I work with a several people from China and one of them had the misfortune of being based in Shanghai. Misfortune because I will be paying them a visit and have dinner with them. I hardly ever see them and I try to drop by whenever I can. Well, this guy was always the gracious guy and was always eager to meet up with me. The last time, he couldn’t eat much since he had a toothache. I made sure he didn’t have one this time so he would also have the pleasure of eating Shanghai food with me.
I brought my companions with me for dinner so he would be able to get to know them. I had been raving about the food at the restaurant, and they needed to try it. Shanghai Renjia was the same restaurant we had dinner the previous year. I was glad I was still able to remember exactly where it was. I got lost the last time, but I found it immediately this time. My friend was already there since the office was just a block away. He knew what I wanted to have and I let him decide what will be nice.
Actually even if I was repeating last years dishes, I really didn’t mind since they were so good. Shanghai food tends to be a little sweet which may turn off some people, my friend in particular. I actually liked it since we always have salty food elsewhere. The smoked fish and the red braised pork was just sumptuous. One new dish he ordered was something like pork leg boiled to fall off the bone tenderness.
My female companions admitted that the food was very nice, but there was really too much pork here. Not just pork but the fatty pork kind. In the end I was the one trying to finish everything. It was really very nice and I didn’t want it to go to waste. I can’t expect my friends to be eating a lot anyway. Once again, my ever gracious friend treated me to the very nice dinner. I don’t know when I will be able to pay back the treat since he still hasn’t made plans to visit me.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/ShanghaiRenjia.kmz} zoom=19]