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 涓夋磱鍗楄揣搴), a Shanghai institution renowned for its traditional treats.
Here you can buy everything from creamy Mongolian cheese candy and laopo bing (literally wife cakes 鑰佸﹩楗) 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 鏄ヨ妭) 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 (榛戣姖楹绘牳妗冪矇) — 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 (鍥涘枩鐑ら焊), 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 (榛戞湪鑰) — 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 (鏈ㄨ虫媽杈ｆ).
Countering the fiery fungus is kaiyang wawa cai (寮娲嬪▋濞冭彍). 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 (铚滄眮鐏柟) is essentially a piece of ham in honey sauce between two slices of mantou (steamed bun 棣掑ご). 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 (姘存櫠纭濊倝) — 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 (浜旈鐔忛奔). Fish is a Spring Festival favorite as yu (楸) or fish and yu (浣) 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 (绾㈡灒妗傚渾姹). 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 鏂板勾蹇箰) when it comes and lang may yer lum reek! (Long may your chimney smoke!)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
