kinda enthusiastic about getting away for dinner.

I know what you mean. LOL

Thanks for clearing up the white rolls question.

Edited May 6, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[miladyinsanity]

(sidenote: Doddie, when I was in Seoul a few years ago, my brothers and I did the same thing at the COEX!)

Peter, you HAVE to write a book. I'd buy it in hardcover and there are very very very few writers in this world I do that for.

[Peter Green]

Like I say, I don't think I'll give up my day job just yet.

[XiaoLing]

I love Shanghai! Although about 15 years ago, I wouldn't have said so. They have really cleaned up the place. I remember going to Shanghai as a child by boat and the smell coming from the water in the Shanghai port was more than enough to burn the hairs in my nostrils. Okay, maybe that wasn't the most elegant description but it makes its point.

Now a days, the water is much cleaner and Shanghai is the gorgeous! Bright lights, big city and plenty of things for you to do if you love to shop and clubs/bars. It's definitely a must-do city in China.

Thanks for the photos Peter!

[Peter Green]

Day 19 – Grandma’s China

DING! DONG!…….KNOCK!….KNOCK!….KNOCK!

Rising from sleep, I believe I said something particularly witty, like “awrfffsmadda?”

And then I fell out of bed.

I peeked around the edge of the door. It was the boy.

“Serena threw up.”

These are the moments when a parent, finding oneself in a strange land without a support network, shows their greatest concern.

“She didn’t get it all over the place, did she?”

“No. I cleaned it up.”

“Good man. Wake me up later.”

Unfortunately, by this time, Yoonhi was up and strategically poised to whack me upside the back of my head.

I won’t go into the gruesome details, but it was apparent that Serena wouldn’t be touring today. She was, however, in a pretty good mood (except for the heaving parts), and able to laugh and joke, so it wasn’t too bad.

We had a workable plan. Scud and I would go to see Yuyuan – The Garden of Leisurely Repose - in the Old Town. Yoonhi had done this when we were here before, so she didn’t feel that she’d be missing out on too much. She could stay back and watch the girl do impersonations of the Trevi Fountain.

A short taxi ride and the boy and I were on the outskirts of the old town. We made it about….oh…..ten feet, and then we stopped to look at some video games.

“This’d be a nice present for Serena, Dad.”

“What? Dead Rising?”

“Well, it’s the kind of thing she likes.....I think. It's got a story.....and zombies....and gardening tools...”

We settled on a couple of games for her, paid for our loot, and started to move on. At that point we were latched onto by somebody who said we “had to come to her shop. Just looking.”

Scud and I didn’t have an awful lot on our calendar for this morning, so we figured we could afford to look. What followed was very surreal.

First, we entered an empty multi-storied building that looked like it might’ve wanted to be a mall at some point, and then gave up. The elevator looked like something from a slasher pic, and there wasn’t a body (living) to be seen.

We got to their “shop”, and they had to phone someone to bring a key to open the padlock and lift the metal shutters.

Inside we saw (once the lights were on) a sad collection of knock-off shoes and bags. Then three people stood expectantly waiting for us to buy everything.

“I don’t really need any of this.”

“You buy, yes?”

“We buy, no.”

It took us about five minutes to extricate ourselves from this. Scud was certain we were going to get mugged or something, and kept edging to the exit. Once out they kept following us. “You come back, look more?” Why, oh why would I come back? I don’t wear a lot of stilettos, and I don’t need a Prada handbag.

We shook them on the final approach to the Yu Yuan Gardens. It just become to crowded for them to follow us any further. Real crowded.

Pleasantly enough, one of the first things we found was a restaurant I was looking for - Nan Xiang.

As I’ve said – Rule #1: Look for the swarm. This place had a mob of people snaking away from the take away window. I’ve learned my lesson, and went inside where it costs more, but you get to sit down.

There was a pretty tough looking assembly line working inside, but at least they had more elbow room than the people at Yang’s the day before. They were in the same mode, though. Cut, stuff, wrap, pinch, and get it in the steamer.

We went upstairs, in hope of a view. This was a forlorn hope, as the place was under restoration, and the outside was a mess of scaffolding and safety curtains. Still, it was a nice enough dining room, the waitress spoke a little English, and the Suntory beer was cold. Not much of a head or anything in particular to recommend it, but it was cold.

It seemed that I’d ordered some sort of dumpling dinner. To that, through a series of rather inarticulate grunts and gestures, I’d added on a couple of more dishes of dumplings.

What I took for a spring roll (lower left) was glutinous rice wrapped up in a crispy outside. The little sticky ones on the plate above that to the left had a very sweet, crystalline stuffing, and were much more of a dessert for me. The other steamed baskets were good enough, but not really memorable.

The “soup” was kind of neat. It was, as it said, a soup served inside a large dumpling. This could be one of the most evil things to approach unsuspecting. The fluid inside was running at a temperature pretty close to that of the surface of the sun, and if you were stupid enough to take a direct swig from that straw, you were going to be in pain.

Scud was just that stupid.

There was also a trio of white, soft looking ones that gave up a pillowy yellow, sweet interior when I tried them.

And there was a plate of fried, very doughy dumplings that were stuffed with shitakes.

Scud and I did a good enough job of putting this away, and I was beginning to feel a little more human (although sleep deprived). It was now about noon, so we figured this could be a good time to do the gardens while the tourist buses were busy gorging.

We figured wrong. There were throngs so deep that we didn’t even bother trying to work across the bridgeworks to the main entrance. Myself, I blame the goldfish. It was obvious that they were feeding the humans and causing a group of them to congregate in this one spot.

We went instead to the exit, and gained entrance there. This got us past the worst of things.

Inside it was quite pretty. Of course, “quite pretty” wears on you after an hour or so, but still, it was kind of fun picking out the various scenes that make up the traditional Willow Pattern of China. I remember one of those sets being the “good china” in our house growing up.

The Yu Gardens are one of the few “old things” (“culture!” shouts Yoonhi) to be seen in Shanghai, so almost every tourist bus has to funnel into this place.

Going at it in reverse at least allowed us to dodge the organized tours for part of our time. But by the end we were battling against a constant stream of people. This is, after all, one of the few cultural sites to take in.

With enough of that, we went back out, poked about the streets, and looked at a few stores selling cooking wares. But nothing really caught my eye. We made it out to the street, and started walking towards the People’s Park, as Yoonhi had called and she wanted us to get tickets for the acrobats while we were out.

It was a slightly longer walk than expected, but it wasn’t that bad. The sun had come out, and the temperature was up. All of the sidestreets were thrown open with everyone’s laundry out drying.

When we arrived at the park, we realized we had no idea whatsoever as to where we were supposed to buy our tickets. We worked our way through, from one end to the other, and then did what any self-respecting males would do.

We gave up and went home.

At home we found Serena asleep and Yoonhi starving. I quickly put Scud on guard duty, and dragged Yoonhi downstairs to feed her.

It was Pacican again. Yoonhi wasn’t up for street dining, and I also didn’t want to waste time looking for a place for her.

We had the tofu in a clay pot; fried tofu with vegetables and mushrooms in a brown sauce. Good, slimy, and thickened.

And we had the spicey beef strips in a bamboo basket. This wasn’t what we were expecting (I should learn not to be so expectant). I figured; “bamboo basket” – they’ll deep fry strips of bamboo in a lattice work around the meat.

Nope, it was a wooden bamboo basket, with the meat arriving wrapped in tin foil, to be opened at the table. This was really quite good. Very nice, mild peppers, and soft peanuts that gave a good counter texture to very, very tender beef.

This brought Yoonhi back from the edge, and she was began to speak coherently. We considered our options for the evening. She didn’t feel comfortable just yet with leaving Serena, so I took the boy out for dinner.

Next: Beer Fest

[Domestic Goddess]

Peter, what was inside the dumplings with the orange sprinkles in the metal basket?

You know the ones smack dab in the middle of the picture?

[Pan]

I'll await his answer, but those look like xiaolong bao ("soupy dumplings") to me.

[XiaoLing]

I agree with Michael, those look like Xiao Long Bao with crab roe. My favorite type of xiao long bao!!

[Peter Green]

I agree with Michael, those look like Xiao Long Bao with crab roe.  My favorite type of xiao long bao!! 

←

Crab roe? I'd like to say with authority that that was what they were, but I've checked my notes, plumbed my memory, and I can't get a definitive answer. They had a wet interior, but I was finding that in a lot of Shanghai dumplings.

I do know from reading, since eating there, that Nan Xiang is famous for their crab roe dumplings, but we were only on the second floor. What I was reading was that there's a third floor where you get the crab roe.

However, when we came up the stairs, that was the end of the staircase, so maybe we were on the top floor? If so, then those would be crab roe.

I asked Scud.

"Dumplings," says the boy.

He's a treasure, he is.

[Peter Green]

Day 19 – The Beer Neccessities

Responsible. That’s me. I was entrusted with the care and feeding of our young son while Yoonhi looked after our Lady of the Technicolour Yawn.

So, I took him to a beer hall.

We weren’t actually planning on eating here, I was just checking the place out, and getting a feel for their brews.

The Shanghai Bund Brewage Co., Ltd - that’s not the easiest name to wrap around - has two beers – a light and (you guessed it) a dark. Both brewed on the Teutonic model. As the boy was with me, I only ordered the dark, hoping for some interesting flavours.

I opened up the menu they’d offered me first. It seemed odd to be in a brauhaus and have a menu for food before beer, but it’s their establishment.

I was pleasantly surprised, upon inspection, to find the list composed almost entirely of Shanghai specialties. I’d been expecting the usual pork knuckles and bratwurst.

This was good and bad. It was good in that I liked what I saw (Bullfrogs and oiled pig’s stomach in particular) but it did scotch my plan to use this as a fallback for feeding the kids.

Our plan wasn’t to eat here, however. This was just a place for a drink. Scud enjoyed his coconut milk while I tried the dark.

The head was good. Solid, crisp, an upstanding head. But I found the dark too sweet, and syrupy in texture. It just wasn’t going to work out. Still, I wasn’t about to not drink it, so I took the time to read one of the local rags. The one I chose was primarily concerned with the last holiday – Tomb Sweeping Day.

In general, the top three selling items for tomb sweeping day this year were paper money, paper clothes, and paper three story houses.

However, the Lingquan Funeral Store on Shiquan lu had had a run on paper feasts (which is always good to see), paper BMW’s (they didn’t say whether this was on the 5 or 7 series), paper Prada handbags, and……….paper Viagra pills.

Yes, the dead shall rise.

Scud threw a peanut at me for that one.

The beer done, we went for dinner.

We were going back to 3 On The Bund. We’d decided on New Heights.

Wuthering Heights

Like M, New Heights had adopted an open floor plan to take advantage of the views. They run their wine collection up the middle, but keep it to a waist high cabinet so that you can see across to the kitchen that’s viewable to the right of the restaurant.

They had a large verandah, and it was well provided with outdoor braziers to keep the chill away, so we ate outside and watched the business going on through the windows.

I had a Kingston Estate Chardonnay and Scud decided to try the Strongbow cider. The Chardonnay lacked the crispness I was looking for, but I drank it anyways.

Scud went for the smoked salmon with caviar salad and Greek yogurt. Nothing wrong with this, and Scud enjoyed it, but I can’t say that it was particularly memorable.

For my part I had a plate consisting of seared tuna, duck spring roll, deep fried shrimp with avocado, and a foie gras terrine on a fig puree. The tuna didn’t do much for me, and the duck was a little lost in all the other stuff, but shrimp and avocado always partner well, and how can you go wrong with foie gras and figs?

Scud stayed conventional with his main, ordering the cornfed chicken breast with sautéed spinach, artichokes, crispy bacon, and a puree of carrots and asparagus. I have a sneaking suspicion that he didn’t care at all for the chicken, his primary interest was the bacon.

I’d ordered the Duck Three Ways, wich is roasted breast, a duck leg confit, and a foie gras terrine with potato tortillas and fig compote. I know, there’s a lot of overlap there with the starter, but I like duck.

A this point I’d moved onto a Catena Malbec from Argentina, which made a much better impression.

Watching the floor being run, I wasn’t as impressed as I’d been with M. No identifiable expats (I’ll probably get ripped apart for making assumptions, but…), and the senior staff were doing the typical – watching things not get done rather than stepping in and doing it. The few questions I tried to raise about the place got that look of “I’m busy here”, and so I didn’t bother digging too much. What I did find out was that the chef’s from Brisbane, and that they’ll typically do 400 covers in a night (but not this evening).

Scud was drawn to the dessert list like a Komodo dragon to a staked out baby lamb. The chocolat fondant with rosemary ice cream drew his basilisk attention, or at least the words “chocolat” and “ice cream” did (in Italy a couple of years ago Scud would stake out the ice cream vendors and wait for them to open).

Not a bad dessert. The rosemary ice cream was a nice touch, and the smell carried over the chocolate background.

Like Scud, I’m easily fascinated, and I’d picked up on the chocolate martini that they had on the menu. This came thick, oily, and run through with the flavour of chocolate. I was quite happy now.

This led to one of those happy father-son moments where you pass important information onto your offspring, like “what makes for a really good martini”.

We didn’t linger much over our dessert. Texting back and forth with Yoonhi, it seemed Serena was getting better, and Yoonhi was getting cabin fever. Plus, while there was nothing wrong with the meal, there was also nothing particularly great about it, either. And the service, while not rude, lacked the approachability that I’d grown used to on this trip.

We did a little shooting down the Bund, drifting with the crowd. There were a lot of people out there, and a selection of stands were doing a trade in sausages, crushed coconuts, and soft drinks.

But the real winner is the Bund, that and Pudong, it’s sometimes a toss-up between the two. The Bund, up close and personal at night, with the lights showing all the highlights can hold me like a deer in the headlights.

And Pudong, was moving beyond the Jetsons and into Blade Runner territory, with huge advertising video boards floating by on the river. All we needed we some off-key Japanese kabuki songs, Harrison Ford, and we’d be there.

Soon enough I was back at the hotel, and trading dining partners. Serena had stopped her hourly geysering and was keeping the last bit of food down, so we were feeling better about things. Most important, she was still laughing. We checked the charges on the phones, and left her in Scud’s care.

First stop for Yoonhi and I was the Shanghai Bund Brewage Co., Ltd. (Sheesh, I hate writing that out). I figured Yoonhi would be happy with the local menu. I’d told her about what a nice change it was to have these sorts of things with beer. So, when she picks up the menu, she gets the Western one. With pork knuckles and bratwurst. Still, the Anglo menu also included Fried Octopus With New Year’s Cake; American Style Chicken Talon; and Fried Fish Gluten. Yoonhi felt like a clay pot and more tofu, so she ordered the shrimp, sea cucumber, sliced cuttlefish and tofu in a clay pot.

The tofu was really good. A thin crisp skin just managing to hold in the soft tofu interior. It was like a mock scallop, and complemented the seafood very well.

I used this as an opportunity to try their lager. This was better than the dark, and easy enough to drink. Not a great head, however, and the bubbles didn’t last long.

Still, this is a pleasant change from the everyday taste I was getting used to on this trip.

The pub maintains a very low level of ambient lighting, with lowered spots on each table, giving that “islands of light” look that can be so cool. Next to us was a tableaux of five Han, everybody with cigs, tendrils of smoke wrapping up around the lights and drifting into the dark while they plow through the food and beer and talk and talk.

While Yoonhi ate, I grabbed some more of the nightlife mags they had. There was something I was looking for.

I found it. I <heart> Shanghai was doing something I needed to be a part of. I checked my maps, then hurried Yoonhi through her meal.

Absinthe of Malice

Just down the Huang Po, past the Yanan flyover an nestled under the riverside, we found I <coronary> Shanghai. We’d been looking for it on the Bund side, and Yoonhi’s eyes picked out the red in the sign across the street.

Inside, it was appropriately dark, and just getting set up. It was only around ten, so there wasn’t much of a crowd, which gave us time to look things over.

There was a small dance floor, some couches for chilling, and a pool table buried in the back.

There were a couple of local waitresses, but Jack behind the bar was from the MidWest. He hadn’t been in town for very long, and was already looking at this next move. He was working his way around the world as a bartender. Not a bad life. He’d already spent some time in Paris, and we got talking about the sorry state of baked goods in Shanghai. His apartment was next to Paris Baguette, and it was not a place where you wanted to buy a baguette.

The reason we were here was their Absinthe Annihilation. Specials on wormwood all night long! We started of with a a Versinthe Martini for me, and a Versinthe Bundside for Yoonhi.

The Versinthe Martini was absinthe green, vermouth, and an olive that had been soaked in absinthe. This was wicked and woke me right up.

Yoonhi’s was absinthe white, Jack Daniels, Gordon’s gin, Peach vodka, Red Bull, and cranberry juice to sweeten it. This was a big mistake. It’s not that it was bad (although Yoonhi did decide she didn’t like the taste of absinthe), it was the Red Bull. We hadn’t noticed that in the mix. Yoonhi is one of those people who can’t touch coffee after 11 a.m., and a hint of Red Bull would have her off the walls for the rest of the night. We swapped drinks, and that took care of our immediate crisis.

The last time I’d had absinthe was at Biminis in Vancouver. That was a few years ago. They’d just started getting it in, and they were doing the whole heroin-chic thing at the bar with the slotted spoon and the burning sugar.

I seem to recall that was the night my friend lost his cell phone somewhere.

But, anyways, I could take care of Yoonhi’s Bundside for her. I wasn’t having any problem with the anis flavour, and the bitter side that must be the thujone.

The bar now had about six people, and most seemed either expats or long-stayers. Generally Americans and Canadians, and we got to exchanging pleasantries. It was around now that we gravitated to the bar and got into the baguette bashing with Jack.

I noticed, on the board behind Jack, that there was a record of the number of shots by nation. I could appreciate that the Americans would be the front-runners, just based upon the 10:1 ratio against Canadians (they were around 32). And the Brits were a close second, in the high 20’s (again, there’s that population ratio thing). But I was amazed to see that, while Canada was number 3, we were tied.

And we were tied with the North Koreans.

This was getting to be an interesting bar. I started hallucinating about Kim Jong Il getting into a green slammer competition with me (just joking; no hallucinations, I’m afraid). I wasn’t going to let this stand, and did my part for the Great White North.

Ignore the tequila lable on the glass (I did). Mind you, they had a good selection of tequilas up there on the bar, with a couple of what I’d classify as sipping tequilas.

We were drinking “green” and “white” absinthe from Versinthe, a French company.

I had a lot of details on Versinthe that I pulled from the net while I was in China, but they were on the laptop, I’m afraid (see post #202 for Sasuke’s sorry demise). Anyways, it had a reasonably good reputation, and a reputable level of thujone.

Having taken Canada safely back into an undisputed third place, I turned back to the menu. The Versinthe Margarita looked fun. Absinthe green, Cuervo Gold tequila, Triple Sec, and lime juice. If that doesn’t get me in a deep conversation with Kim Il Sung’s kid, I didn’t know what would.

And it just seemed right to have another shot for Canada.

For the record, here are the other cocktails they were doing as part of Absinthe Annihilation:

Versinthe Sour

- Absinthe Green

- Blue Curacao

- Orange juice

- Lime Juice

- And everything blended

Versinthe Knockout

- Absinthe white

- Smirnoff vodka

- Red Bull

Button Hook (shot)

- Absinthe white

- Napoleon Brandy

- Peach vodka

- Crème de Cacao white

Versinthe Traffic Light

- Absinthe white

- Orange juice

- Cranberry juice

Bloody Brain (shot)

- Absinthe white

- Amaretto

- Bailey’s Cream Liqueur

- Grenadine

I really liked the sound of the Bloody Brain, but Yoonhi fished me out of the bar at that point. It was after midnight, the bar was getting up to around half full, and I was still vertical. She figured this would be a good time to find a cab.

We made it about a 100 meters or so down the street to the pilot house, and found that the old building was working as a bar. This was too good to let pass.

The ground floor was pretty much empty….no, it was empty. But once you got up the battleship staircase to the second floor….it was pretty much empty. There was one other table on the go, and a staff of around four behind the solid wood bar.

It’s a pity, too, as this is a beautiful bar. Comfortable solid wooden chairs, lots of wood about, and a very well stocked bar. This place felt very much taken out of the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. Brass, wood, and old bits of the Huang Po navigation days about.

Yoonhi had a glass of Moet, and I went for a Dalwhinnie, just because they had it. I like Dalwhinnie, it’s a very mild single malt, and easy on your throat. They served properly; the malt neat, a glass of ice with tongs on the side.

From the second floor you can go upstairs to the third floor roof. Parasols and such weren’t much use at this time of the night, but I could see how this place would do a good daytime trade.

This was a good place to finish. The lights were off on the Bund, and they were quickly fading from my eyes.

Next: The Ultimate Foodie Amusement Park Ride

[Peter Green]

Day 20 – Fantastic Voyage

Serena was her old self again. Happy, talkative, and hungry. I took her and Stupid Boy downstairs for a particularly vile breakfast of lukewarm sautéed things.

Stupid Boy had earned his current nom de guerre from deciding he wasn’t sleepy, and watching YouTube animes all night. We didn’t have a lot of sympathy.

This morning’s outing was the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. These are usually fun for the kids and I, and they’ve got enough “education” to them that Yoonhi finds them worthwhile.

Getting there took us through the tunnel under the Huang Po, and through the wide, modern boulevards of Pudong. Big streets. Big buildings. It’s like a race of giants had built the place on a scale beyond the merely pedestrian. I say that as there was no way in hell we were going to be able to walk around out here.

The museum was, as expected, very modern. Lots of steel and glass, but still with some odd little bazaar stuck around the edge with touts trying to get us to go shopping. We ignored them, and went inside and bought our tickets.

There were dozens of buses parked outside, but no tourists. This was the weekend outing for the schools, and the place was packed with youngsters in track suits. School kids have to have track suits.

I pointed out the Visiting Notice to the kids. In particular, ”do not run, romp or shout”. I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone romp. I asked Scud about romping and he gave me a look and then leaned against the wall with his head. Also, don’t bring in ”any pet harmful to visitors”. I suggested to Yoonhi that this meant we should leave Scud out on the staircase to get some sleep, but she didn’t agree.

Parts of the museum looked really familiar, and I have a feeling that they shot parts of UltraViolet in here. Things just have that “I’ve seen them somewhere before” feel to them (“That was a really, really bad movie,” says the somnolent film critic Scud. “The trailer'sbetter than the movie.”)

We did the geology section, the geophysics, and some of the interesting bits of the hydrodynamics exhibit, but we really had only one reason to be here.

We were here for the Journey of Food.

The book had mentioned this in passing, and it just sounded like way too much fun to pass up. They take you – start to flush – through the human digestive track.

Let’s recap our General Knowledge on the Digestive System

The digestive system is comprised of the digestive tract and digestive glands. The digestive tract consists of mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. The digestive glands include salivary gland, liver and pancreas, each secreting different digestive juices and flowing into the digestive tract.

Physical action and chemical action cooperate in order to digest the food, turning it into nutrition and waste. Then, the human body can absorb nutrition, get rid of the waste and obtain essential materials and energy for vital movement.

I felt edified, and ready for some vital movement.

But there’s nothing like the prospect of getting up close and personal with intestinal flora to really cheer you up. As we got closer, we could see the anthropomorphic antics of the set design, carrots smiling at us and moving their eyes about. It was all kind of unsettling. Plus, a prominent sign advised us that the ride had passed its safety test. I might’ve been happier about this if the sign didn’t look quite so permanent.

We lucked out. We got to ride in the watermelon.

There were a few issues to work out with the watermelon, like, how were we going to fit all four of us in it, but with some squeezing and gasping, I made it in alongside Serena. Then they gave us the immersion goggles, the same type we use in the visionariums for doing walk-throughs on stuff.

What followed was…..odd.

First, it’s mastication. We and our rind roll down the tracks, through the giant face and past the giant teeth

and then you’re inside, and the teeth are doing that up and down thing while you spin in circles.

Then we get yelled at by an uvula. This isn’t something I’m used to. It’s kind of neat, they’re projecting the visualizations onto prop sets on the ride. This one was small and grapelike, (uvula is latin for “little grape”). I suppose it was explaining how it’s role was in part to keep food from going into the nasal cavity. According to Wikipedia “when this process fails, the result is called nasal regurgitation. Serena knows it as Dad getting Scud to blow milk out his nose.

It sort of gives you the feeling of a Disney Haunted House sort of ride set to an H. R. Giger Aliens set.

After this it was one happy projection after another yacking away at us in Putonghua. We had no idea what was being said, but Yoonhi could sort of map things out for us. After the physical breakdown in the mouth and our good buddy the uvula, they took us down the pharynx, and then through the gauntlet of the esophagus, from which we’re pushed into the chemical breakdown stage in the stomach. After that happy moment we were moved onwards to the small intestine where the nutrients are passed out to the bloodstream, and the rest of us (you know what we are) keep going.

Which brings us to the large intestine, or, as the Greeks call it, the colon. At this point there’s some absorption of vitamins by day-glo coloured howling creatures yelling at us in Mandarin, and absorption of water. We also get a wide selection of bacterial flora, some of whom said ni hao to us.

But the real highlight had to be the gas (flatus) production. Lots of little bubbles projected, and then they had a real bubble machine that got lots of laughs out of Serena, until we told her what they were.

Then there was a fine misting of us, and a view that I really could’ve done without, after which we and our watermelon were “flushed with victory”.

It sort of takes the romance out of a three star dinner.

(A particularly 3rd Rock moment)

Next: Vong Again

(note - editted to fix the url link for UltraViolet, which kept on getting rejected.....it must be a case of good taste)

Edited May 12, 2007 by Peter Green (log)

[XiaoLing]

Reminds me of a food ride in Disney...it was very...umm....interesting...

The uvula is creepy but cute.

Looks like you guys had a good time though. How long was the wait?

[Peter Green]

XiaoLing,

The loading and unloading lack some of the precision of Disney, unfortunately. It was around a 30 minute wait behind some ill-mannered Mongol children. However, time wasn't wasted as we used this as an opportunity to prop Scud against a wall and let him sleep.

Cheers,

Peter

[Peter Green]

Girls Just Want To Have Lunch

The rest of the Museum of Technology was interesting enough. There was far more there than could be seen in just one day, and a lot of it was interactive enough that both kids were having fun.

However, we had a problem.

That problem was called Scud.

As I’d mentioned earlier, Boy Wonder decided that a night-long jag of You Tube anime (the latest One Piece and Naruto) was a better option than sleep.

“Nothing is a better option than sleep,” says Yoonhi.

Anyways, we now found ourselves with a narcoleptic 170 lb sack of teenager on our hands. I could jump start him from time to time - he did wake up to witness me being mobbed by a group of students who all wanted pictures taken with me; “I figured if I stayed away and pretended I didn’t know you, I’d be safe” (this was the only time I was mobbed during the trip; things have changed) – but each time I had to shake him I could see the grogginess settling in.

There was only one possible cure for this.

Jean-George.

(Okay, a nap might’ve worked better…..)

We didn’t come for brunch but for lunch. The brunch actually appeared to be a reworking of the bento lunch they’d been pushing on the work days, but never mind. My interest, with a limited number of meals left, was to see what they could do here.

The place oozed luxury. Luxury of a very solid, Francopheel (there, I’ve got a new word!), with leather couches in the dining area, dark blue curtains, and a slightly lighter level in the bar, and a very, very urbane feel to everything (except us). I found this very interesting. My last encounter with the good Jean-Georges Vongerichten was at Vong in Knightsbridge back in 1999. Then the feel was much more of dressed up Thai-Euro fusion. I came away from that with mixed feelings. Some of the items had a good feel and taste to them, but I am, inherently, cheap. Even when I’m spending other people’s money as I was at that time, I like to feel that what I’m getting is worth the cost. And, as I was, at that time, just a month back from a Thailand jaunt, I had trouble justifying the difference. It was a good meal, but I felt there were other things I could have done with that opportunity.

But that was then, this was now. Fast forward eight years.

The bento set (four courses served simultaneously) had looked to be very good value at 140 RMB. The three course meal, at 168 RMB wasn’t particularly painful and it gave us a reasonably wide choice of dishes to mix and match with. This was also a good opportunity to reinforce the vermin in how to behave in a proper restaurant.

I should’ve known better.

For drinks, Scud ordered a very gingery lime soda, which I had to tell him to slow down on. Some things are meant to be enjoyed, not inhaled. Serena we just fed water. For Yoonhi and I, we decided to try a bottle of the Grace chardonnay. Fongyee had recommended this, and I have faith in her judgement.

The boy began with the king fish sashimi with a watermelon wasabi and daikon juice.

Scud’s comment on the daikon juice was that the sauce was “radishy”. I tried it, and found it to be extremely pleasant, the juice having also taken up a lot of the kingfish and the watermelon wasabi. The fish was excellent (I’m fond of kingfish, so I’m biased) and the watermelon wasabi worked well enough.

Yoonhi and I were set on the foie gras brule, served topped with pistachios and candied cherries. There was a very brittle layer atop the terrine from the brule, topping the foie, -giving this a wonderful combination of textures - and the whole thing sat upon a tarte sour cherry gelee base.

The girl was enjoying her soup. Served just like at home.

It’s a beautiful bowl, and the soup is packed with a good assortment of fungi. The broth was quite delicate, and the overall effect was, as Serena said, “good”.

I need also to say, after having bad-mouthed the bakers of Shanghai (which would be a really cool name for a band) that the bread was very good. And, to be fair, the bread in all the high end places was very good. Maybe Jack (at I Love Shanghai) and we have not been taking our baked goods in the best of places. The bread here was soft, yielding, well crusted, and just the way I like my family – full of nuts.

At this point Yoonhi was coming to the conclusion that she could be very happy in Shanghai. The emotional scarring of 1994 was scabbed, peeled off, and healed over. She does caution this with “as an expat wife!” I think there’s an inherent concept there that I would have to actually do work…….hmmm……

We polished off the starters in relatively good form, and then started on the second courses.

Both children had the salmon. Both children complained.

It’s not that anything was wrong in the presentation or preparation. This was a slow baked slamoned, steamed with mushrooms nand served with a sake ginger dressing that came across just about perfect. But the children have developed such a chauvinistic attitude about BC wild caught Spring salmon, that the taste of what felt like farm raised just raised their shackles (I have no idea, of course, where they develop such prejudices….ahem….)

Yoonhi had the veal tenderloin and shank. This came with a potato cannelloni (with liquid parmesan) resting atop the shank. This is a well thought through dish, offering the best parts of the veal, with just enough starch on the side to make you enjoy both.

The shank in particular worked well; threads of meat in that unctuous brown sauce, with just a slight taste of chili in the background.

I had settled on the caramelized beef tenderloin. It must appear a particularly pedestrian choice, but Yoonhi had already beaten me to the veal. Also, it had been awhile since I had enjoyed a nice piece of dead cow. This was appropriately red and moist, and a flavour I'd almost forgotten after the last few weeks.

I also freely admit that I chose this as much for the smoked mashed potatoes as I did for the beef.

These potatoes were creamy, smooth, and, of the greatest importance, smoky. You could taste the smoke in them, and I lingered over every bite of this.

Alongside of this was Jean-Georges’ 11 flavour condiment that confused me for a moment, and then I realized it was his version of Heinz 57.

During all of this, we took in the décor.

As I’ve said. Dark. Solid. Lots of black and blue, and gold and bronze. Okay, this might be considered somewhat brazen (sorry) but even in the lunchtime sun it didn’t look all that bad.

The bathroom was an experience. The ladies of the table came back raving. They both got lost. Luckily, they found another woman adrift, and this constituted a critical mass that the staff had to do something about; so they were all shown where the facilities are. But both talked about how luxurious it was. Now, bear in mind that we’ve been traveling about China for a couple of weeks at this point, so you may take this with a grain of salt (or a handful of sand).

It took a bit of work, but we were able to get them to top up the water glasses as we surveyed the devastation of the second course.

Refreshed, we tackled dessert.

Serena wanted the Jean-Georges’ chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

Scud had decided upon the citrus sorbet, lemon curd, pistachios, and shortbread, with a bit of mint.

Yoonhi and I had both chosen the basil meringue with red fruit sorbet, black pepper, and litchi (lychee). A very upstanding dessert. Lots of good flavour through the meringue, with the red fruit sorbet packed into the tube. The litchi made for a very good side flavour, although I must admit I found the presentation somewhat….well….contraceptal.

Scud was entranced by his dessert. We could hardly get his attention, he was so enraptured. (Isn’t it fun and being an adult who can pick on his children like this?)

I think I said something earlier about trying to teach the children how to behave in good restaurants?

Serena had really ordered her dessert just to get the ice cream, the cake was an innocent bystander.

But once she realized that this was a lava cake, and that she could bury whole villages of innocent people underneath, she was much happier.

Overall? I enjoyed the lunch. But I do find that many of the set lunch menus (anywhere) are excellent value for what you get. And the Bund isn’t very snobbish about their lunch crowd. Whether you’re dressed to the nines, or in a selection of black t-shirts like us, they’re fairly open to things.

The dishes were well executed, and the atmosphere very pleasant. I can't comment upon it for dinner, with the sun down. One note, the view is not what you come here for. It's very much an inward looking establishment, without the emphasis on views we'd seen elsewhere.

For what we had, and the price we paid (under 1000 RMB), I was quite content. It wasn’t necessarily kid friendly, but they didn’t ask Scud to stop snoring or anything.

Next: Xin City