I just had a great 5D4N trip to Shanghai! Shanghai at this time of the year is quite cool and we only had to wear jackets sometimes. I went with my parents and brother. We travelled to and fro by Malaysian Airlines, a 5 and a half hour flight. I was impressed by Shanghai because it is such a huge city. The city stretches for miles and miles. It has a population of 24 million. It is also very modern and is quite clean in most areas. However, the city air is quite polluted and after a while outdoors, my eyes began to sting.
I enjoyed the trip and we did plenty, but I want to write about all my favourite things only! I have so much to write about and can't cover everything so this will have to be a 'favourites' blog post. This is in chronological order but a bit jumbled up. Ok, lets get straight to it!
1. 7017 Restaurant
We ate at this Shanghainese restaurant on the first day. We went here shortly after touching down at Pudong Airport and checking into the hotel. It serves upmarket Shangainese food in a sophisticated setting. We had a variety of dishes, and my favourites were the bamboo shoots and stewed chicken. The bamboo shoots tasted a bit sweet with the texture of sliced carrots. The stewed chicken was just that - chicken braised in in a brown sauce. We had chinese tea to go with dinner that tasted like rice.
It was a good start to the trip and whet my appetite for more Shanghainese food. All the dishes were good but I will just show my favourites below. I really enjoyed this meal.
2. More than Coffee
I love this coffee kiosk. It was located near our hotel and I picked it up on the way out. I chose an iced latte and did not add sugar. My brother ordered an Americano. It was really nice and light. It is very palatable and it kickstarted my day. It is just a small stall, but the people were friendly and the coffee was good.
3. Breakfast at the hotel
I really enjoyed breakfast at our hotel. We stayed at Ascott Hotel and it ranks amongst the highest in terms of service apartments. The breakfast was exemplary. We are allowed 2 orders and access to the buffet spread which consists of continental breakfast fare like breads, yogurt, salad and fruit. I ordered bacon and eggs whenever I ate breakfast there.
4. Xintiandi
This place is a youthful and trendy place where young people go to hang out and be seen. It has many nice coffeshops, cafes and pubs. It looked very hip indeed and the roads there are blocked off so they have no cars. There is also a mall there. We saw so many fashionable people milling about in the evening. I didn't intend on eating there as they probably increase the prices because of the location. I didn't feel like going to a pub either as it's just not my thing. I would rather chill in the hotel than go to pubs. We went to a bakery there called Hogan and bought back some nice breads. The breads were awesome! We had some delightful croissants.
5. Nanjing Road
This road is on the way from our hotel to the Bund. It is a long road lined with trendy shops and boutiques. I went into the upmarket dollar store franchise Miniso and a few other shops. I went crazy in Miniso. I bought diaries, nail polish, nail polish remover wipes, mosquito repellant and various other frivolous things. My bro went crazy there too. We both had our baskets full of stuff. I googled it and found out Miniso has branches in Malaysia eg. in Putrajaya. It was a rainy day so the picture is rather dark. The fashion is high street and there was a Zara and a H&M. The road is blocked so there are no cars here. There are a few malls there too with trendy shops and brands. I quite liked it there. Could go shopping!
6. The Bund
What trip to Shanghai is complete without a trip to the iconic Bund? The famous skyline of Pudong across the Huangpu River consists of some really tall buildings and it looks impressive. There are ferries crossing the river to take people across. At the lookout point there is also a clock tower that chimes every 15 minutes.
7. Yu Yuan
This place is the best place to shop for touristy things. It is set in a traditional style, with olden-days looking buildings. The shops sell many things and the price is reasonable. They have a food court as well selling street food and smelly tofu. It really was very smelly. They also sell giant xiaolongbaos. I tried one but it wasn't as good as I expected although it had lots of juice that you drink out of a straw!
8. McCafe macaroons
I'm going to deviate and talk about something not unique to Shanghai. We went to Yu Yuan feeling super hungry so we saw a McDonalds and decided to eat there. We didn't know that just around the corner were a whole bunch of food shops and food courts! Talk about strategic positioning of McDonalds! Anyway, I ordered a macaroon and green tea from McCafe and it was quite good and refreshing. There was a lot of cream in the macaroon and it was the first time I ate a macaroon so it was quite nice.
9. Nanjing Impressions Restaurant
This restaurant was awesome. The food was rather oily though. And the pork was so fatty. All the flavours blended together in the oil and had a smooth feel in the mouth. Shown here is glutinous rice, veggies in pork fat, xiaolongbao, and stewed pork. It had a very olden-days, antique styled interior. Eating there is like eating in an olden days traditional marketplace.
10. Xin Wang Restaurant
Lastly, a Cantonese Hong Kong restaurant called Xin Wang Restaurant. It was a change from Shanghainese cuisine every day and served more familiar flavours without being too oily. We ordered a few dishes but my favourites were the fish soup with salted vegetables, the Hong Kong Kailan and the meat platter with duck, chicken and char siew. They ran out of roast pork and had to substitute the roast pork in the platter with more duck. Other than that, it was quite good and quite palatable.
That wraps it up about my trip to Shanghai. I hope you enjoyed reading. If you happen to be in Shanghai, be sure to check these places out! Overall it was a good trip and I enjoyed myself. I hope to be able to travel again sometime soon. Meanwhile I will do more cooking, baking and eating. Thanks for reading!
Labels: eating out, Shanghai, shopping, travel
