Thursday, September 19, 2013

Shanghainese Mooncake and Dinner

Today is Mid Autumn Festival - September 19, 2013 (August 15 - Chinese Calendar)

Time for a family gathering.  But Hong Kong is a Cantonese society, all Cantonese restaurants are full.  To enjoy a festival dinner, I had two options - go western or something non Cantonese.  So we managed to make a booking at the New Shanghai Restaurant at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.  Although a little bit pricy, but good food, good service and good place, what else can we expect?

Here are some of our favourite Shanghainese dishes.

Drunk Chicken HK$98 (US$12.6) 醉鷄
Very frangrant Huadiao wine and almost boneless.  Yummy and well worth the price.
 
Deep Fried Mini Yellow Fish HK$98 (US$12.6) 香煎小黃魚
This is the signature dish and also best of the best.  I would like to recommend this to anyone visiting this restaurant.  I can't tell how delicious it is.  You need to taste it yourself.
 
Sliced Tofu with Vegetable and Salty Pork HK$78 (US$10) 咸肉百頁小棠菜
As a matter of balance of diet, I really like this dish.  Declicious and not oily and with some soup base.  Very well done.
 
Juicy Bun HK$58 (US$7.4) 小籠包
Has to take extra care, it's really very juicy.  With a bit of vinegar, it's also one of the best of the best at this restaurant.
 
Shanghainese Pancake HK$78 (US$10) 棗泥窩餅
As a festival dinner, we'd like to have something sweet to wrap up.  This is very cruncy with red bean paste stuffing.  But we don't understand how it is completely non greasy.  We dip our fingers through the dish and didn't pick up any oil.  Again, very well done.
 
The good thing about this restaurant is every thing comes very timely, hot, delicious and well presented.  But the most important thing I like is the environment.  There are sufficient space in between tables so that everyone have a reasonably comfortable (although not private) dining area.  For me, a peaceful eating envrionment is very important.  Only for this, I would like to recommend this restaurant to anyone.
 
Shanghainese Mooncake Bonus 上海素月餅
After dinner, I was thinking if the restaurant will offer us mooncake as a free dessert.  Beyond my expectation, we were given a pack of 6 Shanghainese mooncakes free of charge.  When we looked at the menu, the cost of the mooncakes valued almost half of our bill.  Excellent rebate!
 
Vegetarian Shanghainese Mooncake 上海玖瑰細沙月
There were 6 vegetarian mooncakes - 4 of penta-nuts and 2 of rosy red bean.  I'm Cantonese and it's my first time eating Shanghainese mooncake.  It's good and it's free.
 
Mid Autumn Moon
8.13pm - September 19, 2013
On our way back, many people crowded around on a foot bridge to admire the moon.  Here's the bright big moon at Mid Autumn in Hong Kong.  We used to have today as a public holiday.  But at some stage, the former British government changed the holiday to the following day.  Well, it made sense, as people admire the moon at night and sleep late, having a holiday the next day is not a bad idea.
 
New Shanghai Restaurant 新滬坊
L1 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2582 7332
 
Hong Kong Food Blog - Shanghinese Mooncake and Dinner