Shanghai - Xiao Long Bao

Shanghai

Speaking of Shanghai (my home town), you can't say you have been there without having some juicy Xiao Long Bao (pic 1. generally is a pork dumpling with a lot of fat, so that after steaming, the fat becomes the juicyliquid that determine if it is an authentic Xiao Long Bao. )

Xiao Long Bao is so famous and popular in shanghai, there are tons of restaurant serving them nowadays. But for nostalgic reason, my parents and I went the one specialize in Xiao Long Bao in old town: Cheng Huang Temple. The restaurant has three stories and they selling take-out as well, for those who didn't have patience to wait or fight for a decent table. The crab meat Xiao Long Bao suppose to their specialty, however,this time we find it is disappointing because they don't use as much crab
meat as before. It taste almost like the regular pork ones. I will be very disappointed if that just an old fame, but nothing real like the way used to be when I was a child.

When I feel homesick, an authentic Xiao Long Bao can totally comfort me,however, I have never had any good ones in Canada. Too many flour, not enough juicy liquid. Maybe they are adjusted to Canadian taste, but again if you are on diet, this is not the food I recommend to order.

Conclusion, the really good Xiao Long Bao: very thin flour skin, a lot of meat and juicy liquid. It serves with hair-thin ginger in vinegar. The art of eating them is: first bite a tiny hole, then sucks out the juicy liquid before put the whole thing in your mouth. Just be careful, don't burn your tongue.

Besides Xiao Long Bao, Shanghainese also madly love Shen Jian Bao(pic 2). Instead of steaming, it is cooks in a big flat wok with oil. In the morning, you can see a long queue in front of restaurant. Those people are no doubt waiting for fresh cooked hot Shen Jian Bao, with sesame seeds and green onion on top. Again, it is served with vinegar and if you want, a hot seaweed soup to accompany with.

Those are the two things I first searching for when i go back Shanghai.
Just writing about them makes my mouth water...

It is my first time to see a black corn (Pic 3). I am not sure if it is the same as Black Aztec Corn. I am not sure either if it is necessary to wrap them in plastic bags (Chinese seems to wrap everything in plastic). For sure that I don't pay much attention to the veggies, compare to MEAT. It would be interesting to try them, just like the purple cauliflower in Quebec city.

There are tons of food in Shanghai worth to talk about, next time I will
be better prepared and taken a lots of pictures.