Bubba's Texas BBQ & Saloon

I finally got to go to Bubba's BBQ! Voted for having the best ribs in Shanghai I started fantasizing about them before we even got there. (What is it with me and food?)

We made it just in time for the happy hour (5pm to 8pm), when beers are available for a discount and margaritas for RMB20 a pop. For 20 quai the margaritas had got quite a bit of a kick. Loved it!
We got jalapeno poppers to share while we studied the menu. They were really tasty with melted cheese in the middle. Very spicy!

The menu is pretty simple with BBQ meats such as ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, ham, and chicken. Then there are also burgers, steaks, and BBQ meats only to take home. U went for a burger. It looked good and she enjoyed it.

P's uber substantial triple combo with ribs, briskets and ham. All combos come with 2 side dishes.

To top up his already substantial combo P also got some Texas style beans on the side. And he managed to finish everything!

My double combo with ribs and a pile of pulled pork. The ribs were nicely seasoned with a smoking BBQ taste and a hint of spicy Cajun spice. I enjoyed the extremely tender pulled pork a lot too. The side dishes were very enjoyable also and I particularly liked the coleslaw. There was just something about the dressing which made it nicer than other regular coleslaw. The mustard potato salad was OK but I personally prefer English mustard.

C's double combo with ribs and Mongolian briskets. She said the briskets were very nice.

C's husband (also C) ordered the USDS beef briskets. Judging by how fast he ate his it had to be excellent.

The dessert selection was small: apple pie, ice cream, and peach cobbler. While I had ice cream U and C went for apple pie. The pie was absolutely huge and delicious!

Dinner for five with 2 or 3 drinks each came to just under RMB1100. Acceptable for such a feast. Too bad the place is far in Hong Qiao or I will be going more frequent.

Bubba's Texas BBQ & Saloon

2262 Hong Qiao Rd. (near Jian He Rd.) Shanghai. Tel: 6242-0449

South Beauty

Originated in Beijing South Beauty became very popular and now has branches in Shanghai and Hong Kong. We enjoyed its food in Beijing but then everything in Beijing tastes good (we think it's the cold weather). Anyhow we were somewhat excited when we finally got to try it the first time since we moved here.

We started off with some chili chicken ding. It was exceptionally nice! The sauce was tangy with a subtle sweet flavour but at the same time it had an undertone of spiciness. Very complex indeed. The cut of the chicken was perfect: lean and boneless. Two thumbs up!

The beef in chili oil didn't look too bad except for the large pile of garlic on top. It was very spicy but it hadn't got the Sichuan numbing sensation it should have. The one in Xin Ji Shi is infinitely better.

Deep fried ribs in chili and garlic. The batter was excellently flavoured with, you guessed it, chili and garlic. It was again very spicy but it was irresistible. Unfortunately the ribs were soooooooo fatty it didn't have much meat left by the time we picked all the fat off. And because I picked them up with my fingers my eyeballs totally suffered when I had to take my lenses off when I got home. Ouch!

Stir-fried string beans. They were OK.

Ma Po tofu. Again very spicy and garlicky but tasty enough.

Yangzhou fried rice. Lame but edible. The ingredients were just not up to par: micro shrimps, cheap ham, frozen peas; and the consistency was too wet. I didn't care much though as I needed it to cool my burning mouth down.

Dinner for 2 with tea came to RMB300. I think we would go back to Xin Ji Shi next time even though it's slightly more pricy.

South Beauty (many branches in Shanghai)

5/F Times Square, 93 Huai Hai Middle Rd. (near Pu An Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6391-0100

MOCA Caffee

MOCA Caffee is on the 3rd floor of MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art. To be honest I had not known about the place prior to our visit as it seems pretty low key.

The small museum is pretty funky looking and its location can't be more perfect. We spent the morning trying to gasp the concepts of funicular polygon and hyperbolic vault (love Gaudi BTW) we were positively hungry by noon.

The restaurant was deserted, I guess not many people know about it. As quiet as the place was our food took a long time to arrive - the wonderful bread and focaccia saved the day! We were particularly impressed with the individual dips we got.

There is a set lunch deal and for RMB88 we could pick 1 of the salads, pizzas, or sandwiches, together with a freshly squeezed juice. We all went for the deal and here are some of the dishes:
Caesar salad with shrimps.

Mozzarella and tomato salad. I thought it's cheeky that it's classified as lunch given its portion.

Pizza margherita.

Pizza salami with anchovy. A little fishy (duh!). Should have gone for the parma ham one.

We were satisfied with the food overall and we particularly liked the RMB20 discount on the food when we presented our museum entry ticket.

MOCA Caffee
3/F Museum of Contemporary Art, People's Park Gate 7, 231Nanjing Rd, Shanghai. Tel: 6327-0856

Otto Gourmet Cafe

We would never consider going to Otto if it wasn't for a review we read. Somehow the name Otto sounded a little off-putting and the look from the outside of the restaurant didn't help neither. Fortunately we gave it a try because the food turned out to be great.

Our visit to Otto was relatively late and we were just in time to catch the set lunch (its appetiser buffet ends at 2pm). For RMB88 per person we could pick between an appetisers buffet or soup to start, 5 choices of main course, and a creme brulee.

Our bread and 3 dips.

I had a bit of everything from the buffet. Everything was tasty and I particularly liked the chickpea salad with olives and chunks of lamb meat. The fried potato cake was nice too. I didn't like the salmon after all as I thought it'd be smoked but it was actually raw and served with avocado. Odd.

U decided to have gazpacho instead. At first she thought she had missed out on the buffet but upon tasting her soup she had no regrets. It was the best gazpacho she had in Shanghai she exclaimed! The flavours were all there and the ingredients were all correct (she couldn't stress enough how much she hated the version in Azul with crab meat).

My sea bass steak was average. The fish did not taste too fresh (previously frozen perhaps?) and was a tad too fishy. The "soup" was tasty with beans, olives, and interestingly thin slices of fried potatoes. Nice dish, shame about the fish.

U's beef cheek stew. At first we thought it meant the lower cheek (haha) as in rump stew but we immediately decided it was the face cheek when we saw the size of the cut. The meat was so rich and succulent it's out of this world. The little cube was packed with flavours and it just fell off her fork. She wanted more.

Somehow we were full after our mains and we were surprised to see we each got two little pots of creme brulee. Loved the subtle orange twang.

Overall we were very happy with the food but I was told that the RMB88 deal ends in end of August. Nonetheless we will go back to check out the rest of the Spanish and Italian (a bit odd)menu again.

Note: the extensive wine-by-the-glass list is extremely expensive.

Otto Gourmet Cafe

85 Fumin Rd. (near Julu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6248-9186

sugar scrub face-off

Yet another find in Seoul: black sugar scrub (US$7/100ml). I don't even know what black sugar is but it looks remarkably like brown sugar. The scrub is in a dry paste and water should be added to avoid too much friction. While the grains are so much bigger than the Fresh version (see below) they actually melt away while you scrub. I guess this way at least you know when to shop scrubbing. I think its exfoliating effect is much better than normal scrubs and I love the sweet sugar smell. I wonder if you can get the same effect by using real brown sugar?

Fresh Sugar Face Polish (around US$60/100ml). The grains are so much finer and it has a somewhat oily base. It smells very nice too and is excellent in exfoliating also. I don't think it's worth almost 10 times the price to the Innifree scrub though. The winner: Innisfree definitely!

Moon Sha

RMB78/person afternoon buffet! The spread was not very big but we went there specifically for the hot dogs and waffles.

Before we dove into the hot dogs we had a warm up with the rather delicious tuna sandwiches.

I had five hot dogs in less than an hour!

I gave the pineapple fried rice a try and it wasn't bad at all. A little too wet but the black pepper taste was nice.

Also available in the buffet were freshly rolled sushi rolls made with vegetables, pasta, fruits and a salad.

Marble cheesecake and brownie. The brownie was quite dry but the cheesecake was not bad.

Clockwise from top: coffee cake, cheesecake, hazelnut tart and some kind of crisp. Everything was nice especially the hazelnut tarts but the thin crispy thing was weird. It was savory?

Finally the freshly made waffles. So fluffy and soft I could eat them everyday.

Consider its killer Bund view it's not a bad deal. Too bad the place was full of running noisy children and smoking parents.

Moon Sha

3/F, 5 on the Bund, Shanghai. Tel: 6321-3568

Prima Taste Restaurant

Prima Taste is a Singaporean franchise. You can even buy cooking products from the chain in supermarkets if you feel like creating your own Singaporean speciality at home.

I started my lunch with a refreshing fresh lime soda (RMB15).

Chicken laksa (RMB28). I have come to the conclusion that laksa is not for me. While the soup base is very rich and creamy it's a little too fishy for me.

The Hainan chicken rice (RMB32) here had to be the best I've had in Shanghai so far. The chicken was juicy and succulent, and most importantly tasted actually like chicken. The rice cooked with chicken broth and spices was so fragrant and delicious I wanted more of it (why such small portion?). The dips were excellent and even the cucumbers underneath the chicken were delicious. The only thing I could pick on was the soup, which was not real chicken broth unfortunately.

I need to go back again for the chicken rice very soon and next time I will give the curry dishes a try for sure.

Prima Taste Restaurant

3/F Metro City, 1111 Zhao Jia Bang Rd., SHanghai. Tel: 6426-8898

Sakae Sushi

For RMB98 person I stuffed myself silly with the all-you-can-eat menu. Sometimes it's nice to have quantity over quality. Everything in Sakae is average and you won't get any nice or bad surprises.

My sashimi plate. The chef substituted my ika order for octopus without asking first. Oh well. They were very chewy indeed.

The sushi I ordered. Nothing special about them at all and they were just like those pre-packaged stuff you get from supermarkets.

Grilled eel. The piece was so small (2 inches long) I should have ordered at least 2. The teriyaki sauce was nice but there was too much of it - the fish was soaked and too wet as a result.

Sliced beef with spring onions. It was fried in butter and it didn't really taste of anything. There was no dip and I might have overcooked my beef so it was like chewing through pieces of paper. A bit blah.

Teriyaki salmon. The fish was nice and firm. And unlike the eel it had the right amount of sauce.

Grilled mackerel, fresh and nicely grilled.

I didn't think I could eat again for the rest of the day after the meal. Good value for RMB98 I'd say!

Sakae Sushi

7/F Parkson, 918 Huai Hai Middle Rd. (near Shanxi Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6415-9726

Element Fresh

Here's a few more dishes from Element Fresh.

Warm Italian sandwich (RMB68). It's basically a pizza with an open baguette. Nice but can do with less tomatoes and grilled peppers. More meat please.

Truck driver sandwich (RMB62). Loved the awesomely thick wad of ham and smoked turkey filling. That's what a sandwich should be like.

Grilled pork with lemongrass and noodle salad (RMB58). The pork was really nice and tender and full of flavours. The rest of the salad was pretty plain and bland and the water-down thousand island dressing did nothing to the dish. A spicy and zingy Thai dressing would have been much better.

Element Fresh

4/F KWah House, 1028 Huai Hai Middle Rd. (near Donghu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 5403-8865

The Muppet Matrix

Too cool.

Tian Jia

Tian Jia specialises in toro and king crab - it doesn't get any better than this.

We both decided to order the set dinner. At RMB250/person you get a bit of everything. Perfect!

We started off with a type of toro (I am guessing otoro because of the marble?). Very fresh and had that melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Two more types of toro - again very fresh and sweet indeed. The thin one was already dressed with lemon and vinegar and the spring onions matched perfectly.

We liked the thicker cut so much (I am guessing it's chutoro) we ordered an extra portion. They were so tender and "melty" I didn't think I was eating fish.

The next dish: king crab legs. I can't even describe how sweet they were and I wish there was more.

More toro! This time they were to cook in the shabu shabu. We were told 2 seconds in the hot water was all they need but it's easier said than done. I ended up over-cooking most of mine.

The rest of our shabu shabu fixings. The crab legs once again were exceptional.

We put everything in all in one go. The broth was so nice it made eating Chinese cabbage enjoyable even. Towards the end we were served hand-made udon noodles. Hand-made udon is so much better than the usual pappy mass-produced ones.

Negitoro with rice. A perfect way to finish the meal.

I ended up polishing off my husband's portion too. Look how shiny that fish was!

Loved the homemade coffee ice cream also.

Tip: cash only for this location.

Must go back for more in the near future.

Tian Jia (3 restaurants in town)

2/F, 1520 Hua Shan Rd. (entrance in hotel courtyard right by Hua Shan Park), Shanghai. Tel: 6281-4918