So back in March (yes, that behind, shhh), I went to Shanghai for the first time in my life. The only other times I had been to China (Hong Kong is not counted as it's such a different scene), was a school 'camp' trip to Shenzen, but it was all the touristy type parks and a second time was in Beijing with my dad for business meetings and a networking event.
Whilst I found Beijing interesting, I was not in love with the city, I found the people overall quite crude and rude, inhospitable and the culture of 'if you're not top dog you'll be eaten' quite prevalent.
Understandably I was a little bit nervous to be going to Shanghai because of this, as this time I was travelling with friends and none of us knew how to speak Mandarin, so was a bit concerned about how we may be treated and not be able to find anywhere we wanted to go!
Ah! But what a vast difference Shanghai is! Shanghai is clean, buzzing, HUGE and I find the people much more relaxed and friendly, there is an overall more comfortable vibe in the city.
I was in Shanghai to meet with 4 of my very good friends from Asia and two of us got in earlier than everyone else, so decided to go explore the city a bit.
After a bit of bantering with the concierge who didn't seem to understand we just wanted a suggestion of what to see, not be immediately directed to a tour, we both grabbed a cab and hot footed it to the old town.
It's a very touristy area of Shanghai, but it's still a pretty little area, with old style architecture and food vendors everywhere.
We were both quite peckish, so we slipped into the closest dumpling store we found (of course, being in Shanghai and all), which was also insanely busy, but upstairs was much mellower.
My friend Jaime was convinced the English menu we were presented with was much smaller than it should be, but I really couldn't be fussed and was just grateful that most of the dishes came with pictures!
I wanted some vegetables, so we got this 'celery and mushrooms' in the menu. What a delightful surprise these were! The celery had a very strong mustardy flavour to it which I absolutely loved, and it was just so crunchy. A nice way to clean up the palette.
I then insisted we had to get these, as the novelty was so intriguing to me. Dumplings you drink out with a straw?! Mine was sadly a bit deflated, although Jaime's came out nice and perky. The soup was scalding hot, so you had to be very careful when drinking with the straw. The soup itself was...well...porky. And really fatty tasting. So gooooooood. But so bad. And the inside of these dumplings is literally all soup.
When you broke them open you just had a thick skin left to eat afterwards!
Of course, we had to have some shanghai dumplings, we got a mixed set and these came in three different flavours (although I don't really remember what they were). There was one spicy one in particular that was super tasty, but otherwise the dumplings themselves were pretty average. The skin was exceptionally thick, but I suppose it's a touristy joint, so the average tourist wouldn't really have a clue....
Alright, the next 4-5 pictures may gross a few of you out a bit, just warning you now. :)
When we finished our meal, we proceeded outside the restaurant where I noticed a few other food vendors, and was absolutely fascinated by these skewers. I chose one and Jaime chose another.
And then we had to wait a few minutes while they pushed them off the skewers and refried them so that they were nice hot and crispy.
I will truly eat most things and could not resist giving these a go. I'm not sure if they were chicks or sparrows, but as they were quite soft all over and lacking bones, I'm assuming they were chicks. They were quite delicious though. Sorry.
Jaime got some soft shell crab, which was covered in a thick batter which was insanely crunchy and delicious. We had two whole crabs, so one each, and I absolutely devoured mine, greedily licking off the salt from my fingers afterwards. Yum.
We finished off with wandering around the Yu Yuan gardens which are gorgeous, filled with little bonsai-esque cherry blossoms which were all gently blooming in shades of pink and magenta.
And then before heading back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of our friends, I randomly decided to get a green tea soft serve ice-cream. BEST GREEN TEA FLAVOURED SOFT SERVE I'VE EVER HAD. The matcha flavour was so strong and intense without being bitter. Every bite was delicious green tea goodness. And it was so super cheap!
So whilst the dumplings were a little lacklustre, I did find myself finding Shanghai (or my first impressions were) more enjoyable and accommodating. And a whole lot cleaner. Was seriously looking forward to tucking into some good dumplings though...
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