Dr. Wine

Dr. Wine is a new addition to the wine bar scene in Shanghai centrally located in Shanghai on Fumin Lu and Julu Lu. The ambitious space has promise with its attention to detail, photobooth, and random coats hanging in the co-ed toilets.

It is a large space with a ground floor bar and cozy seating area. Upstairs is a tasting room, more tables, and a glass-encased temperature-controlled wine storage room. All the bin numbers are made available and the area is warmly illuminated. The highlight of the upstairs area is the large, long wooden table surrounded by wine bins. Sitting at this table, you know the focus of your night is wine and to taste it, enjoy it, and drink more.

The wine menu ranged from 118RMB to 45000RMB, the cheapest being a French wine. Enoteca a few blocks away is still a little cheaper than Dr. Wine. Most of the menu is centered on French wines (apparently the owner is also French) with some notable selections from Italy and the Americas. First page on the menu is different kinds of water to start. The Cityweekend listing says there is a food menu with sandwiches, imported meats, and French paté, but that was not made available to the large party.

As a new luxury watering hole on the expat scene, it was easy to run into members of the 25+ Shanghai expat community all checking out the wine selection. It is a large, yet cozy and timeless environment to enjoy a glass of wine and conversation with friends, colleagues, and strangers.

Dr. Wine. 177 Fumin Lu, near Julu Lu. Shanghai, China富民路177号 近巨鹿路

Izumi

Preceding a fateful weekend, I was taken to what is qualified as the best Japanese bar in Shanghai, Mokkos, which serves shochu. Shochu is a distilled beverage from Japan averaging around 25% abv and made from sweet potato, rye, or rice. Mokkos is a lovely, small bar off Wuding Lu north of Jing'an Temple. The bar shelves go straight to the ceiling lined with bottles of shochu and on the lower shelves are even bottles with name tags for the frequent patrons. A pleasant place for conversation and a light, clean-tasting Japanese drink.

Since my initial experience in Shanghai, I have been somewhat fascinated with shochu and shochu culture, which has not really caught on in the Western world except to serve as a trendy drink of the moment favored by young women instead of old Japanese men. It is something I could continue to sip for ages and enjoy.

Shochu bars are popping up all over the place as it has become in fashion to open Japanese-style bars in Shanghai, granted they are often on the more expensive side, even for the expat wallet considering the quantity you get. This should not be confused with the quality of your drink.

Hence, the adventure to Luwan to Izumi, a few doors down from the second Constellation Bar. Izumi is a really small bar with quasi dark interior and red accents of faux cherry blossoms. A passerby would not consider stopping into this empty bar playing mainstream electronic and top 40 music. However, the promise of shochu lured me in.

The bartender did not speak any English, but he suggested to try the Tantakatan, made with shiso leaf (50RMB). This, along with the other shochus, were served on ice in ceramic cups and accompanied by spicy nuts. The taste of the Tantakatan was clean and crisp, though slightly earthy and reminiscent of a light tea. He said they just got it in and the bottel was not listed on the menu. Another tried was Den-En (35RMB) made with rye and tasted more grainy or earthy with an oak quality. Shiso Komachi was another favorite because it also tasted very crisp and light with a taste similar to the light aroma of flowers, but this was due to the shiso leaf (45RMB). The bartender offered a shiso leaf to smell and feel to understand where the flavors were coming from. It was very nice to have the bartender so involved in the selection process. Also on the menu were shochu-based cocktails along with tea and soft drinks.

Mmmm...My foray into the world of shochu is off to an outstanding start.

The hidden-away, neighborhood ambiance of Mokkos is preferred over Izumi, but I would not discount this bar completely out of the loop if you are looking for a quiet, secluded place to enjoy some shochu.

Izumi. 21 Yongjia Lu 永嘉路21号, by Maoming Lu. Shanghai, China.

Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包

The alleged mecca of soup dumpling or xiao long bao is located north of People’s Square at Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包. At half eleven there is already a long line standing outside waiting for one of the 30 or less chairs in the dining area. It is best to get there in the morning or before noon as the restaurant closes when they run out of their offerings, which are made to order by a team of six women furiously filling and pinching together dumpling dough. The menu behind the cashier shows which items are no longer available as the red tags are flipped over to show that the kitchen is out. After all the cheap items are gone, all that is usually left are the more expensive crab dumplings.

Here's the translated menu:

Standard pork XLB - RMB 7.5
Shrimp and pork XLB - RMB 9
Chicken and pork XLB - RMB 9
Egg yolk and pork XLB - RMB 12
Crab and pork XLB - RMB 19.5
Chicken XLB - RMB 12
Shrimp XLB - RMB 12
Crab XLB - RMB 81

Chicken and duck blood soup - RMB 2
Seaweed and egg drop soup - RMB 2
Fresh shredded ginger - RMB 1

Our eyes must have been bigger than our stomachs as we asked for 3 orders of pork, crab and pork, and crab with 2 orders of ginger – the whole spectrum of crab and pork for 2 people. 81RMB for crab tang bao seemed like a lot for something that is considered cheap street food, but we decided to splurge because eventually we would have to endure the long line again just to try it. Most people ordered the blood soup to eat with the xiao long bao, most likely to help with the digestion of the heavy filling and to get the spoon optimize consumption. We did not go for the soup option.


First out was the steamer of pork xiao long bao. So beautiful, hot, and filled with delicious, savory soup. The perfectly pinched skins were very thin and the broth abundant and flavorful. This was an excellent start. The servers were right to bring out the pork xiao long first because the crab and pork and crab xiao long bao had a stronger, heavier flavor in comparison to the already delectable pork xiao long.


The skin on the dumplings is so thin that the roe inside the crab and crab and pork dumplings is visible. And on closer inspection, you almost swear you can see the soup floating inside.

While xiao long bao is the small, bite-sized dumpling, the tang bao is supposed to be its larger, goliath cousin, maybe even requiring a straw for consumption. The crab tang bao (filled with meat and crab roe) were slightly larger than a sand dollar. They were served as 2 steamers with 6 in each. The filling did not really hold together as a solid mass, but was more a delicious mess of crab, roe, and soup.

We were right to go from pork to crab and pork to crab soup dumplings because the flavor of each dumplings was stronger and more pungent than the preceding one. After a taste of the crab dumpling, the flavor of the pork xiao long bao was relatively bland although it is indeed excellent. For two people, this order was more than satiating as we could barely hobble out the door afterward.

This is definitely the best spot for xiao long bao. Not only does the long queues of locals indicate that the xiao long bao is good, the prices and informal atmosphere make it accessible for anyone to try.

Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包. 90 Huanghe Lu, Shanghai. China. People's Square near Fengyang Lu. 黄河路90号, 近凤阳路.

Pho Real Revisted

When stomachs craved something comforting, we decided to go back to Pho Real and check out the other options on the set lunch menu listed on the first visit. New and somewhat unpleasant surprises greeted us on a return lunch.

The set lunch menu prices changed from 38RMB to 48RMB and 58RMB for the “small” and “big” lunch sets, respectively. I can only imagine what changes were made to the dinner menu. There was not much difference between the cold ban with house specialty house chicken or pork with the third listing on the menu, which was basically the same without the option of choosing pork (just chicken) and lacking pickled vegetables. I checked out the dish from the guy sitting next to me and it looked quite plain, so I opted for the pho again. All this menu told me was that you were getting 10RMB more worth of rice noodles with the big lunch set.

Out come the fried spring rolls on a small bed of thin rice noodles atop a large lettuce leaf next to the bite-sized tofu bun and pho fixings. The spring rolls were less satisfying this time around. The wrapper was thicker and the filling had less carrots and more “filler.” It also was significantly oilier and you could see the oil drip onto your plate after the first bite.


The pho came out in small and big bowls, with the contents of the smaller bowl looking more impressive only because the meaty bits were not drowned by excess noodles. There was raw beef, but no tendons. The broth this time was oilier and more bland, lacking the much needed rich, but light depth found in a good broth.


I had great hope for Pho Real. At the opening, the restaurant had the potential to go in the direction toward a legit Vietnamese pho with its set lunch menu. However, the food has turned in the direction of Pho Sizzling, appealing towards the market palate instead of upholding its promise of authenticity.

Phở Real. No. 166 Fumin Lu, near Julu Lu 富民路166号，近巨鹿路 Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Balthazar

Eduardo Vargas, please stop your restaurant ADD.

The soft opening of the latest venture of Vargas, Balthazar, set in a cozy nook in the lanes off Taikang Lu / Jianguo Lu, offered 2-for-1 draft specials and a 30% discount on the total bill. The promos on SmartShanghai and CityWeekend were alluring enough to make a reservation at this "French bistro" and check things out. Plus, paying full-price is not attractive when a discount could be found.

As the layout of the restaurant is not suited for the slightly disabled or handicapped, we were seated outside on the cozy patio on a warm autumn evening, though left to the mercy of countless mosquitoes taking one last nip before winter hits. The seating of the restaurant is mainly on the second and third floors with bar space on the ground level. The “cheese cave” did not hold any cheese, but a prep area.

For dinner, we ordered the terrine de canard, lobster bisque, mushroom crepes, and confit de canard (which the kitchen ran out of, so instead they sent duck on a bed of spinach and beets) to go down with the 2-for-1 Hoegarten draft beers. With the busy soft opening, it almost seemed like our lovely Filipino server almost forgot about us.

The lobster bisque was an utter disaster. The color looked more brown than a flushed pink and the lukewarm bisque showed a failed attempt at any thickening (from the faint raw flavor of a roux that should not be there). It tasted more like some other crustacean than crab, devoid of flavor or character or a badly needed splash of sherry or more chunks of “lobster”. Even the lone dime-sized lump of “lobster” floating in the bisque was surprisingly dry.


The terrine de canard did not fare any better. It arrived on a plate with a small salad and drizzled with a sort of pesto sauce. Already that was wrong for serving. The complimentary bread was used as a vehicle for the terrine, which had more filler than actual duck.


Resembling enchiladas in a wide ramekin, the mushroom crepes appear to have been cooked in a manner similar to an enchilada. Mushrooms were wrapped by a crepe too thick and doughy before being placed in the ramekin, covered in a green crème sauce, and blasted under a boiler. The flavors came through individually, but did not marry in the dish.


Last hope for the duck, which had a nice flavor, but a little on the dry side. The spinach and beets, however, were really nice. Maybe the only redeeming quality of the entire meal.


Our server told us and begged us to offer our comments, suggestions, and criticisms of the meal and even went further to permit us to be brutally honest. The disappointment was great enough that she took off the lobster bisque from our final bill.

While waiting for the bill to arrive, a Chinese party found the chef at the entrance and also told him that the food was terrible. I was unsure if it was just my personal taste, but the sentiment reverberated through other diners (save one Vargas cheerleader on the CityWeekend site) showing the kitchen was still developing and needed drastic improvement. If only this Chinese man waited a few more moments for Vargas to show up and review the damage.

Vargas, please stick to what you know and try not to move too fast. With the restaurant gems bearing the Vargas name in Shanghai, it would be a shame to ruin a gastronomic reputation with quick expansion. All that talent could be lost in impulsive restaurant decisions resulting in poor execution, lack of attention, and dissatisfied fans.

Perhaps another visit is needed in the future to see if there has been any improvement in the kitchen since the soft opening. Anyone? Anyone?

Balthazar. No. 7, Lane 155 Jianguo Lu, Shanghai, China. Near Ruijin Lu and Taikang Lu.

峥峥饮食 Zhēng Zhēng Yǐnshí

All the dancing and beer drinking after a night at The Shelter gives way to intense cravings for some good eats to soak up the remaining alcohol and lull you to a contented sleep. Your body wants something comforting and this night the skewers from the street hawkers are not going to cut it.

After rolling into a taxi, a friend tells the driver to head towards Changning Lu near Huayang Lu to go to a noodle shop there. “I know this great place. It’s a cheap noodle shop, but the noodles are great!” The taxi driver tells him he already knows where this place is. If the taxi driver knows about this place, it is an excellent sign.


Before us is Zhēng Zhēng Yǐnshí峥峥饮食, an unassuming hole-in-the wall kind of place with bare formica tables. The pinyin translator I used told me that zhēng zhēng yǐnshí means “lofty (soaring)” and “food and drink.” Next to the dining area is the kitchen and prep area where a guy is pulling noodles in one window and passing them through a gap in the divider to the guy standing over a boiling vat of water to cook them in the next window. The hand-pulled wheat flour noodles or lā miàn 拉面 is commonly made in the Lanzhou style (Lanzhou is the capital city of Gansu province in northwest China), but the noodles here are made in Hunnan style. The dough is stretched and twisted until long, thin noodles are produced.


My friend quickly asks if we want beef and if the noodles will be in soup or dry. I opted for the soup option and they request their noodles dry. The noodles were cooked to perfection and the broth was meaty and slightly spicy. Even dry, the noodles were not too oily or dry enough to stick together. The coriander or cilantro, cumin, and scallions gave the noodle soup a nice fresh zing. However light the meal appears to be, the noodles are actually really heavy and oily and you can feel the weight in your stomach after forking out the 6RMB.


Wow. That was tasty. Definitely going back there again. That taxi driver must really know what he’s talking about for great cheap eats in Shanghai.

峥峥饮食Zhēng Zhēng Yǐnshí. No. 3, Lane 484, Changning Lu, Zhongshan Park (near Huayang Lu), Shanghai, China

Food Fusion

A very recent article on SmartShanghai claims that they found the Malay real deal in terms of authenticity considering the lack of authenticity in Shanghai’s other foreign food establishments (at least in terms of Thai, Vietnamese, Singaporean, and Indonesian). Promises of authenticity are tempting enough to give Food Fusion a shot, especially after recovering from a hangover.

The restaurant was not too full when we entered with a handful of Chinese and laowai littered about. It is a bright and colorful place with plush booth seats. Maybe these diners also came in hopes of the real deal in Malaysian cuisine.


Kang kong or morning glory was the first dish out. The chilies and shrimp paste gave it a little kick, but the vegetables were slightly overdone.


The roti was slightly crispy to soak up the savory and somewhat oily curry. It would have been better if the chicken in the curry didn’t have the bone attached. There were only 3 pieces of rough cut dark meat chicken and 2 or 3 potato pieces. The chicken was tender and the potato was not underdone.


The beef rending was really tender and falling apart and relatively spicy compared to the rest of the meal. This was a good one. The roti was also good for picking up chunks of the beef curry.


The shrimp assam was not very impressive, being slightly overcooked. The flavor was nice, but nothing to come running back for. The other disappointment was the calamansi juice, which looked unnaturally bright yellow and was warm with ice floating on top. Unfortunately, the taste was mild from concentrate and laced with artificial sweetener.

The four dishes, tea, and calamansi juice came to a grand total of 191RMB, which seemed like a lot when our referral “ate for eight” at a total of 646RMB. The dishes seemed kind of hit or miss, but this perspective is mostly due to the disappointment in the shrimp and coming in with exceedingly high expectations of the kang kong. Still, a good meal and worth checking out at least once.

Food Fusion. 918 Huaihai Zhong Lu -Parkson 8th Floor, Metro Line 1 Shan xi nan Lu Station. Shanghai, China

Kabb

Comfort breakfast staples are well-advertised in Shanghai brunch establishments, at least outside of the flashy brunch buffets offered at high-end hotels. Word of the banana pancakes at Kabb were thrown around enough in Shanghai expat publications that it beckoned a try.


Located in the lanes of Xintiandi, Kabb provides an excellent spot for al fresco dining on the cooler, more temperate Shanghai days. Perfect for people watching (mostly laowai), it is a nice setting for a lazy brunch.

The idea of pancakes was thrilling. The actual plate was not.


The stack was large at four high, but plain. The menu description was misleading because all that was delivered was a stack of plain pancakes with a few slices of banana. The pancakes were on the dense side, though offering a somewhat decent medium to absorb any liquid. Most of the flavor lay in maple syrup. Not exactly a breakfast I would ever run back to spend 70RMB on.

Also slightly disappointing was the spinach frittata with a slice of bread and potatoes cooked with ham. The spinach and feta mixed with egg only existed in the top half of the frittata. It seemed like the bottom layer of the frittata was just plain egg and all the flavorful bits were poured on the top half instead of being equally distributed. The potatoes were slightly on the oily side.


The plates are large and filling for what you get, but the food is nothing special, especially for what you pay (though you are in Xintiandi). Kabb better serves as a spot to have a coffee or a drink in a more trendy setting.

Kabb. Unit 1, Bldg 5, North Block, Xintiandi, Lane 181 Taicang Lu, Xin Tian Di, Shanghai. Near Madang Lu. Metro Line 1 Huangpi Nan Lu Station. 太仓路181弄新天地北里5号楼单元1室 近黄陂南路, 地铁1号线黄陂南路站

Pho Real

The hunt for the ellusive phở in Shanghai continues past all mentions of other Vietnamese restaurants serving phở that ended up to be quite poor, bringing us to Phở Real. Online recommendations say that this place has good phở. Phở real?!?!?! (Apologies for the pun) Real phở? Maybe decent phở. ::sigh::

"There are several regional variants of phở in Vietnam, particularly divided between northern (Hanoi, called phở bắc or "northern phở"; or phở Hà Nội), central (Huế), and southern (Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon). One regional phở may be sweeter, and another variation may emphasize a bolder and spicier flavor . "Northern phở" tends to use somewhat wider noodles and green onions. On the other hand, southern Vietnamese generally use thinner noodles (approximately the width of pad Thai or linguine noodles), and add bean sprouts and a greater variety of fresh herbs to their phở instead." (Source) The noodles are called bánh phở, traditionally cut from wide sheets of fresh noodles, though rice sticks may also be used. Thinner rice noodles are better for soups. Quite a range to choose from.

The restaurant is open with its clean decor, ceiling covered in baskets, sky blue table tops, and emphasis on wood. The fresh environment could reflect the impression pho should have on its consumer. Running close to the end of the lunch hour, a quick call to ensure they expect our arrival proved fruitful. Yay! Here we go again. Hopefully, this experience will wash away the utter disappointment brought by Pho Sizzling.


The spring rolls came out with the soup accompaniments of fresh red chilis, Asian basil, bean sprouts, and lime. The spring rolls were fried and contained some meat and a lot of carrots to give it a nice crunch. Two dipping sauces also accompanied the dish: a rice vinegar and a sort of sweet fermented fish sauce. This appetizer was just filler until the main event. Where is that phở?


The bowl finally came out, decent sized and looked promising. The broth was aromatic and looked a tad dark, though indicating more flavor (by appearance) and smelling richer from the bones. Spring onion, cilantro, flank, and steak were also floating in the bowl. The meat was cut a hair too thick. Again, the noodles looked wrong being still wide. In any case, this was a big improvement from the noodle soup attempting to pass as "phở" consumed a few weeks ago. All the accompaniments were thrown in and ::ahh:: a wave of familiarity washed over me. I found my phở fix, the operative word being "fix" as in if-I-want-phở-and-cannot-find-the-real-thing-I-will-come-here. In the event that my stomach is unwell or I need a phở fix, I would definitely trek to Phở Real.


The lunch special is a set meal 38RMB per person and includes 2 spring rolls, a bowl of pho (or two other entrees which were of no interest at the time), and a soda or iced tea. It's not your beloved street or cheap as chips phở at 38RMB. Lunch lasts until about 2:00pm until they reopen for dinner. The set meal for dinner is the same as lunch, but they want to get about 88RMB from you. Ridiculous! Go for lunch and save your wallet.

Phở Real. No. 166 Fumin Lu, near Julu Lu 富民路166号，近巨鹿路 Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Pho Sizzling

Being located so close to Vietnam, you would assume that a decent bowl of pho could be found on mainland China and even more so in the international capital of Shanghai. Assume must be the operative word here. Vietnam is so close. Why isn't there a place to get pho? It is so easy to find a killer place in Europe and the States!

A nauseated stomach calls for something comforting and the most comforting thing ever is a hot bowl of pho with its fresh bits of basil, light rice noodles, heat from fresh chilies, and thin slices of meat all floating in a savory broth. A good bowl of pho is a naturally medicinal cure. The psychology that goes along with it doesn't hurt either.

So we arrive at Pho Sizzling on Nanjing Xi Lu, right next to the metro stop. The restaurant is full of people, which is quite promising among the myths that no good pho exists in Shanghai. Lots of people is a good sign. Strangely, we were served by a laowai server. What is a laowai doing as a server? That is extremely rare to see. Perhaps he is the owner? Just a bowl of pho with beef, please.

While waiting, there were not many bowls nearby to peer at and see exactly what we were getting into. There were a couple flatscreen televisions with “instructions” on how to eat a bowl of pho. First, sprinkle the bowl soup with dried onions. Second, add the orange sauce to the soup. WHAT? The service was slow and it took longer than it should to receive the order. And I was nervous.

Oh…The disappointment. The server didn’t even bring us the standard fare of limes, basil, bean sprouts, and peppers. The noodles were wrong. Flat and thick and not thin. The broth was completely tasteless and it was as if the cook threw in lemon grass in an attempt to redeem any flavor from the broth. Even the meat lost its value. This pho was just wrong. It was not pho. It is even more tempting to blame the laowai for destroying the idea of pho. And what are all these people doing crowded in this restaurant full of pho gone terribly wrong? What a bust.

The search for a satisfying bowl of pho continues in Shanghai.

Pho Sizzling. 2/F, 200 Wujiang Lu. Shanghai, China. (Jing An, near Taixing Lu, Metro Line 2 Nanjing Xi Lu Exit 3)