Quality Reads

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Cantonese = Tasty

We grabbed a little late night snack after the evenings festivities at a local Cantonese restaurant. You can think of this place as the "diner food" of China. Very popular with the post bar/club crowd around 3am.

First up was a little duck.Actually, duck beak would be a little more accurate. It had been prepared in a spicy red sauce. If you don't mind spending hours gnawing at your food, this is a perfect snack (very bony).

Next we have carrot cake, no not that carrot cake.

This is actually a tuber best known from Vietnam and Laos. Its the closest thing you get to a potato in Shanghai. A little sweet with just the right amount of starch. Delicious.

Below you can see a rice paste rolled into a cylinder and mixed in a sweet, tangy sauce.

The overall effect is very pleasing. Think rice au gratin.

While I didn't have high expectation for Shanghai's culinary experience. I've been very surprised by the range of foods I've sampled since arriving here almost a month ago. I can not say all of it has been enjoyable but it certainly has been original (from a US perspective).

Cheers,
Todd