Tairyo

We finally got a chance to find out why Tairyo was always full of people every time we walked past. Get this: it's RMB150/person all-you-can-eat teppenyaki AND booze! It's like Christmas and birthday all at once.

The menu had all the regular teppenyaki items including lots of seafood, beef, beef, and beef. We left the ordering to our friend P as he knows the place well and we knew we were in good hands.

Our first dish was mango salad, which really was half a mango with a little mango sauce on top (sorry no picture). We thought it was a little odd that we should be served mango right at the beginning of the meal but nonetheless it was very delicious. Then we were each given a plate of sashimi with tuna, swordfish and octopus. I like sushi a lot (I even like the stuff from supermarket!) so naturally I thought they were not bad.

Then came the beef sashimi. I didn't try any as I was a little intimidated but U and P confirmed that it was good.

And here we officially began our teppenaki-binging session. The salmon was juicy and flavourful. A good start!

The beef roll with enoki mushroom was one of my favourites. Everything was cooked just right. I wished I could have another one.
The making of the egg omelet with bacon was enjoyable to watch, and to eat I assure you.

Here comes our other favourite of the night: fillet of beef with garlic. The meat was so succulent we kept on eating despite some of us were almost bursting at that point.

The fried rice was just like the way I like it - very peppery and with lots of eggs.

Our friendly and trusty chef, preparing for our finale.
I hadn't realised the lights were dimmed when he set the bananas on fire until I looked at the picture (I had to brighten the shot to make it visible). The fire had us cheering like a bunch of excited 5-year-olds.
The bananas had flakes of coconut on top and they got imbedded onto the bananas during the torching, Too bad my ice cream was almost all melted otherwise it would have a nice contrast, it made an excellent dessert to finish the meal still.

I was wondering whether the food would taste as good without the free-flowing sake and beer? But then you got to ask yourself why wouldn't you be drinking?

Tairyo

15 Dong Ping Road (near Heng Shan Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6445-4734

Xin Wang Restaurant

House hunting took us to the dark side once again. It was Saturday and 3:30pm and our tummies free of food. We started to panic! Rumour has it bars and restaurants are non-existent in Pudong! Luckily we spotted the sign for a Xin Wang inside a big shopping mall, and we were just about to succumb to Pizza Hut. Wfffffff.

The food I tried at other Xin Wang branches was never outstanding (see here), the place was still 80% full at 3:30 in the afternoon! I guess the efficient service and standard food keep people going back for more.

The sliced fish congee was pretty good. For some reason all the places here in Shanghai seem to serve congee in clay pots. I wonder why?

My beef and fish balls were pretty sub-par. The fish ones were the variety you use for curry fish balls on a stick and it's just unacceptable. They were soft and pappy and did not taste of anything. That is probably due to the fact that whatever is in those balls it's not fish (and that's why you mask them in a spicy curry sauce). No self respectable Hong Kong cafe would serve them in soup.
The fried rice was good in execution but the ingredients were a little sub-standard. The ham was the cheap salty pink Chinese "ham". Too many frozen peas and rice and not enough egg, BBQ pork and shrimps.

The bill helped redeem the food though! With 2 hot tangerine honey tea it was RMB86. Suppose you can't be too picky.

Xin Wang Restaurant

9/F, Yaohan, 501 Zhang Yang Road (near Pudong South Rd.), Shanghai. 5835-7079

From pizza to sausages

A big thank you (and a big kiss) for my husband, who cooked me dinner Sunday night. He made me Yorkshire puddings on the side this time just because I thought his toad in the hole last week was too egg-y. What a darling! And I liked his attempt of making the meal LOOK healthier with the 3 veg.

My original plan was to make him pizza as I got some ready-made pizza base during the week. What I didn't know was that living organisms had already started cultivating!

Somehow I thought of the game SIMs. Perhaps I should have kept it and maybe there would be civilization! Imagine all those little pizza people!

Zapata's

A pick-up joint by night (I believe), and a Mexican restaurant by day, the food quality at Zapata's seems to be different every week. Mostly it ranges from being mediocre to dreadful. The free margaritas keep us going back for more each week though.

This week I decided to finally do a write up on the place because for once we got to have something REALLY tasty! The chicken quesadillas were actually superb! The chicken and the cheese were moist and flavoursome, and the tortillas were also soft and hot (and not chewy). It had the right consistency: not too oily and not too runny. A real surprise comparing to those of our previous visits.


Too bad I can't say the same about the platter. The calamari was pretty rubbery and the batter was as thick as the squid inside. A far cry compared to the version at Mesa. The fish cakes had only one taste: fishy, and no sign of other seasonings. I didn't try anymore but previous experiences told me that there should be no nice surprises. All the leftovers on the table despite having 10 hungry and peckish ladies around told me a lot. Still, we will be back again. The things we do for free booze.

Zapata's

5 Heng Shan Road (near Dong Peng Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6474-6166

my chocolate muffins

My first time making muffins! I grinned from ear to ear when I took them out of the oven.
To be honest I hadn't had a lot of faith before I baked them.

Look at the way they came out! I wolfed one down right away and it was very light and fluffly like a souffle cake!

My husband ate 2 when he got home. Before I could brag about the baking he asked which mix I had used. Dang!!!! The man knows his sweets. I had to come clean that they did indeed come from a mix. I stressed that I personally mixed the ingredients together though!

Home Hong Kong Cafe

My friend C's quest to find good cheap eats around town continues on! This time she wanted to try a Hong Kong styled cafe - she asked the right person!

The name "Home Hong Kong Cafe" is my own translation since it doesn't really have an English name, but it belongs to the Grandma's Kitchen group. It's recommended by my hairdresser, who is a Honger, and he knows his food by the sounds of it. His comments on the place were that it's above average, but don't expect anything outstanding. Well it sounds good enough for me!

Since it was our first time there we decided to sample as many dishes as possible, just to get a feel on the place. I went for the meat/fish balls - a south China specialty - just to see how authentic the place is. The beef and cuttlefish ball combo (RMB18) was served on a bed of bean sprouts and some sweet soya instead of a soup base. They were also halved - quite an interesting presentation. The cuttlefish balls had the correct chewy consistency, not bad compared to the other ones I tried at other places in SH. I would give it a 6 out of 10. The beef balls were less descriptive. C correctly compared them with hot dog wieners..I guess if you think about it she was right on. My advice was that it's best to NOT think too deep into this kind of thing.

I thought she would be interested in trying some Chinese donut wrapped in rice pastry (RMB9). The pastry wasn't bad but the donut sticks were squashed and not crunchy and airy like they should be. Perhaps it would help if the waitress didn't drench them in soya.

We got the beef curry (RMB25), hoping to end my search of the perfect curry. While the presentation (the big plate and all) was impressive my heart sank when I saw the color of it. It looked way too neon yellow and experiences tell me yellow = instance curry powder mix = no taste. My suspicion was sadly confirmed, the sauce was rather tasteless with no curry aroma whatsoever.

The Singapore noodles (RMB25) was a winner! It was actually spicy (a rare find in SH) and had all the rich curry flavours. The consistency was just right - not too oily, not too dry and not too wet. It could use a few more prawns and BBQ pork pieces though. Still it was probably the best Singapore noodles I had so far in SH.

I hadn't realised there was a dim sum menu. I didn't have a lot of faith with the dim sum in a little cafe place like this but I thought I would give the "ha gow" (prawn dumplings) (RMB13) a try. They tasted better than the microwavable version but not even close to those you have in tea houses. Oh well.

Finally we tried the pineapple bun (RMB4) and we were taken by surprise how nice it was. The topping was sweet and extremely flaky. The bread was so soft and fresh it had to be sinfully fattening.
The bill with 2 hot grapefruit honey tea (RMB15) came to RMB128, there was enough food for 4 people though!

Home Hong Kong Cafe

1213 Nanjing Road West (near Shanxi Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6279-2929

Lunasol

One should never go in a department store 'just to browse'. I made a mistake the other day as I was looking for a face contour highlighter (sounds pro doesn't it) but ended up with something totally unrelated. Well at least it is useful (or that's what I'm trying to tell myself).

This is the Lunasol base for eyelids. Have you ever had your eyeshadows running on your lids? Fading? Creasing? Falling on your cheeks while you blink? Well this base can help you. Once applied it corrects the different tones on the lids. The powder eyeshadow then glides on easily, like on a silk canvas. The colours are also more true and notable with the lighter shades. Best of all it helps keep the makeup on all day, even on a hot day. What more can you ask for?

The sales girl wasn't going to let me off with just the base. Truth be told I was deeply intrigued by the eyeshadows before I laid eyes on the base anyway. There are 2 things that are worth noting. One my lids don't look puffy with the pinkish colour somehow. Wow. The other wow factor is the silver colour glitters. When applied with finger in dabbing motions at the end over the shadow, it adds so much....subtle bling (ha! My first oxymoron I came up with).

Avaiable at all Kanebo shops.

Spaghetti and meatballs

The house specialty.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:
- 500g of ground beef (makes about 13, 14 golf-ball sized meatballs)
- 1 large egg
- 1/8 cup milk
- bread crumbs to help bind the mixture
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- cayenne pepper
- dried oregano
- salt and pepper

for the sauce:
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large bell pepper, chopped
- 1 to 2 gloves of minced garlic
- 1 large tin of chopped tomatoes with liquid
- 1 large tin of tomato sauce
- 1 small tin tomato paste, or a tube of tomato puree to adjust the sauce’s thickness
- 1/4 to ½ cup to cup of beef stock (liquid should cover all the meat balls very generously (can use 3 Oxo cubes and water)
- cayenne pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
- dried herbs – oregano again, a bit of thyme, and a pinch of mixed herbs
- salt and pepper
1. Beat eggs and milk together, and mix all ingredients for meatballs together.
2. Roll into balls, brown in flying pan, or bake in 350F oven for ½ hour. (I bake mine, cos then I can make the sauce while they are baking).
3. In a deep heavy-base saucepan fry onions and garlic till soft.
4. Add all tin sauces and beef stock, bring to boil.
5. Add meatballs, bell peppers, and all other seasonings, bring to boil..
6. Simmer for about 30 to 45 mins, or until the bell peppers are soft and almost melted. Sauce should be thick.

Toad in the hole

My first toad in the hole ever! My husband decided I would like it since a) I love sausages and b) I like Yorkshire puddings. Yes indeed.
Ingredients:
- 6 good sausages (we used Theuringer) (I know...no good Cumberland or plain old English sausages here)
- sprigs of rosemary
- sunflower oil
- gravy mix

For the batter
- 285ml milk
- 115g plain flower
- 3 eggs
- pinch of salt

1) Mix batter ingredients together, set aside.
2) Put 1cm sunflower oil in baking tin (ours was 9x4 and 2 inches deep), place in middle shelf of oven at highest setting (240-250C/475F). Use the thinnest tin possible as the oil has to get smoking hot. Place a large tray under in case of oil spill.
3) Fry the sausages until slightly golden while the tin is being heated.
4) Take tin out, put sausages in, then very carefully pour batter in over the sausages. It might spit. Throw rosemary on top and carefully put tin back in oven.
5) Bake and DON"T open the oven door for 20 mins.
We cheated by using packet gravy mix (why not?). The rosemary was a nice touch. I expected the Yorkshire to be more bread-y but somehow it was very egg-y instead. Reminded me an egg tart. My husband assured me that the way it's supposed to be.

Deep cleansing - NOT!

As a face-mask addict the search for cleansing masks is eternal and so far not too much luck. Time for some bitchin'.

There was so much hype with the launch of Natura Bisse my cousin E and I practically raced to the counter to empty our wallets. Between the two of us we tried 4 products (all masks) and I have to say everything we tried was mediocre at best. I should have stopped buying any more but once again I fell victim to the evil marketing tactics again and decided to give this cleansing mask a try.
Well most of the cleansing masks I tried tend to feel a little dry afterwards and I can totally accept that. One always needs to use a moisturising mask right after anyway. This particular mask though..I don't even know where to begin. It's so dry that it STRIPED my skin! The bits on the side of my nose were peeling despite the deep moisturising mask which followed. My very first in my mask career.

****

The Isa Knox hot-and-cold pack has all the right jargon. The hot one "opens pores", "purify", and "clean". It heats up once it goes on and with the circular rubbing motion it will draw impurities out. Truth be told it draws suckers like me in more than anything else. The warming sensation is nothing more than a novelty. I did not feel any cleansing property the two times I used it.

The cold pack is a piece of silicone film which is supposed to refine and condition the cleaned pores. It sucks even more than hot pack. First of all it's really dry, with no more than 3 drops of liquid all together - I can probably squeeze more juice out of my ipod skin.

Then there's the shape. How the heck are you supposed to fit that on your face? When I finally figured out that the mask would just cover my nose and half my cheeks I was even more annoyed. What about the rest of the face? The forehead? The chin? Do we not have pores on those places?

Ambassy Court Cafe

To be honest you can't really be picky on free food. The grub at the Cafe in Ambassy Court is not bad - having said that I would never go there if I had to pay for it, so you get the gist.

My husband tried the vegetable sandwich, I guess he wanted something healthy. Then he asked to have fries on the side. When it arrived I thought it was my hot dog - why was it served with a hot dog bun? The fillings included artichoke, pepper, and lettuce. Not very inspiring and with that big dollop of mayo it looked a little scary. He ate all the fries and the veg + half a bun at the end - perhaps it wasn't all that nice after all (I hadn't bother asking).
I decided to be adventurous and tried the Taiwanese minced pork noodles. First I couldn't tell what was Taiwanese about it. It was just like your regular styled noodle you get in mid-northern China. Then the pork was not minced. It was chopped, but not that it mattered. In fact it was better because I could then pick out the fatty bits easily (makes you wonder what IS in mince). It had a nice salty taste - bit nondescript but not at all offensive. I liked the egg marinated in sweet soya. Oh! Maybe that's what they meant by Taiwanese!

My hot dog looked and tasted better than I expected. The bun was toasted and it even had hot dog relish! Yum! Too bad the fries were soggy.

Overall verdict: 6 out of 10 - not bad as long as your expectation on the food is not high. The environment is stress-free (always have lots of tables), the service pretty good and civilised.

Ambassy Court Cafe

1500 Huai Hai Rd Middle (near Wulumuqi Rd), Shanghai.

Coconut Paradise

Saturday night and Coconut Paradise. We thought it would be busy and we went early (like 7pm). The place was still full! Luckily there was one small table left on the terrace overlooking the garden. Good thing the weather was mild enough to sit out...and it was pretty romantic after all!

The papaya salad (RMB48) was right on the spot - not the best I've had but it was pretty dang good. The dressing was sour and spicy and the papaya fresh. The portion was rather stingy though.

The seafood salad (RMB70) had a really nice dressing too - spicy but not fiery. There were prawns, clams, squid, and some vegetables in it. At least the portion was a little more reasonable, but then it was still expensive for what you get if you ask me. Also I should have ordered the squid salad instead as it comes with glass noodles and they always soak up the dressing nicely.

The prawn cakes (RMB68) were pathetic looking. Usually they should be plump and thicker looking. It tasted as pathetic as it looked - too soft and pappy. Because of the thinness there were more batter than prawns. Disappointing but the worse be yet to come.

The beef on sizzling plate (RMB70) was also pretty lame. It was basically beef fried in oyster sauce! There was nothing Thai about the dish at all. The only good point was that the beef was pretty lean and juicy, but show me the Thai spices!!
We also got a small tom yum soup(RMB80). The 'small' tom yum turned out to be pretty big and we each had about 3 to 4 bowls. It was pretty red hot at least, just like it should be.

Just as we thought the chef had redeemed himself or herself with the soup there came the pad Thai noodles (RMB60). It was another flop. It was so wet and had no taste whatsoever.

We were tempted to ask whether the chef was on holiday of something? The food was so much better for our previous visits and we didn't mind paying the expensive prices. Now for what you get it's definitely a rip off. Please bring the good food back! We love Thai food!

Coconut Paradise
38 Fumin Rd. (near Julu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6248-1998

Whisk

It's my 3rd write up on Whisk. It's actually pretty good that we keep going back (see here, and here). This time we decided to see the antipasto for two (RMB60). It didn't look bad although I wouldn't mind a few more vegetables like artichokes or aubergines. Everything tasted OK but then other than the roasted peppers everything was ready made and it would be difficult to screw up. Having said that the prosciutto tasted kind of funny and we left it untouched.

My tuna salad (RMB50) looked very colorful and appetizing. I like salads when they come with salami. The tuna came in big chunks and they were home-made! Wow. The dressing was zingy enough to stand up to the stodgy taste of the salami and tuna. There was way too much of the stuff on the salad though. If they were going to serve the dressing on the side anyway then why dunk so much of it on the salad to begin with?

As full as I was I was determined to try the brownie with ice cream (RMB35). It was worth stuffing myself silly. The brownie was very soft and moist - I am officially hooked. We had a little debate over the 'brownie' because to us we would call this thing a fudge. I thought brownie has a harder crispier top?

Whisk Choco Cafe

1250 Huai Hai Rd. Central (near Changshu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 5404-7770

Latina

All-you-can-eat places excite me. Sometimes it's fun to just stuff yourself silly...hence the picture with the half-eaten steak. Sorry guys I was too busy chowing down my grub before I realised I forgot about the picture.

For RMB68 per person you get to have all the starters, BBQ meats and desserts. As you can see here the starters were nothing special - the usual pasta salad, beans from the can, egg salad, veg etc. There were also hot dishes like beef and pork on the side, but I decided I would save room for the BBQ meat instead.
There was just Brazilian dude serving the meat and therefore there was a bit of a wait here and there. He was also very careful to serve us just one piece of whatever each time, despite the fact that I told him we were hungry. (He gave us a mere 'hmm' as a response - sense of humour bypass!) Anyway we got to try the beef, sausage, chicken, beef, lamb, and more beef. All of them tasted a tad bit too salty. They also served us some cheese bread and fries during the meal. Not bad for 68 bucks - we had some ice cream at the end too. Definitely quantity over quality.

Latina (4 locations)

XinTianDi, Tai Cang Rd.(near Ma Dang Rd). Shanghai. Tel: 6320-3566

Bye bye wrinkles

The lines around my eyes were hopeless. I gave up the search for an eye gel/cream long long ago. Nothing I used helped, even though they all claim to do a whole list of things. I was lucky if the product did so much as keeping my lids from being dry. No chance on other corrective properties. Then I discovered the power of Retino.
The Shiseido Revital Wrinklelift AA can be used anywhere on the face including the eye area. I started using the trial tube about a month ago and believe it or not the lines around my eyes have somehow started to disappear! I still have lines of course but I am certain that the situation is getting less dreadful. Maybe I won't need Botox afterall!

Citizen Bar Cafe

After our lamb feast our friend Ca miraculously had room for dessert (and I thought I eat a lot) and took us to a cafe she knows of right around the corner.

Citizen is a small place with 2 floors. We were surprised to see that apart from the drinks and desserts it actually had a full (and somewhat expensive) food menu as well. I took a look on the internet and apparently the place is voted the best cafe in Shanghai in 2006. Not much is said about the food but I will keep the place in mind for our next lunch excursion.

Our carrot cake expert C tried the carrot walnut cake (RMB28). He said it had a nice taste but it was too spongy. He added that a carrot cake should have more texture - perhaps more carrots?

My husband gave the fresh baked apple pie with vanilla ice cream (RMB30) 5 out of 10. He said the apples were pappy and there was no proper topping.

Sorry for the out-of-focus pictures. It was all the dark beer and wine.

Citizen Cafe and Bar

222 Jin Xian Rd. (Near Shan Xi Rd West), Shanghai. Tel: 6258-1620