My Birthday Lunch 2017

I love Shanghainese food, so I choose to have a Shanghainese lunch on my birthday. Xiao Nan Guo used to be one of my most favourite Shanghainese restaurants in Hong Kong.  For some reason I haven't been there for some time and today when I come, I notice a few changes here.

Although the restaurant's Chinese name remains 小南國, its trade name is changed to 1987 Shanghai Min. Well, this restaurant was opened in Hong Kong in 1987, so the name change is understandable.  The second change is the location. Luckily it only moved from 12/F of Time Square to 11/F, so I still manage to find it.  The third change is somewhat strange - their most famous signature dish 'grandmother's pork' disappeared from their menu!

No wonder people always say 'the world is changing'. This I can understand, but a restaurant stop selling something highly reputable and in high demand is beyond my understanding. In fact, 'grandmother's pork' is one of my most favourite Shanghainese dishes, and I come to Xiao Nam Guo because of it. Luckily the waiter told us there was a replacement dish called 'braised pork with bamboo shoot'. Very juicy, tender and delicious.  Even if your grandmother is a meat lover but her teeth didn't perform well, she can still enjoy this dish without a problem. 

Braised Pork with Bamboo Shoot (HK$298)

Chinese usually eat noodle on birthdays. I'm not quite sure of the reason behind, but could be a matter of longevity, due to the length of the noodles.

 Green onion stirred with Soy Sauce is one of my favourites from Xiao Nan Guo, very yummy.

Noodle Stirred with Green Onion and Soy Sauce (HK$48)

Qi vegetable is flown in from Shanghai direct. Its availability is quite depend on the season, luckily it is available today. It is a cold dish cooked with dry tofu - very healthy 

Qi Vegetable with Dry Tofu (HK$58)

Drunk Chicken (HK$80)

Undoubtedly good! I even drank a few spoons of the soup with very fragrant Chinese wine.  No worries, no one will get drunk with a drunk chicken.

Deep Fried Mini Yellow Fish (HK48@)

This appears on almost every table. They are really wonderful! Very crispy outside, soft and tender inside. Price wise, not too expensive.

One thing I want to mention is that they have an area dedicated for 2-person tables. It is relatively quiet comparing sitting at the main dining area - quite a good idea!

Anna's 2-person Birthday Lunch at 1987 Shanghai Min

HK$705 (c.US$91)

inclusive of tea, pickle and 10% service charge

11/F, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Tel: 2874 8899

Hong Kong Food Blog - Shanghainese Birthday Lunch

Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant

Grand Mum's Pork 外婆紅燒肉

Although this is very soft and juicy, I would still grade it as 'failed'.  Why?  As its name indicates, this dish is cooked for grand mums, whose teeth are generally weak and cannot manage a lot of chewing.  In terms of tenderness and taste, it's fine.  But do you see the bones?  I had never eat this dish with bones.  All other restaurants make this dish from boneless pork belly, because it is for the grand mum.  I really can't accept bones in this dish.

Jelly Pork 鎮江肴肉

It's lucky that we don't find bones in this dish.  If there are bones in jelly pork, then I must tell the world that this is the most 'creative' Shanghainese dish.  OK, I would say this is fine and nice.

Stir Fried Button Mushroom with Preserved Vegetable 雪菜口蘑

This looks a bit new.  Preserved vegetable with button mushrooms.  Not too rich in taste, but just right.  Quite good. Well as a matter of balance diet, we do have half of our food with meat and half vegetable.

Qi Vegetable and Tofu Soup 薺菜豆腐

I don't know what qi vegetable is.  It seems it is only available in Shanghai restaurants.  With some pork slices, the soup is relatively thick.  And to balance the green smell of the vegetable, we had to add some pepper to make the taste just right.

In fact we want to order some dessert, but the dish size is relative big.  To avoid overloading, we rather end the meal without anything sweet. 

Total:  HK$420 (US$53.8)

(for 2 persons, including tea and 10% service charge)

Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant

17/f Lee Theatre Square

Percival Street, Causeway Bay

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Food Blog - Shanghainese Dinner

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

 

Shanghainese Drunk Chicken

Drunk Chicken is a signature Shangainese dish. In fact it is one of my must-haves when I visit any Shaghainese restaurant.

Haven’t eaten at Xiao Nan Guo for some time. My office moved to Causeway Bay, so I started to go to their restaurant at the Times Square again. Wow, looking at the menu, I noticed great inflation. If you notice something new or being upgraded, there are high chances that you have to pay more. No wonder I had new table clothes, new cutleries, new menu and of course new prices. My bill ended up to be HK$150 per person, which was 50% higher than a year ago.

Enough complaints. Let’s take a look at my favourite drunk chicken. The gojiberries were believed to be good for the eyes and work exceptionally well with wine. So we always find it served together with drunk chicken. The soup was really delicious though it made me drunk for a few moments.

Drunk Chicken HK$68 (US$8.7) 醉雞
Dan Dan Noodle is my other favourite dish. Shanghainese dan dan noodle differs from those from Chengdu in SiChuan, but equally delicious.

Shanghai Dan Dan Noodle 担担面

The pan fried juicy bun did have a lot of juice inside. We had to take extra care in order not to waste any juice. The way they do it was to cook some meat and had them frozen. The meat then became jelly like and was inserted into the bun. When the buns were pan fried, the meat jelly melt and became a juicy stuffing. (Notice the new embriodered table cloth?)

Pan Fried Juicy Buns 生煎包

Lunch date: May 28, 2011
Occasion: Casual lunch
Number of People: Two
Cost: HK$284 (US$36.4), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo
Restaurant address: 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2874-8899

Hong Kong Food Blog - Shanghainese Drunk Chicken

Mid Autumn Festival Dinner

Lunch date: September 22, 2010
Occasion: Mid Autumn Festival Dinner
Number of people: Four
Cost: HK$680(US$87.1), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo
Restaurant address: 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2874-8899

It was Mid Autumn Festival yesterday, we tried to book a table for a family dinner. In Hong Kong, the day of Mid Autumn Festival is a working day, but the day after is a public holiday. Reason being the moon is being admired at night, so people can still work during the day. But a holiday is granted on the next day due to late night sleep.

Because it was a festival day, the restaurant only allowed us to book either 6pm or 8pm just to maximise their business. However the restaurant owner might have over estimated his business. We were there at 6.30pm and was requested to leave before 8pm. However we saw some tables were vacant until we left. The food was served speedily. Well, that's the way they made us to leave on time. Here are our favourites.

Cold Cut - Sliced Chicken with Jelly Noodle

we had to stir up the dish with the sesame sauce

雞絲粉皮 (HK$58)

Sliced Chicken with Jelly Noodle (before stirring)

Noodle with Green Onion 蔥油辦面
(HK$78)
My Number One Favourite
Deep Fried Mini Yellow Fish
小黃魚 (HK$28@)
Very crispy and very yummy!!!
This is in fact a signature dish of Xiao Nan Guo

Stewed Pork's Knuckle
Another signature dish and our favourite
元蹄 (HK$188)

Soup: Salty Pork with Bean Curd Sheets 奄篤鮮 (HK$118)
They didn't present the soup -
only served a mini bowl for each of us - hence no photo

Hong Kong Food Blog - Mid Autumn Festival Dinner

Home Made Drunk Chicken

Hong Kong weather is turning hot, so I tried to make a cool dinner last night.
Drunk chicken is a famous Shanghainese cold cut starter and is quite easy to make at home. Season the chicken (thighs or wings) with grinded black pepper, salt and a bit of soy sauce. Add Shao Xing cooking wine (usually known as Hua Diao wine) depends on the amount of alcohol you can take.

You can season for overnight if you want stronger fragrance, otherwise just a couple of hours will do. Wrap the whole thing up with aluminum foil, pin a few holes with a toothpick and steam for 15 minutes. Let it cool down and put into the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Wow...I really love the fragrance, very delicious. Of course, my cool dinner also included soba and fruits.

Drunk Chicken 醉雞

Actually I did try the hot version and it was also very good.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Drunk Chicken

The Magic of Ginger Tea and Glutinous Dumplings

Chinese do not use ginger only for cooking. Ginger tea, ginger soup, ginger milk, ginger milk tea…are very popular Chinese drinks. Apart from its medical function of warding off body cold and rheumatism, it also improves digestive system and relieving pains especially for soar throats.

I like the fragrance of ginger. Even at home, I add ginger juice to my milk tea and I really love it. Tonight the ginger dessert I have is really very delicious – Glutinous Dumplings in Ginger Tea – highly recommended.

薑茶湯丸, 甘香可口

Glutinous Dumplings in Ginger Tea

The dumplings has sesame paste stuffing

HK$24 (US$3)

My Shanghainese dinner also include this yummy

Stir Fried La Mian with Shedded Eel

蟮糊炒拉面 HK$56 (US$7.2)

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao 翡翠拉面小笼包
3/F Tai Yau Arcade, 181 Johnston Road, Hong Kong.
Telephone: 852-2573-8844
This restaurant charges HK$3/px for tea and 10% service charge

Hong Kong Food Blog - Ginger Tea with Glutinous Dumplings

Stewed Pork - 東坡肉

This stewed pork is one of my most favourite Chinese dishes. It is named after the great Chinese poet SU Dongpo. Hence it is also call Dongpo Meat. It is usually eat with plain Chinese bread, but the restaurant charged us extra for the 4 pieces of bread.
我的至愛 - 東坡肉
Hong Zhou Restaurant, 116 Wanchai Road, Hong Kong (Tel: 852-25911898)

Dongpo Meat - HK$55 (US$7)
Plain Bread - HK$20(US$2.6)
東坡肉

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Dongpo Meat

Boxing Day Special Price Lunch

I came across Hangzhou Restaurant in Wanchai offering very special deal on Boxing Day, so we decided to try this restaurant which is new to us. It was really good. Not crowded at all, nice environment and friendly services. Hangzhou cousine is quite rare in Hong Kong, but we found that their menu is very similar to Beijing and Shanghai. Our special price lunch cost only HK$110 (US$14) only for the two of us.

Dan Dan Noodle - HK$38 担担面

Xiaolong Bun (Juicy Bun) - HK$12

wow, what a low price! 小籠包

Hot Pot Wanton Chicken Soup - HK$48

沙鍋云吞鷄, 共六只云吞和1/4隻鷄

Quarter chicken - very attractive price
There should be 6 wantons and more vegetables,

but some of them already eaten by us, because

the waitress served too efficiently,

before I managed to take a photo.

Very Yummy !!

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghai

Chung Yeung Festival Lunch

Lunch date: October 7, 2008
Number of People: Two
Occasion: Chung Yeung Festival Holiday lunch
Cost: HK$200 (US$25.6), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: The Queen’s Palace Restaurant
Restaurant address: 27/F, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852- 2591 6338
Anna's comment: We found a new restaurant opened nearby our house, so we went on the Chung Yeung Festival holiday. Reasonably priced and the foods and services are fine. The view here is also very nice.

Braised Noodle with Chicken 嫩鷄煨面

Juicy Bun 小籠包

Green Onion Roll 葱油餅

Pan Fried Jiaozi 煎鍋貼

Sweet Pancake with Red Bean Pastry 豆沙窩餅

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghai / Beijing dim sum

Shanghainese Dessert

This Shanghainese dessert is new to me. Cassia flower is very fragrant. However the pudding itself is extremely sticky. Quite difficult to lift it from the dish.

Cassia Flower Pudding 桂花糕

Xiao Nan Guo - Time Square Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghainese Dessert

My Combined Shanghai/Sichuan Dinner

Dinner date: April 25, 2008
Occasion: Casual dinner
Number of People: One
Cost: HK$105 (US$13.5), including 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao 翡翠拉面小笼包
Restaurant address: 3/F Tai Yau Arcade, 181 Johnston Road, Hong Kong (has other branches)Restaurant telephone: 852-2573-8844
Anna's comment: This restaurant serves a combined menu of Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan food.

Shanghainese Beancurd Jelly Noodle Soup 油豆付粉絲湯

This is a signature Shanghainese dish.

Ingredients include soft beancurd, jelly noodle, sliced mushroom and pork,

dry shrimps and vegetables

Sichuan Fried Rice 四川炒飯
Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghai/ Sichuan

Shaighai Dim Sum Lunch

Lunch date: April 6, 2008
Occasion: Casual lunch

Number of People: Two
Cost: HK$225 (US$28.8), inclusive of 10% service charge

Restaurant name: Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo
Restaurant address: 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2874-8899
Anna's comment: Today we have a free dish, as we pay by HSBC credit card. The dan dan noodle here has a different style from that of Tanyoto’s. The pan fried juicy bun is very delicious.

Vegetarian Rolls 素鵝

Beancurd with Millenium Egg　皮疍豆付 (免費)

Free Item
Sliced Chicken with Flat Jelly Noodle　鷄絲粉皮
Dan Dan Noodle　担担面
Pan Fried Juicy Bun　生煎包

Turnip Puff　蘿蔔絲酥餅 - no photo taken

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghainese Dim Sum

Classic Shanghainese Banquet

Dinner date: March 26, 2008
Occasion: My house-warming dinner
Number of People: 15
Cost: HK$3,500 (US$449), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Hong Kong Lao Shanghai Restaurant
Restaurant address: Basement, Novotel Century Hotel, 238 Jaffe Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852- 2827-9339
Anna's comment: My new house is not big enough to entertain all my family members, so after a brief visit to my house, we walk over to a nearby hotel and have an authentic Shanghainese banquet. I booked a private room with minimum expenses of HK$3,000. Very efficient and friendly service.

I receive a wealth-attracting cat as a gift

我的入伙禮物 - 招財貓

My family members come celebrate my moving into a new house

我的全家福
FourDishes of Starters

Cucumber with Sea Jelly Noodle　翡翠, 蜇頭
Preserved Fish & Pork　熏魚, 肴肉
Preserved Vegetarian Roll & Beancurd　素鵝, 烤麸
Chicken Preserved with Hua Diao Wine 花雕醉鷄
Deep Fried Dual, with Salt & Chilli - Pork Chop & Beancurd
椒監炸雙拼 - 排骨, 豆付
My Most Favourite Dish of Tonight

Sauteed Shrimps (from river)　清炒河蝦仁
Stewed Pork Knuckles　冰糖煨元蹄 Buns served with Pork Knuckles
Deep Fried Duck　香酥鴨
Ham and Vegetables　金腿鴛鴦蔬
Sweet & Sour Fish　松鼠桂魚
Wanton Soup with Chicken & Ham　火朣雲吞鷄
My Second Most Favourite Dish of Tonight

Xiao Lung Bao, vegetarian filling　葷素小笼包
Xiao Lung Bao - meat filling
Deep Fried Green Onion Pancake　蔥油餅
Shanghainese waiter serving us sweet dumpling dessert with cassia flower

桂花釀雙丸
Hong Kong Chinese Food - Shanghainese Banquet