Joanna James
Shanghai cuisine, also known as 'Hu Cuisine' is traditionally referred to as 'Benbang'. Read on to know some of the most tantalizingly delicious dishes you could savour during your time here.
Yan Du Xian
This famous Shanghainese soup is made from fresh pork, cured pork, and dried bamboo shoots. Dumplings wrapped in thin skins of eggs is added to it. A favourite during the Lunar New Year.
Kou San Si
Kou San Si soup is a mixture of steamed chicken, Bamboo shoots and shredded ham in a rich broth. The three ingredients are thinly shredded and placed round evenly in a bowl and steamed. The broth is added to it later.
Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish
This is a popular sweet and sour dish in every fancy Chinese restaurant. Fresh mandarin fish is deep-fried to form a crispy exterior whilst the centre is soft. It is presented in the shape of a squirrel with hot broth poured over making a high-pitched sizzling sound.
Scallion Stewed Crucian Carp
This dish requires a bit of lengthy preparation time but sure does keeps one's culinary skills in check. The fish is soaked in vinegar for long hours before being deep fried and stewed for a long period. The mixture is then cooled off to make the fish soft.
Drunken Chicken
Proving worthy of its name, the 'Drunken Chicken' is first steamed and chopped into pieces and cooked with ginger, salt and scallions and is marinated in liquor. The drunken chicken is then kept in refrigerated overnight. This salty delight of a dish is served chilled and has a liquor flavoured jelly-like the mix that comes from the chilled alcohol and juices. Maybe, Pudong Bars will surely benefit from this delightful alcoholic delight.
Red Braised Pork (Hong Shao Rou)
'Hongshao Rou' is a standard dinner time dish and a common dish amongst homes and restaurants. This all-time classic is made with pork belly combined with garlic, ginger, aromatic spices, soy, rice wine and sugar. The pork is cooked until the fat and skin are gummily allowing it to melt in your mouth. The sweet sauce is served thick and sticky.
Lion's Head
Does not the idea of a huge Chinese meatball sound good to you? Well, Lion's head meatballs are a treat for your taste buds. These huge meatballs resembling a lion's head is a delightful dish with crab meat and cream. The porky distinctions and softness are just the thing with a bowl of rice to go with it. The plain version is stewed or steamed with cabbage whilst the red is cooked with soy sauce.
Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs
Perhaps, one of the best-known dishes in China is the sweet and sour spare ribs. The main ingredient of this popular dish comprises sugar and vinegar. Fresh pork ribs are cooked and deep fried and coated with sweet and sour sauce.
Beggar's Chicken
Mind you, though its name is derived from an old legend, the beggar's chicken is one rich dish when it comes to aroma and flavour. A marinated and stuffed chicken is sealed tight with layers of lotus leaves and wrapped in parchment paper along with mud. The chicken is then roasted in the open fire. The fully cooked parcel forms a hard mud shell around the chicken. This process retains the original flavour and aroma of the chicken and once it's cracked open the fragrance is simply intense, and you would want to get that soft meat into those tantalising taste buds of yours.
Xiaolongbao
No list is complete without mentioning this dumpling which is a favourite snack in all parts of Shanghai. The steamed dumpling is made with dough stuffed with pork or minced crab along with the soup. These dumplings are steamed in bamboo baskets and served with black vinegar. Though the appearance is thin, and you may have your doubts in its ability to hold the soup, a good Xiaolongbao sure does hold on to its soup until you bite of the top, suck out the soup and simply shovel down the rest of the remains. Make sure to make a hole and let out the steam or else the dumpling is sure to burn your mouth and tongue. (Those novices sure can tell you stories about that)
Mini Wontons in Soup
Another one of those regulars that can be found anywhere in the locale, this little hot bowls of tiny wontons submerged in broth, embellished with dried shrimp, cilantro and strips of the egg is a kick off the dish to a new day.
Shengjian Mantou
Well, Let's face it. No menu is complete without a few dumplings to fulfil your 'Benbang' cuisine and this fatty fried pork dumpling is no exception. A lot of heartier and greasier than a xiaolongbao, the filling is made of minced pork and pork jelly. The contents melt as the 'Shengjian' is fried forming a greasy and fury hot broth.
Noodles
Nothing is better than adding a bowl of noodles into your Chinese cuisine. Whether it's a street noodle with sprouts, stir-fried with greens, spam or pork, an egg with a liberal amount of MSG and sugar, or a 'Shanghai Cumian' which is a thickly cut pasta served with dumpling joints and stir-fried beef, chicken or pork (sometimes even shrimp) with cabbage and onions. Or even a 'Clear Soup Noodles' with scented scallion oil surely will be a pleasant addition to your treats. You might as well check out a few of these menus at the Dorsett Shanghai on your next visit.
A true believer that the pen is a mighty weapon, ventures into reaching the minds of every reader with the earnest hope of leaving an indelible stream of thought.
A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
