1 Intermezzo food adventure:

Purses of Pleasure Diving for Pearls in Shanghai

Beyond the city’s internationally fashionable streets, the pursuit of authentic local foods and flavors in “The Pearl of the Orient” is a

worthwhile undertaking. by elyse glickman

Intermezzo 2 ne of the most popular souvenirs from is O a “Chinese Box,” a set of decorated stacking boxes of graduated sizes that can be enjoyed separately or nested together. On many levels, it is an excellent metaphor for Shanghai’s food experience. It is no surprise that the outermost “box” is the first impression Shanghai makes when you see it for the first time. The skyline that dominates Pudong, the city’s sprawling financial and technological center, evokes Disney’s “Tomorrowland.” The gravity-defying skyscrapers and towers seem as far away from old-world Chinese as one can get. That said, I’m as enthusiastic about Chinese street food (especially dump- lings) as I am about the garden of East-meets-West delights at destina- tions like Jean-Georges’ Three on the Bund. Metaphorically speaking, I start my exploration of Shanghai by actively digging deep for the precious discover- ies housed in the smaller “boxes,” hid- den on its side streets, alleys and other unexpected places. Some Shanghai first-timers get their bearings at five-star hotels outfitted with expansive breakfast buffets. I, on the other hand, settle into the Aroma Garden Lanson Place, a stylish residen- tial hotel tailor-made for longer stays as well as people who love to cook and entertain. I was particularly impressed with the small but fully outfitted kitchen with its top-tier appliances and full arsenal of pots, pans and other little kitchen, I follow the inspection of Un Tour Shanghai’s founders are so cooking accessories. Just a few blocks Aroma Garden’s neighborhood with passionate about the preservation of away, around the tourist-packed perim- a long (but astonishingly inexpensive) the city’s old, unpretentious culinary eters of Shanghai Old Street’s Ming taxi ride to an unassuming residential ways that they searched out the best and Qing Dynasty buildings, there are quarter of the French Concession to mom-and-pop establishments. The numerous wet and dry markets and ad- start a stall and restaurant itineraries celebrate those eateries, hoc outdoor fruit stands that pique my tour organized by Un Tour Shanghai. which fearlessly thrive, even as 21st curiosity. The tour culminates with a cooking les- century modernity and international- As I feel I need a little more educa- son at the Chinese Cooking Workshop, ism encroaches. They are intent on tion on the niceties of local cooking a gated bungalow with all the comforts ensuring these increasingly endangered and ingredients before exploring my of home, plus a charming courtyard. species of Shanghai’s food scene get the

3 Intermezzo shops after our tour, and discovered a delicious dish on their own.” My first Shanghai breakfast unfolds in scavenger hunt fashion during the dumpling tour. It not only includes those namesake purses of pleasure, but also pot stickers and breakfast crêpes made street-side. The crêpes melt in your mouth until you get to a layer of hidden fried sheets and hits of chili sauce. I poke in and out of closet-sized eateries like Soup and Harbin Dumpling House, which not only introduce us to the surprising variations in even the simplest dumpling preparations, but also to side dishes of refreshing tofu and vegetable salads. After the progressive breakfast, we assume aprons and cooking tools at the Chinese Cooking Workshop and intently follow the lead of the teacher. We hang on his every word as we pre- pare and roll the dough, fill the flat- tened semi-circles and then precision- pleat the dumplings closed as best we can before taking them to the stoves for and frying. Over subsequent days, I visit the Shanghai Museum in People’s Park, where there are four meticulously orga- nized floors of coins, ancient artifacts, decorative arts, dioramas and fine art exhibitions, as well as the City God Temple and Yu Yan Garden (an exqui- site botanic garden winding through the former home of a royal family). I also explored the Jade Buddha Temple, known for its vegetarian restaurant. attention and respect they deserve. splatters and delicious bites. However, Here, the kitchen manages to transform “The government is…enforcing food there are still plenty of good street tofu and other meat substitutes into safety laws in an attempt to clean up foods left to try, and several food streets extremely palatable roast their tattered image,” says Long. “This are still thriving. Our goal is to give duck, ribs, chicken feet and stir-fried means many of Shanghai’s roving street visitors the confidence to return to the kidneys. vendors are getting the heave-ho, and places we’ve taken them and seek out The lines for the Oriental Pearl many food streets are being shuttered new spots. It’s so rewarding when we Tower, a ten-minute walk from the and revamped, or turned into mixed- have a guest tell us he felt empowered Mandarin Oriental Pudong, are so use commercial districts free of grease to try out these little hole-in-the-wall daunting that I originally considered TOP: caption caption caption caption caption caption; BOTTOM: caption caption caption caption caption caption.

Intermezzo 4 5 Intermezzo avoiding it. Luckily I did visit the the domain of expats and the Second heavy street looks like a mini-Las Shanghai Municipal History Museum Generation within The Bund and The Vegas, although it’s new food experi- at the base of the tower. Five dollars French Concession. Spare restaurants ences you’re taking a gamble on. The buys an extraordinary journey through intermingle with Parisian-inspired guide manages to convince us to try time that integrates traditional life-size coffee joints, artisanal ice cream spots (and love) things we could not imagine dioramas, short films, holograms and operated by New Yorkers, and dis- eating, like deep fried snake, as well as live performers to witness the history tinctive boutiques like Zen Lifestyle crawfish, taro pudding, roasted garlic of the city. It turns out the food culture (intricately hand-painted ceramics in eggplant spread on grilled bread and is an integral part of the experience. I alluring colors) and Brocade Country, lamb kebabs with tribal Weigur spices encounter highly detailed recreations (fashions and home accessories crafted served street-side with black beer. of herbalist shops, food stalls, saloons by the Miao tribe of Southern China). We ultimately explore the glitzy and restaurants for the elite as they There are numerous, modest hot pot “outer boxes” of Shanghai’s fine din- existed through the ages. Starting at the restaurants, serving the amalgam of ing. Even with all the 21st century flash, Victorian era, we find “street vendors” fondue, soup and stew. we learn that chefs known for their preparing and selling real dumplings Just a few blocks from main thor- penchant for innovation and experi- and snacks, as well as live musicians oughfare Nanjing Road’s expanse of mentation have a reverence for the old gracing one of the formal dining room flashy malls, Shouning Lu (“road”) ways and indigenous ingredients. At installations. Seafood Street seems to appear like internationally-acclaimed Mr. & Mrs. The old ways also wind sneakily into magic. At first glance, the neon-sign Bund, French-born owner-chef Paul TOP: caption caption caption caption caption caption; BOTTOM: caption caption caption caption caption caption. TOP: caption caption caption caption caption caption; BOTTOM: caption caption caption caption caption caption. Intermezzo 6 Pairet dedicates a page in his menu to his exhaustive list of Shanghai-area and nearby farms, fisheries, markets and purveyors. The Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai’s Yong Yi Ting, under the auspices of Chef Consultant Tony Lu, includes Jiang Nan dishes (the overall region encompasses Shanghai metro). While Long informed us earlier that Shanghaiese gravitate towards sweeter flavor profiles (in contrast to the Szechuan and Hunan penchants for earthy, spicy flavors), we are surprised that Lu’s Jiang Nan dishes are so deli- cate and subtle, allowing the natural flavors of the individual ingredients to shine through. During my stay at The Peninsula Shanghai, Executive Chef Terrence Crandall took me through the prop- erty’s Chinese kitchen serving the Yi Long Court restaurant. Its culinary team comes from a long line of restau- rateurs and chefs that do things “the traditional way,” and runs with the pre- cision of a fine Swiss watch. “In Western style cooking, you have sauces made in advance,” Crandall says. “In Chinese cooking, sauces are made dish by dish, so it takes an enormous amount of skill to craft different sauces and ensure to make sure they taste the same from table to table. Consistency is important, so they wash the woks frequently and quickly, sometime four to five times for one dish.” I notice that each chef in the line places their respective ingredient on the plate, in contrast to a Western kitchen where everything is plated at the end of the line. Crandall points out that chickens are brought in fresh every day, and live fish are particularly important to Chinese guests. “Fish are on consignment, so when a customer orders it, we write the invoice and buy that fish after we’ve weighed it,” TOP: caption caption caption caption caption caption; BOTTOM: caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption.

7 Intermezzo If You Go Fruit Puddings 42 Shouning Lu, near Xizang Lu LODGING Aizi Pastries The Peninsula Shanghai 33 Shouning Lu shanghai.peninsula.com Hand-Pulled Noodles The Mandarin Oriental Fangbang Lu, near Yiqing Lu Pudong-Shanghai mandarinoriental.com/shanghai Guangtou Pan-Fried Dumplings 279 Xizang Lu, near Shouning Lu Lanson Place aromagarden.lansonplace.com Street Hawker Pot Stickers Gao’an Lu between Jianguo Xi Lu and Zhaojiabang Lu ESSENTIAL CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS Nanjing Soup Dumplings 641 Jianguo Xi Lu near Gao’an Lu Shanghai Municipal History Museum at the Oriental Pearl Harbin Dumpling House Tower 645 Jianguo Xi Lu near Gao’an Lu historymuseum.sh.cn Quibao Place Shanghai Museum 2 Donping Lu shanghaimuseum.net/en

Yu Yuan Garden/Old Shanghai CONTEMPORARY FINE Street DINING & COCKTAILING yugarden.com.cn Mr. & Mrs. Bund Jade Buddha Temple & Vegetarian mmbund.com Restaurant yufotemple.com Three on The Bund threeonthebund.com

AUTHENTIC DINING FOR MORE TRAVEL UnTour Shanghai INFORMATION untourshanghai.com/ he continues. “It’s important because Meet-In-Shanghai: some of our fish are the most expen- Chinese Cooking Workshop The Official Shanghai Travel Site sive breeds of fish in the world, includ- chinesecookingworkshop.com/ meet-in-shanghai.net ing the red spotted grouper, as red is lucky in China.” Shouning Lu Seafood Street Shanghai China Tourist In Shanghai, every color is lucky, and culinarybackstreets.com Information and Travel Guide if you want to taste the full spectrum, gluttonguides.com shanghaichina.ca now is the most auspicious time to experience it—when the past man- BBQ & Crawfish China Eastern Airlines ages to coexist with present restaurant 48 Shouning Lu at Xizang Lu (Direct flights to Shanghai from New trends and futuristic techniques. York, Los Angeles) us.ceair.com

Intermezzo 8 9 Intermezzo STREET EATS boiled pork and cabbage dumplings Dongbei Baicai Shuijiao Inspired by Harbin Dumpling House, courtesy of UnTour Shanghai

MAKES 50 TO 60 DUMPLINGS

For dumpling wrappers 3 cups flour 1 cup cold water 1 teaspoon salt

For dumpling stuffing necessary until the dough no longer sticks wrapper. Pull bottom half of wrapper up to 1 cup 30% fatty pork to your hand. meet top half and pinch middle, then crimp 11/2 cups minced cabbage 3. Knead the dough into a ball. Cover and one side about 1/3-inch and attach it to the 1/2 cup green onion, minced let rest for 30 minutes. other side. Repeat two times on each side of 1 garlic clove, minced 4. Divide dough into 50 to 60 small pieces; the initial middle pinch, then pinch closed 1 teaspoon minced root roll each piece into a ball. any remaining openings. Alternatively, dip 1 tablespoon soy sauce 5. Flatten the ball; use a rolling pin to roll your finger in water, drawing a line of water 1 teaspoon salt out edges while constantly turning the across top edge of the dumpling wrapper 1 teaspoon white pepper dumpling. before pulling up bottom half and squeez- 2 tablespoon sesame oil 6. Make dumpling stuffing. Sprinkle cab- ing them together. 1 teaspoon sugar bage with salt and let sit for ten minutes to 9. Flour a bowl or plate to place dumplings 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine draw out water. Wrap the cabbage in a dish on; make sure they don’t touch. towel and squeeze out the excess water. 10. Boil a large pot of water. Add in some 1. Make dumpling wrappers. On a table or 7. In a large bowl, add green onion, ginger, of the dumplings and let cook for five cutting board, mix salt into flour with a cir- garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, white minutes, or until the dumplings are fully cular motion until you have a hole in the pepper, salt and sugar to minced pork; mix cooked. Repeat with remaining dumplings center. thoroughly. Add cabbage. and serve hot, with a light soy sauce and 2. Pour water into hole you created; keep 8. Make dumplings. Add 1 tablespoon chopped garlic, or with rice vinegar and mixing with finger and add water as of mixture to middle of each dumpling crushed red peppers, or both.

steamed soup dumplings Xiaolongbao Inspired by Nanjing Soup Dumplings, courtesy UnTour Shanghai and the Chinese Cooking Workshop.

MAKES 24 DUMPLINGS

For pork skin jelly tk Pork skin, without fat tk Water tk Scallion tk Ginger tk Rice wine

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Intermezzo 10 For dumpling skin flour and water into a dough. Knead for should not touch each other. Steam for ten 51/2 ounces wheat flour ten minutes, until elastic. minutes. 3 ounces cold water 6. Divide dough into two equal pieces. Roll 15. Serve immediately, with a side of brown each piece into a 12-inch long cylinder. rice vinegar and sliced ginger. For filling Divide each piece into 12 equal pieces. Roll 7 oz minced pork each individual piece into a ball, then flat- 3 teaspoon water ten into a 21/2-inch disk. lamb kebab 3 teaspoon shaoxing rice wine 7. Make filling. Combine all the filling Yangrou Chuanr 2 teaspoons finely diced ginger ingredients except the jelly. Stir mixture Inspired by BBQ & Crawfish at 48 1 teaspoon finely diced scallon fifty times in one direction, to eliminate Shouning Lu, compliments of UnTour 1 teaspoon salt any lumps. Shanghai 1 teaspoon sugar 8. Add pork jelly and mix. Refrigerate until 2 teaspoons light soy sauce ready to fill dumplings. Vary quantities of all ingredients to suit your pinch white pepper 9. Make dumplings. Hold a wrapper flat on taste and the number of people you wish to 2 teaspoons sesame oil palm of your left hand. serve. Soak bamboo skewers in water before 6 ounces pork skin jelly 10. Place a heaping teaspoon of the pork making kebabs, to avoid them catching on fire mixture into center of wrapper. during grilling. 1. Make pork jelly. Remove any remaining 11. Using both thumbs and both index fat of the pork skin. Clean the skin care- fingers, stretch and pleat the edges of the tk Lamb leg and fat fully and boil it in water for 3 minutes. dumpling wrapper, working counter- tk Salt 2. Put pork skin and 2 cups water with clockwise. Both thumbs remain inside the tk Vegetable oil green onion, ginger and rice wine into a dumplings at all times, with both fingers tk Ground cumin wok or sauté pan on high heat. When it on the outside. tk Chili flakes comes to a boil, reduce heat. 12. Continue working all the way around tk Freshly ground pepper 3. When pork skin gets soft, chop it; return the edge of the wrapper, gently turning the tk Sichuan peppercorn powder to wok, then bring to boil again. bun in the palm of your left hand as you 4. When liquid becomes sticky, remove all go. Press pleated edges lightly together to 1. Mix together all ingredients in a zipper ingredients. Chill the mixture, which will seal. lock bag. Refrigerate and allow to marinate solidify from a soup to a jelly. Use within 13. Cook dumplings. Line a steamer bas- for 2 hours. two days, or freeze for up to a few weeks ket with a paper towel cut to size. This 2. Skewer lamb on bamboo skewers, lay- (boil and re-chill to create the original jelly will stop dumplings from sticking to the ering chunks of fat between the strips of texture). steamer bottom when you lift them out. meat. 5. Make dumpling skins. Combine the 14. Place dumplings into steamer. They 3. Heat grill or broiler to 425°F; brush oil

11 Intermezzo on kebabs. Place kebabs on grill and rotate every three minutes until done to your taste. 4. Sprinkle with additional cumin and chili to taste; serve immediately.

HOTEL EATS braised boneless beef short rib with hickory Chef Consultant Tony Lu, Yong Yi Ting, Mandarin Oriental Pudong

SERVES 4

21/2 pounds beef rib meat 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 ounce sugar Orange peel, to taste Water 1/2 oz hickory seasoning

1. Cut beef into cubes; add enough water to cover beef in a wok or large skillet. 2. Add soy sauce, sugar and orange peel; simmer on medium-low heat for 11/2 hours, or until the beef softens. 3. Raise heat to high to reduce sauce slightly; add hickory seasoning and serve.

stir-fried sliced duck 1 tablespoon potato starch or corn ingredients; set aside. breast with asparagus and starch Pinch salt 2. Make duck. Heat wok or large skillet chives until a drop of water sizzles; then add 2 Yi Long Court, The Peninsula Hotel For the duck tablespoons oil, water, salt and sugar. Shanghai 4 tablespoon sesame or vegetable oil 3. Add asparagus. When asparagus is bright 1 tablespoon water green, remove and set aside. SERVES 2 TO 4 5 stalks asparagus, sliced into two-inch 4. Add seasoning sauce to duck slices, mix, diagonal pieces then toss in wok. When duck is nearly but Chicken powder, a common Asian condi- 5 ounces sliced duck breast meat not completely cooked, remove it from wok. ment, can be found at most Asian food stores, 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic 5. Add 2 tablespoons oil to wok. Sauté gar- or online. 5 scallions, julienned lic, scallions, chives, and peppers until you 1/2 cup finely-chopped chives can smell their fragrance. For the seasoning sauce 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned 6. Add duck and asparagus; stir-fry for 3 tablespoons soy sauce Pinch salt about one minute. Add seasoning mix- 1 teaspoon chicken powder Pinch sugar ture and stir-fry until the duck meat is well 1 tablespoon water done, about 1 minute. 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1. Make seasoning sauce. Combine all 7. Serve with rice or rice noodles.

Intermezzo 12