Savoring an early holiday supper
Print Edition
As we gallop toward the Year of the Horse, now is the time to stock up on Chinese New Year goodies — and I don’t just mean lucky red pants.
Braving the crowds of the pedestrianized stretch of Nanjing Road E. (and emerging without buying any rollerskates with flashing lights), the first stop on our search for Spring Festival delicacies is Sanyang Nan Huo Dian (Sanyang Food Store 三洋南货店), a Shanghai institution renowned for its traditional treats.
Here you can buy everything from creamy Mongolian cheese candy and laopo bing (literally wife cakes 老婆饼) for that special lady through to dried sea cucumbers, although the most impressive thing about the trays of spiky, wizened marine creatures (at least to a sea cucumber ignoramus) appears to be their exorbitant price tags. Prices ranged from 3,000-9,000 yuan (US$496-1,488) per 500 grams.
Meat counters are piled high with poultry and hunks of Chinese New Year favorite Jinhua ham, with aromas, my colleagues explain, guaranteed to evoke memories of Chunjie (Spring Festival 春节) past.
Seeking to evoke memories of old Caledonia but with a Chinese twist, I buy some black sesame and walnut powder — hei zhima hetao fen (黑芝麻核桃粉) — to add to porridge. And it does indeed prove to be a fine example of fusion, ahem, cuisine. Recommended.
Our next stop is the famed Shanghai No. 1 Food Store, where there are four floors laden with goodies. Giving the ribbon-wrapped pig’s head a miss, I check out the si xi kaofu (四喜烤麸), a soya-based dish traditionally found on Shanghai tables at Chinese New Year.
All this food shopping is hungry work, so next it’s time to sample New Year’s fare at the nearby Le Royal Meridien hotel, also on Nanjing Road E. In a private dining room with a great view over People’s Square, waitress Tina serves up an array of dainty seasonal dishes, providing a brief commentary.
A staple in Chinese cuisine, edible black fungus or hei mu’er (黑木耳) — literally “black wood ear” — is here transformed into hot stuff in the simple but delicious hei mu’er flavored with chili — mu’er ban lajiao (木耳拌辣椒).
Countering the fiery fungus is kaiyang wawa cai (开洋娃娃菜). Dried shrimps (kaiyang) like those we’d seen on sale earlier at food stores braised with tender cabbage (wawa cai, wawa literally meaning “baby”) in a delicate soup create a mild and soothing treat.
Two dishes highlight Chunjie ham. Specially devised by the Meridien chefs, mi zhi huo fang (蜜汁火方) is essentially a piece of ham in honey sauce between two slices of mantou (steamed bun 馒头). It’s tasty, but I can’t help having the feeling that it’s Chinese classic meets ... well, ham sandwich.
Meanwhile, crystal pork — shuijing xiao rou (水晶硝肉) — features pork marinated in spices with jelly (hence, the crystal), beautifully presented in thin slices.
Less visually impressive but simply delicious is the deep-fried fish flavored with five-spices sauce, wu xiang xun yu (五香熏鱼). Fish is a Spring Festival favorite as yu (鱼) or fish and yu (余) or abundance are homonyms. Fluffy chunks of black carp in a coating that’s at once crisp and succulent certainly provide an abundance of taste.
Served alongside is a dish of si xi kaofu — cubes of sweet and spongy moreishness.
Rounding off our early Chinese New Year feast is longan and jujube soup hongzao guiyuan tang (红枣桂圆汤). The combination of the dragon’s eye cousin of the lychee and red dates plus lotus seeds, served in a thin syrup provides a tart and refreshing conclusion to our meal.
Xin nian kuai le (Happy New Year 新年快乐) when it comes and lang may yer lum reek! (Long may your chimney smoke!)
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