Friends Meet-up

Not planning for anything in particular, but I ended up meeting with a few friends from Hong Kong during my week in Shanghai. 

Japanese chicken skewers were not the type of food in mind whilst in Shanghai but glad my friends R, P and F decided to meet up for dinner at this yakitori specialist/bar called Torisawa near my hotel. The menu and décor certainly resemble those high-end trendy yakitori bar in Tokyo completed with the long binchoten grill in the open kitchen in the center of the space at Jing’an Kerry Center. And the food was top-notch – probably on a pricey side in Shanghai standard but definitely great value for money compared to restaurants or food of similar caliber elsewhere. 

Chicken is a specialty and they have more than a dozen different parts to choose from, including some of the rarer cuts, cooked using local chickens. Momo is the staple with the tender and juicy thigh perfectly seasoned and grilled on top of binchoten charcoal fire with the slightly burnt crust. Cho-chin (ovary) was the special one and I love the rich flavor and complex textures, done with a slightly sweet glaze on top. Bar menu was impressive too – with mixologist Shingo Gokan as the consultant there’s no lack of creative and perfectly done cocktails that flew non-top to our table. With their other branch being in closer to home in Shenzhen, I am sure we will go visit again when we have a chance. 

When? August 29 2023
Where? Torisawa Shanghai, G/F Jing'an Kerry Center, 1515 Nanjing Xi Lu, Jing'an District, Shanghai

鳥沢 上海市靜安區靜安嘉里中心南區1樓S1-04號

I was eager to catch up with J whom I haven't seen for months and checked out his new restaurant "Int" in the hip neighorhood  in Jing’an District in a quite side alley. With his other ventures including the neo-bistro Vivant in Central and neighborhood pizza bar Intervals in Island South and Tseung Kwan O, Int felt like somewhere in between with a good selection of creative pizza (still finished in the signature brick oven) and fusion dishes, combining western ingredients and cooking with that of local style and avant-garde décor completed with neon signs and all. 

Highlights included the creamy burrata with chilled pickled lotus roots, or the chicken wings stuffed with Shanghainese preserved vegetables. But my favorite was the ganba mushroom pizza – ganba, a.k.a. dried beef mushroom, mainly found in Yunnan region and has a pungent aroma and punchy flavor, but somehow it matched well with the creamy mozzarella cheese as pizza topping. Natural wine is J’s specialty and there were plenty available on their drinks menu. I was poured one off-menu from a Chinese boutique winery called Xiao Pu in Ningxia Province, with label only marked as “Chardonnay – Demo – 2020”. Sharp acidity with some unripe citrus on the palate, but wait a while some secondary flavor came out including peach and limestone. 

When? August 31 2023
Where? Int., Room 114, Bldg. 9, No. 60, Lane 273 Jiaozhou Lu and Wuding Lu, Jing'an District, Shanghai 上海市靜安區膠州路273弄60號114室近武定路

"Wanna eat together?" I received the message from my friend V on Friday just when I was planning what to do with an extra day in Shanghai as my homebound flight was cancelled because of typhoon in Hong Kong. With her facing the same fate of being stranded we met up for a drink and then dinner. I took a leisure stroll along the Bund taking tons of pictures of those grand historical buildings still standing along the shoreline then proceeded to the roof top bar of Edition Shanghai (called ROOF), right on time to catch the last glimpse of sunset. Surprisingly the bar was not particularly packed but offered the best, unobstructed view of the Bund from high above. I went with the hotel concierge’s recommendation and made a dinner booking at “Le Patio and La Famille” (南麓 · 浙里) just round the corner from The Edition, with the restaurant specializing in Hangzhou Cuisine, very similar in a way to Shanghainese cuisine but slightly lighter with more focus on river seafood. 

Have been eating alone for most of the nights so far so this time we could order a bit more to share. Started with a few appetizers – my favorite being the seasonal lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice with soft texture and nice sweet flavor. The slices of roasted cuttlefish were great too with bouncy texture, slow cooked and marinated with sweet soy. The beancurd rolls with yellow croaker arrived crispy and hot with the delicate fish meat stuffed inside the crispy rolls. We went a bit adventurous and checked out the “Stinky Tofu Spring Rolls” – let’s just stay it did take an acquired taste to appreciate. We put it down after a couple of bites realizing the braised over-fermented tofu was not our thing. 

When? September 1 2023
Where? Le Patio and La Famille, 216 Sichuan Zhong Lu, Huangpu District, Shanghai

南麓 · 浙里（外灘店）上海市黃浦區四川中路216號