Hou Wei Xiang La Guan (Sichuan restaurant) & Qi Pu Road markets, Shanghai

Sichuan (or Szechuan) cuisine has become a trendy and very popular type of food to have in Shanghai and probably all around China. This is especially so amongst young people as some of them are constantly trying to find an even chillier restaurant to challenge their taste bud limits. Sichuan is a province located on the southwest side of China and is famous for its spicy dishes that use many types of chillies and is also where Szechuan peppercorns originated.

Near where I live in Shanghai, there is a restaurant called Hou Wei Xiang La Guan (厚味香辣馆打浦店) in the Da Pu area in Lu Wan Qu. I don't believe they have an English name though but it is a franchise with numerous locations around Shanghai. The interior was spacious and for the three of us (my cousins and I) we got to sit at one of the couched areas so were nice and comfortable during the meal.

We ordered a set menu which gives you 4 dishes for $69Yuan plus a few extra dishes. I couldn't quite remember if the jug of sour plum juice came with the set or whether it was ordered separately, but nevertheless, sour plum juice is a good drink to have when your tongue is feeling numb from the chillies. Another good drink is milk or soy milk but those are not as regularly ordered at a restaurant.

My favourite dish of the day was the cold noodles. The topping was a light peanut butter, sesame and soy sauce with mince pork, shiitake mushrooms, peanuts, bean shoots, celery and some sort of pickled bok choy and just a tiny bit chilli. It was very refreshing, tasty and just the right saltiness. We managed to finish it instantly. 

Next was daikon and beef brisket claypot. I didn't particularly like this dish that much, partly because it tasted like any other claypot dish I've had back in Melbourne and partly because the beef wasn't cooked all that well. By all means it wasn't a bad dish but I've had better.

Yoshie Japanese Restaurant & Xiao Nan Guo Spa, Shanghai

Whenever I visit Shanghai, I always go out with my cousins. They're all around my age and know all about where to go for good food and entertainment. On one of the nights during this visit, we ate at a restaurant called Ji Hui or Yoshie Japanese Restaurant (吉惠) which is a buffet Japanese restaurant. You can order a la carte but each dish is deliberately made very expensive so that you would happily choose the buffet option. This is probably the case at most buffet Japanese restaurants in China. The store is small and requires reservation beforehand and you choose the dishes from a menu and they bring it out from the kitchen like they would a la carte.

My cousin found a discount coupon on Da Zhong Dian Ping website (a website somewhat like Urbanspoon but with coupons and a LOT more restaurants from all around China) which is unfortunately only in Chinese. The coupon was for $120Yuan per person (instead of the usual $128Yuan) and if you go in a group of four or more, they give you a live fish cut into sashimi pieces. Refer below for the cool fish. It was totally still alive when it was sliced and the head and tail twitched every now and then. :S I know it's a bit cruel but trust me, the sashimi was the freshest I've ever had and was oh so delicious. I have no idea what type of fish it is though. I was pretty excited when I filmed the fish moving so didn't check the white balance before I pressed the button and I have no idea how to post edit videos so, sorry about the colour. :(

This dish is marinated squid sashimi (I think it was raw) mixed in a kimchi type paste. Not my favourite of the night since marinated things tend to lack that freshness, especially kimchi paste which is overpowering.

Since this was buffet, we really ordered quite a few dishes - it was for four people and my cousins have big appetites. We ordered two lots of rolled beef with enoki mushrooms, it was nicely marinated with a sweet soy sauce and wasn't overcooked. I had quite a few pieces of this dish which made me a bit full.

Shanghai & Chinese New Year, China

Shanghai is a city where east meets west, old meets new and where beautiful food is around every street corner. It is also my home town, where I was born, where I grew up and where I'm spending the 2011 Chinese New Year.

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post because so much has happened that I hardly had any time to rest! Yesterday was the 5th of January according to the Luna calendar which is when people welcome the 'God of Wealth' into their homes and bring prosperity for the year. In order to welcome him, you light fire crackers from the outside of the house into the front door which is what we did last night. It's always kind of scary to stand near fireworks because I've had a few mishaps in the past. Once when I was little, one of those high shooting ones, which wasn't very good quality, fell as a ball of flames onto my hair. I lost a lot of hair as a result. Luckily, this time I was safe. Yes, this is me. It's good to finally put up a photo of myself. :P

The following images were taken from our window, the fireworks is literally everywhere and can get fairly dangerous. I tend to stay indoors to avoid getting hit by any flying and burning objects. Chinese New Year is definitely a great time to visit Shanghai though as it's hard to find a place so close to the city yet so full of culture and lots of fun! And yes, you can buy your own fireworks, just make sure you buy from larger places to avoid the bad quality ones and the possibility of getting hurt.