The above exhibit can be viewed at the lobby of the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall*. So far, the gold spray has not been added to the actual city, but you never know......
Actually, Shanghai is not really just about Huaihuai Zhong Lu or Nanjing Lu. If you wander off track even in these modern areas you will come across the gritty side of the city which no amount of gold paint can gloss over. It is still very much a city of contrasts. In this post I will highlight the cheap street foods we came across, and when I say cheap, I mean very cheap. None cost more than RMB 5 (~ S$1), compared to prices at fine-dining establishment which can run up to four figures.
We stayed at the very convenient Somerset Shanghai serviced apartment. It is located minutes away from the Shanghai Old Street (Fangbang Rd) on one side and Xintiandi ( Tai Cang Rd) on the other side. Scenes above taken outside the apartment. Don't think they got Somerset's permission to hang the laundry outside or open a nail spa.
Xintiandi is a new-ish area converted two years ago from the old shikumen neighbourhood- shikumen are solid big houses with stone lined doors built by the foreigners and rich Chinese in the past, most of the houses have now been converted into restaurants, shops and nightspots, attracting locals and visitors alike. Tourists arrive by the busloads, even at 10:30 p.m. Walking around the back-ways and alleys give quiet respite from the noise outside, these old stone walls, if only it could speak....
We had a long walk around Old Shanghai St, got lost a few times ( pet market, bicycle mart etc), wandered into an abandoned walled village(only one wall left) and poked at antiques until we found ourselves at YuYuan Gardens and the noisy bazaar area. Picture above is the main operating area of the neighbourhood laundry shop.
Bicycles are the lifeblood of the community. Three wheelers too, these can be adapted to carry all sorts of stuff. And scattered here and there are repair shops and shops selling second hand wheelie parts.
This area is very poor. Near YuYuan Gardens husband observed a man eat rice from a container discarded in a refuse chute. Mothers feed their children just rice, no sung (accompanying dishes).
Children playing, a pet dog sunning itself. Their owners smoke cigarettes and chat idly (men) or knit non-stop (women).
Lives are conducted publicly, and three generation families are very common. Obviously everyone dotes on their Little Emperor or Empress, in this city the one-child policy is very strictly enforced.
Stall selling Buddha Palm fruit. The buyer is the gentleman, his posture was awkward because he had a handbag under his left armpit.
Dumplings from a street-side stall. Made on the spot, sold by the jin ( a unit of weight, 1 jin= 16 taels) or in unit pieces. What we would call jiaozi they call huntun or wantons. Big huntuns on the left, filled with minced pork or vegetables, RMB 2 for a big bowl. On the right, small huntuns, containing just a schmear of fatty pork, but with the most delicate yet resilient and slippery smooth skin, RMB 1.50. Why does it taste good? Because it is freshly made.
People ask me, is it safe to eat the street food? I don't know, but I could not imagine not eating any, what is the point of going there then? But I took precautions which were endorsed by a Shanghainese friend:
1. Drinks: Coca Cola helps neutralises the MSG effect. Otherwise bottled tea. Both beverages are not to my liking. I took a risk of drinking bottled water provided by the apartment. Friends say the Nongfu Spring brand is reliable. My stomach has also seen street food from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand, so it has gathered some immunity I think.
2. Fried foods are dodgy. There are stories of unscrupulous operators dredging the drains outside restaurants to obtain discarded oil.... it was a good thing we were not attracted to the chou doufu; the smell of the tofu is very much an acquired liking, if one can actually learn to like the smell of sewers.
3. If it has been boiled, steamed, roasted or baked it should be OK. Can't vouch for the cleanliness of the bowl or chopsticks though. So portable food like congbings, sesame pockets or you-tiao are safe.
4. Don't look anywhere else but into your food. Or your eyes will pick up worrying details, like the grating below the pavement through which you could detect the rats scurrying about....
5. Bring wet wipes, no matter what food you buy, there is always a lingering stickiness on the fingers and a tap is not always convenient.
The roasted sweet potato or fanshu as we call it, should be quite safe, especially if you resist eating the skin. Sweet and comforting in the cold weather, and cheap, only RMB 1. Savvy locals carry around a small spoon to scoop the flesh, but I was not savvy so I bit directly into mine. Usually cooked in a converted oil drum, but in Suzhou I came across a specially adapted stove with drawers.
La mian or pulled noodles of course, can be found everywhere. And usually it is made fresh by a noodleman on site, not brought in from some noodle factory, so no two outlets taste the same. The drill in most of these places are the same. Place order with the cash collector, find a seat, then a helper will collect your order and minutes later, a piping hot bowl of freshly pulled noodles.
On the left is a most excellent bowl from the hole-in-the-wall place outside our apartment. Tai Cang Lu. One night, ~ 11:00 p.m., we passed by and observed that all their customers are taxi drivers- it is easy to spot the drivers, they wear uniforms. There are two noodle joints in the area and the other place had only two customers. The noodles (RMB 5)were springy, silky and soft all at once, not at all like the mushy specimens found in Singapore (except Silk Road which makes a very toothsome version).
On the right, sesame noodles from a very famous stall in a lane off Huaihuai Zhong Lu. In summer it is served cold, in winter only the hot version is available. It is basically noodles dressed in a peanut butter-like sauce, loads of chilli oil and a sprinkle of spring onions. Heart attack on demand. I ate one bite and laughed so hysterically at the excessiveness husband had to hustle me out immediately; he too didn't want anymore of it because the noodles were too floury. He told me later the appropriate drink to go with these noodles would be chicken blood soup, also available on the menu and a local favourite. Maybe the extra volume thins the (human) blood and somehow neutralises the cholesterol effect, nah, I don't think so.
Bao stall on Shanxi Road between apartment and Huaihuai Zhong Lu. This stall has reached a certain level of sophistication, its cooks wear cheery red caps and aprons. There is always a queue, an unusual thing because Shanghainese are not like obedient Singaporeans and don't like to queue and think nothing of cutting queues blatantly. We asked the nice lady in front of us and she recommended trying the pork bao (RMB 2) and vegetable bao (RMB 1.50).
The bao, bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball, had a finely pleated appearance. Closed 'mouth' unlike 'laughing' style of HK baos. Bao skin nicely dense and chewy. Pork filling fatty and just a little too strong for my taste, but vegetable filling was pleasant with its fresh tasting and still-crunchy greens studded with little pieces of tau-kwa.
Another favourite street snack. Mutton satays grilled to a juicy and crispy turn, helped by a big piece of fat in the middle. If you want it hot, they will sprinkle spiced chilli powder on it. The best are sold by Muslims, usually they wear a triangular cap or a songkok-like headpiece. This version was grilled by a handsome Xinjiang man outside a Muslim restaurant along Xiang Yang Lu, yes, away from the market. They also bake their own bread in a large outdoor oven, perfect for eating with the satay. No sauce needed. Avoid those sold by copycat Chinese stalls.
Final picture: Not a snack, but what the locals refer to affectionately as mian bao cher or bread car because it is shaped like a loaf of bread.
* Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall was the place for the most enjoyable Mandarine French exhibition which explores the French and Shanghainese relationship in applied arts in the past, present and future.
Another exhibition worth visiting is at the Propaganda Poster Art Centre located in the basement of a residential building at 868 Huashan Lu. The owner is a Mr Yang who apparently speaks English. On the day of our visit, he was not present but his assistant, another Mr Yang who speaks only Mandarin, was in. Mandarin-speaking Yang treated us to an extensive tour and history of the posters, which traces China's most painful, turbulent and suppressed recent past in the time of Mao's rule and Cultural Revolution. Mr Yang himself lived during the Cultural Revolution, in those days schools were a joke, students were merely brainwashed with ideology, so he went to work and studied privately. He has seen it all, and now views the latest developments with indefatigable Shanghainese optimism tempered with much cynicism, saving his most voluble criticism for corrupt officials.
The Shanghai museum has a respectable collection of bronzes and ceramics, but nothing as complete or as exquisite as those housed in foreign museums abroad.
Shanghai Road Tales #3
Our taxi dropped us off opposite the exhibition centre. We crossed the road by running across to the road divider, with the intention of crossing the second part when traffic allows. At the road divider, the yellow-blazered whistle-shrieking traffic officer told us that it was dangerous to cross the road like we did and ordered us to return (run across) to our starting point. But, I told him, "you said it is dangerous to cross the road, you should just let us through." "No way." We obediently crossed to the starting point and walked to the traffic lights. Husband wondered what would happen if I (not him) were to charge across, would I be arrested?
