From the name you know it’s somewhat related to Singapore cuisine. This place took over the previous Lau Pa Sak restaurant and started not too long ago. I was there to have some Singapore food but realized they changed hands. Nevertheless, it’s still Singapore food! But isn’t 东海岸 known as East Coast Park? Hmmm…
Elongated space.From where I sitFood pics 1Food pics 2Food pics 3Coffee Davidoff RMB22 – Very strong black coffee which I like. 🙂Curry Puff RMB8 – Not nice. Pastry too thick and unlike Old Chang Kee’s pastry texture. However, the curry inside is really good! Hence wasted, it could be a lot better if the pastry was better.Braised Duck Rice RMB35 – Duck meat was pretty ok and gave quite a lot. Yam rice was really good. Soup is clear and boiled with anchovies.BBQ Sambal Mackerel RMB28 – I wanted to eat some fish as fish has a lot of bones in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province. Thought the fish would be small but no! It’s quite big and I had difficulty finishing it! Nicely charred on the skin and loads of sambal applied inside. See pic below.Loads of sambal inside. Nice and spicy!Just to show you how big the fish was.On the flip side, also a lot of sambal rubbed inside the slit. Awesome!Bill of RMB93. Very affordable. Will be back.
Rating: 4.5/5.
Taste: Pretty close to home and love the fish!
Portion: Above average.
Service: Not enthusiastic. Must remind them to top up water even though I placed the empty cup beside the aisle.
Ambience: Comfy and you won’t come out smelling like what you ate.
Price: RMB93 in total. Around S$19.50.
RTE: I’ll probably would if I’m in Shanghai again! Haven’t try all their extensive menu offerings!
Alright I reckon it’s time to write a little more on Suzhou food before I leave this place for good. 🙂 This noodle house was discovered by myself while riding around the secluded areas of this deserted Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). Came here many times already actually, just that never got down to write about them. I reckon they deserve to be recommended as the noodles here are awesome and at the same time, they are at an area where not many people will know due to the lack of public transport facilities. See my comments below the pictures attached.
Noodle house frontCan get very crowded during weekends and lunch hours… interns in front… 🙂Display of all the additional ingredients to go with your noodles… not much left if you’re there after 1pm… like me… 🙁白汤 (White Soup) RMB5 – Typical Suzhou noodles with clear soup. Don’t think they use MSG as I couldn’t detect the usual MSG taste. Soup is nice and thick, I believe was boiled with pork bones among other ingredients for hours/days/weeks/months. You’ll never know. 😉红汤 (Red Soup) RMB5 – Typical Suzhou dark soup noodles. I reckon they added a little of the braised sauce from the braised meat. I prefer the clear one still.Assorted Mushrooms RMB8 – Very nice to go with your noodles.焖肉 (Braised Meat) RMB8 – A typical Suzhou dish to go with the noodles.爆鱼 (Braised Fish) RMB8 – Typical Shanghai/Jaingsu dish where the fish is deep fried and then braised. A little sweet as usual in their cuisine but an excellent source of protein. But the fish from around here are fresh water, hence LOTS OF BONES…A meal like this is around RMB$22 (S$4.50)This is how I slurp up my soup… Trust me, the taste is a lot better than using a spoon.This is how you show your appreciation… by finishing the soup that took many hours to boil!
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Really awesome… been here like more than 8 times since I came to Suzhou a year ago. Brought my SG interns there as well and they loved it. Noodles are custom made for their 2 outlets, soup base is boiled for many hours and even the accompaniments taste good!
Portion: Above average. I can be filled with only 1 standard bowl of noodles.
Service: Pretty good.
Ambience: Traditional setting. Quite appropriate for a traditional dish of Suzhou.
Price: Really cheap and affordable. I tried one traditional outlet at Shiquan Street, costed me RMB200 for 3 pax! And this is so much better than that ‘popular’ place!
A friend brought me to this place and didn’t know such a nice bakery cafe exist. The owner of this place is a Hong Konger and family line came from Jiangsu, China. Went to the Pudong branches, both branches were close on Sundays. So had to catch a cab back to their main branch in Puxi. We were pretty lucky ‘cos at 12.30pm, we managed to get seats as I heard this place has really long queues. I really like bakery cafes as I aspire to open one myself in future… but for now, no capital.. ;P Anyways see my comments with the pictures below:
Cafe frontGlorious breads!!!Cakes and dessert sectionLove the displayFriend’s Salmon Tartin… smoke salmon ona slice of homemade walnut bread… a wee bit salty.Grilled Chicken Salad for meThe latte was good. Milk used is not the sweet type. They use illy beans… can’t go wrong.Shortly after we got our seats… told you we were lucky!Their famous coffee eclairWith loads of fillingTheir famous Sun bread.Bill… pretty affordable as compared to Element FreshI went to the outlet at first address… the other 2 are in Pudong area.
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Excellent. I couldn’t try their croissants, sun bread, lemon tarts and cheese cake because I’m on diet, but they are highly recommended.
After reaching Shanghai in the afternoon today, I rushed to check out this cafe which has a roasting factory, 2 cafe outlets and a training center for aspiring baristas. I found them online and know that they roast their own beans. I took the cab and headed to their training center and realized they don’t serve coffees there after I made a call to them. Then I headed to their outlet at fengxian lu which is the only outlet that opens on weekends.
The walk under the 39 deg celsius sun is no joke even though it’s like only 3 blocks away. When I reached the cafe, I was drenched. The cafe is really a very small shop and when I was there there were already some customers there occupying the inside of the shop. So I had to sit the outer area which was serious super warm!
I first ordered the Mandheling which has mild acidity and quite a medium-high body. But tasting the dripped coffee in such a warm space is really uncomfortable.
Shortly after, some of the customers inside left and I moved my ass inside to catch some aircon… And I had to give some lesson on ‘how to adjust the aircon to cool mode’. I then ordered a latte, which was made from the branded Slayer espresso machine. The latte has some acidity, fruity and pretty full body. I found the milk they used is a little on the sweet side like the HL milk in Singapore and Malaysia. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good combination for their House Blend No.5, which is a mix of 3 different beans that I shall not disclose.
The cute thing about the small shop is that they have a vintage typewriter there for customers to type in their greetings! Very innovative!
Rating: 4.5/5. The temperature control in the cafe is very important.
Taste: Great!
Portion: Average.
Service: Excellent. The barista over the counter offered me a cup of water when I came into the cafe, all drenched. And she keeps refilling when I sat inside. Very good conversationalist too!
Ambience: Inside is alright but outside is not cool. Very small space but in a very prime area.
Price: RMB28 for the Mandheling and RMB25 for the latte.
Dunno why they are using this 鲁 instead of 卤… nevertheless, I reckon they meant the same ‘braised‘ meaning. This place was recommended by my driver when I was working in Shanghai. I tried it the first time when he packed for me during one of the lunches in office. I was like “WHAO!” and this is really a lot better than most of the 鲁肉饭 that I’ve tried. Yes this restaurant can really give the Taiwanese 鲁肉饭s a run for their money! So I visited on one of the evenings. They have other dishes which apparently tasted pretty good as well!
Restaurant frontInsideCheck out the piece of braised meat on top… really nice and tender…Fried Pork LiverBittergourd with salted egg. Very nice.Malted tea served free flowThis was the takeaway oneCheck out the minced meat… damn nice and thick sauce.Bill and address
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Really awesome. I’m trying to press my craves down as I’m writing this…
Portion: Below average. The bowl of rice is really little that’s why I ordered the big bowl.
Service: Quite ok. Maybe because of my size… Size does matter in China haha…
Ambience: Average. Wooden chairs and people smoking inside. Can’t wait for them to implement bans for smoking in aircon places like in Guangzhou!
Price: RMB17 for a set of Braise Meat Rice with a slice of braised pork belly and egg. Super cheap!
七宝老街 (Qibao Ancient Street) is an ancient town which has been preserved for the purpose of tourism in Shanghai. However it is not a complete ancient town… just 2 stretches of old shops which is linked by a bridge. This is one of the attractions in Shanghai but it’s not very near the city. Nevertheless, I was there to check out all their street food and found some good stuff there actually! Check out the pictures I’ve taken!
Entrance to the townPagoda outsideCrowded at all times.The words on the glass panel says these sugared haw will lower your blood pressures. Yeah, and thickening the blood with sugar!Candied haw and fruits on sticksFamous goat meatsome stallThe bridgeTry to ignore the apartments behind… looks nicer without that haha
Super crowded on the other side!Love old buildingsBraised pig trottersBraised pork legBraised pigeonsBeggars’ Chicken cooked in ‘mud’Bored stall assistantBraised sparrowsFamous glutinous rice ball placePeople queuing for raw ones for take awaysMany awardsEach ball is around RMB2.50… soup is just water… not sweet typeRed date… not nice… regretBlack sesame, nice…Peanut also nice…Meat… awesome! Juicy inside!Managed to get a seat downstairs which is RARE!!!Guy cooking the balls in front… they differentiate the balls from the shapes…Some sweet snacksCrabsShe’s making some corn flour crispy biscuit snack thingy…China’s answer to balot/balut… Chicks inside the eggs… not duckings…Braised gizzard… Quite good cos the sauce is boiled over years…
Some glutinous rice thing sweet snackssweetsPeanut candy is really good!
Rating: 4.5/5. Eat quality is good. Gotta try everything!
Taste: Pretty good but I don’t really like the sweet stuff.
Portion: Average
Service: Not good… cos so crowded
Ambience: Old and wet… cos Shanghai weather is mostly wet.
I definitely need to share this with all my readers here. To maybe all Asians in Southeast Asian countries, moon cakes are probably known to us as those round sweet lotus seed filling cakes that we eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival… But in these parts from Shanghai and up north of China, these meat pies are known as moon cakes to them. And the best part is, they are in sale all year round! One of my colleagues bought for me when I was working in Shanghai and this is really awesome! Check out the pics!
Box packaging6 in a boxFill with loads of minced porkSee how juicy the meat is… pastry is also very flaky!Address of shop… Sorry for the flakes on top… was munching these moon cakes while taking this pic… couldn’t resist!
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Really awesome. Once you start, you can’t stop at one…
Portion: The pork fillings inside are filled to the brim of the cake. Wholesome is the word!
Service: It’s a takeaway shop, long queue everyday, service ok only.
Ambience: N.A.
Price: RMB3.50 each… maybe price increased.
RTE: If I’m in that area I would pack one box!
Location: See last pic.
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