Results tagged “food”

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of well... whatever catches their fancy that week. This week: Places to get that warm bowl of healthy something now that flu season is upon us.

We've told you about chef cum entrepreneur extraordinaire Eduardo Vargas and the many, many pots he has his hands in around Shanghai's culinary scene. The latest, and potentially greatest, is the unassumingly chic Bistro Burger, down on the Fumin-Donghu expat strip. Trust us, it's worth it.

Kyochon Chicken is a Korean fried chicken joint that apparently has gained some following in the U.S., if our brother's yelps of glee when he discovered the outlet in Pudong's Thumb Plaza this summer were any indication. While our subsequent visits to the joint still didn't help us understand exactly what he was getting so ecstatic over, we have to admit - it does serve some damn fine fried chicken.

The Shanghai Center location of Gourmet Cafe opened up two months ago... and we were there to try it out then. Like the Element Fresh across the way, Gourmet Cafe features an extremely spacious outdoor dining area. You can choose between one of the wooden lunch bench tables or from the cushioned wicker lounge chairs.

Take cover! Barricade yourself! Citizens of China must be protected from ...foreign… milk powder? China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has rejected more than 150 imported food and cosmetic products from the US, Japan, New Zealand, Denmark, and several other European Union nations. My, how the tables have turned and as always, they've turned fast.

In Shanghai there are two types of Italian restaurants that really should be judged separately from each other. There are the ones with actual Europeans somewhere at the helm, which feature different primi and secondi piattis, huge wine lists and tend to leave you about 500RMB lighter (per person) at the end of the night. Then there are the ones not run by Europeans, with dishes that are just... different. Not to knock different, it's the same way Chinese dishes in Italy taste different, even if they're tasty. Aura is one of the latter.

The ever-vigilant other lifestyle sites/magazines in this city have picked up the news of local restuarant maven Eduardo Vargas' crazy inflated plans for expansion, so we figured we'd chat about it too. Basically, if you haven't read Urbanatomy or Smart Shanghai's takes, here's a summary.

   

Trying to separate yourself from the mass of red and blue lights on Tongren Lu is not an easy task. First time goers will inevitably pass by the likes of Blue Angel, Manhattan and Ecstasy Club while looking for the address of our dining location this time, Red Beat, which allows for some time for some not-so-nice preconceptions.

This new finding on the domestication of canines, published in the New York Times, explains so much. Stockholm researchers have found that wolves may have first been tamed for their meat. And the place that first decided our four-legged friends were probably tasty? Southern China. How did scientists come across this factoid? Usually the region with the greatest amount of genetic diversity is the point of origin, since a species loses diversity as it spreads. That place is Southern China. Also, dog bones with cut marks have been found at archaeological sites in the area. Like with any scientific theory, there are a lot of caveats - "genomic archaeology" is an incredibly new field, many think diversity is just as high in African village dogs and there's the possibility that dogs were domesticated at a different site and then spread to everywhere but China. But isn't it kind of funny to think that, even 10,000 years ago, China was chomping on stir-fried Fido?

          

Oh the artery-clogging glory of it all! There are few words to express our good, old fashioned love of American fast food, but in celebration of the first Carl's Jr. to open in China, we figured we'd find a few grade-A words to celebrate. In case you've never been in the States, Carl's Jr. is a bastion of burgers, fries and shakes, all served to order and in heaping portions à la mode américaine glutton.

Hello, hairy crab fanatics! There's now a date out for when you can gloriously rip into your favorite freshwater treat. According to Shanghai Daily, this year's batch of Yang Cheng Lake hairy crab is coming on September 21. And oh what a season it'll be! Not only will the autumn delicacy be cheaper this year, thanks to increased competition form suppliers of other types of crabs, but they're also going to be bigger since the cool summer has been ideal for growth conditions. We guess something good came out of all that rain?

This news seems especially timely now that we've been subject to a host of summer flash floods - scientists in Japan have discovered a "snorkel" gene that could make rice more tolerant to extreme water conditions. The gene triggers hollow tubes to grow swiftly from parts of the rice plant called internodes, which then allow it to literally keep its head above water. When floods arive, it can grow up to 25cm per day. Considering up to 40% of crops in Asia and Africa are subject to flash floods or deep water, this could significantly boost yields. The scientists at Nagoya University are currently introducing these "snorkel" genes to high-yield rice. The BBC also has a creepy cool video showing how quickly the rice grows. Check it out.

A few weeks after Chris St. Cavish's epic breakdown of Stardog, we revisited Channel One mall to see how things have progressed for Shanghai's pioneer in the field of Asian contemporary hot dogs.

          

We came, we saw, we tasted. On Saturday, everybody who had reserved for the week before's Miracle Berry tasting party finally convened at The Lab on Jiaozhou Lu. Before us was a spread of everything from bittermelon to beans, tomatoes to tabasco sauce... and of course, lemons. Lots of lemons.

We kid you not. This is a genuine post on pho, the beef noodle soup, and not another smart-alecky headline pun post.

We'll admit, the reason we first tried out Umoo, a newly opened yogurt joint on the corner of Xikang Lu and Beijingxi Lu was because it boasted it sold "handmade yogurt." Not frozen. Not homemade. Hand. Made. Yogurt. It gave us visions of workers toiling over pots of curdling milk and bacteria, shoving their hands in and swirling it around to give the yogurt a little more oomph, and the gross out artists in us couldn't wait to see what was going on.

Okay, so ever since we first read about the miracle berry in the New York Times, we've been hankering to try it. The berry, which sounds like something out of science fiction, allegedly distorts your sweet taste buds so they become responsive to acids rather than sugars. Lemons taste delicious, goat cheese turns to sweet cream and Guinness tastes like chocolate milk (not that we needed something to make Guinness taste good to us). Anyway, point is there's now going to be a flavor tripping party on the public lawn right outside the Okura Garden Hotel on Saturday at 5pm, and to join you need to reserve by TODAY. Email albert.tien@gmail.com and come with 80RMB on Saturday. We (and our curious taste buds) can't wait. Source: Cityweekend

Since we're probably going to be spending more time than we ever thought we would in that Channel One mall (thanks to that Soma indie Chinese summer series... oh, and the realization that there is an H&M that close to where we live), we figured we might as well check out the food court we've been hearing all about. Specifically, its pho place, since Vietnamese is big now and we're still on the lookout for decent pho fare.

You know where we’re going to be tomorrow, but if for some in explicable reason you don’t have a hankering for some Kelley Lee BBQ and rapturous Boxingcat brews, here are a few other options in town. We’re not including the AmCham bash because Sheshan isn’t quite “in town,” plus we think it’s just a tad criminal to spend 350 RMB (non-member price) for an American Independence Day bash in this wretched economy.

Recently, we stumbled upon an invite from fancy schmancy French Concession restaurant, Sasha’s, begging us take a (free!) sneak peek at their newly renovated dining room while sampling their upgraded menu. Without much thought, we blew off our happy hour dates and made reservations.

Sina reports that the city is going to hold a hearing in early July on subway regulations in Shanghai, specifically on issues of whether or not you can bring on food and drink, skateboads, or folding bicycles into the station. There is still too much confusion about what the rules are and how to implement them. The article mentions that if found in violation you could be charged 50-500 RMB fines. We don't know of anyone that has been fined, though one person did get off with a warning after being caught with some kind of drink. Food is prohibited on the Guangzhou and Beijing subway lines. Any readers know of anyone that's been fined? Would you supoort a ban on food? What about skateboards?　How would you feel if you were a hungry skate rat? If you want to speak for skate rats, starved white-collar workers and other oppressed groups, you can do so by being applying to become one of the eight citizens that will be allowed to speak their minds at the hearing. The instructions are here.

Before one even gets out of the taxi, it's fairly evident who the celebrity is on the small restaurant stretch of Guyang Lu. Ji Heng (吉亨), an undersized eatery specializing in Taiwan-style beef noodles, is the only place on the block with a line of fans queuing up outside the door.

Greek munching: The Fat Olive, another recent David Laris project, serves some pretty good food. It's just that there's not very much of it. We went there a couple of weeks back and became smitten with the burger, which is served open-faced on a pita that cushions the drizzling juice from the tender, glazed patty. The meat on the kebabs were big, succulent, with a hint of spice but overwhelming original in flavor. A basket of toasted pita and tangy tzatziki were able sidekicks. But as far as mains go, that's about it. The Fat Olive is more for imbibing than it is is for eating, what with that huge terrace and the glam view of Pudong. Snacking on some simple Greek offerings is probably the more operative term. Check it out.

That the Cantonese will eat anything that has legs apart from tables is a time-tested truth. And they will travel loooong distances and search high and low for places where they can put weird things into their mouth. Of course it always helps if you've heard from someone who's heard from someone who's heard from someone else about the marvelous nutritious and alimentary effects of this weird stuff that you're about to eat.

CNReviews has discovered what looks to be one of the first Carl’s Jr. to hit Shanghai. Snapped in Raffles City Mall near People’s Square was this very promising looking construction setup promising charbroiled goodness from 卡乐星 (ka le xing). The burgers in the ad look absolutely huge, though what burgers in ads don’t? When exactly will we get to see how closely they live up to the hype? We‘re not sure! They were supposed to have come by March this year already.

The new Barbie flagship store aims to capture the attention of more than just those with blonde ambitions, and nowhere is this effort more apparent than the Barbie Cafe.

We recently caught up with Shanghai-based independent filmmaker Luis Tapia of Daedalum Films, who is currently busy preparing for the May 9 premiere screening of his new documentary short about Shanghai band Hard Queen and the life of indie rock musicians in China. Seats are still available for the screening. Advance tickets can be purchased here.

           

Last week, craving something a little different from our usual delivery, we hitched up our britches and made our way to the Huxi Mosque in northern Jing'an. One of the biggest mosques in Shanghai, it was first established by Moslem paupers in 1914. It was shut down during the war and the tumultuous years afterwards, but became the first mosque to reopen in Shanghai in 1979. In 1992, it moved from its original place on Xikang Lu to where it now resides, on Changde Lu near Aomen Lu.

McDonalds ain't messing around with its China strategy. Having already spread out its home delivery service last year, and then lowered prices for its popular items on the China menu two months ago, it's now announced plans for a major hiring spree.

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