A Tableful of Food in Shanghai
After almost a week of sluggishness my friend was probably looking forward to going back to Shanghai. It would seem that history and nature don’t impress her that much. As evidenced by her vigor in Hangzhou’s Hefang Street and Suzhou’s Guanqian Street, it would seem that shopping is very much right up her alley. It was their last day here in China as they will be flying out that very evening. However, there was still a whole morning to spend and she is hell bent on spending the rest of the time shopping.
I Think This Was Spring Rolls
I was half expecting her drag me to the posh shopping district of Huaihai Road 淮海路 which is basically their Orchard Road, but she would have none of that. Instead we head off to the tourist haven that is the Yuyuan Gardens. I probably won’t be thinking of shopping here but the store after store after store here in the Yuyuan Gardens is too much to resist. Armed with her haggling skills, she started shopping for scarves. There were scarves of different quality here so it pays to have a good eye for them.
We were supposed to meet someone to go to Yuyuan Gardens but it seems that she was unable to come. Imagine our suprise to see that person walking around in shopping area in the Yuyuan Gardens. It was small world, but I would not consider Shanghai small by any stretch of the imagination. We decided to go for lunch together. She was a Shanghai native and would know what would be the best places to eat here on a budget.
Potstickers in Shanghai
She brought us to this restaurant which serves dumplings and similar snacks. The place was huge and there was a long counter where customers would just pick whatever they want. The staff would also give you fresh ones if they see you get an old one. I don’t know if these are authentic Shanghainese snacks but they look just like any other Chinese dumpling. Call me ignorant since I can’t really tell the difference between Cantonese dumplings and Shanghainese dumplings.
We ordered a whole tableful of food, not that we ordered that much but rather, the tables were tiny. One of my orders caught my fancy. It was like a massive xiaolongbao but it was hard. It was made that way to keep soup inside. There was a straw which pokes inside to get to the soup. The skin is tough, but you can try eating it if you can.
This was too be our last meal together before they set off for Singapore. I will be continuing my journey after that. I realize that this will also be the last time I would be eating with other people here in China since I will be travelling alone. Maybe next time I can drag her to some other part of China, or maybe it will be the other way around.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/YuyuanGardens.kmz} zoom=19]