Today is a designated Rest Day for all of us. Did our laundry in the morning followed by some light shopping for our perishables. Chill out in the afternoon and decided to dine in the hotel for our dinner.
Our fellow colleague mentioned that the Teppanyaki in the hotel is only 58 RMB, so we decided to go for it. We were ushered into a private room with the chef welcoming us. Sat down and started looking through the menu.
We were quite surprised when we browsed through the available dinner set meals. It all started from 400 RMB. The chef mentioned that we can pick anything in the menu, including the lunch set menu which begin from 130 RMB. My friend and me selected the Prawn Special meal while my other two friends went for the Fish meal.
The starter for the meal is an exquisitely prepared egg with some rare ingredients in it. The chef painstaking prepare each dishes as if it were his own.
Next we go on to Tomato soup as a warm up followed by the First course of Teppanyaki prawn.
Our normal concept of teppanyaki is what we have back in Singapore’s food court where we are given a normal set meal of rice, soup, vegetables and choice of meat. The teppanyaki we are having now is really the top notch fine dining of the teppanyaki arena. The chef also shared with us on his techniques in preparation and how it is different from the common (lower) teppanyaki meals.
Next is a salad meal before we go into our Second course of Beef steak. Very well prepared indeed.
We rounded it off with some fried rice, vegetables and English tea. This is our first fine dining meal in Shanghai and our first most expensive meal ever. But more is yet to come.
Day 16 (Monday)
One of our fellow colleague is down and out with cold. So the night is set to go back to YinQiXing Indoor Ski for ice skiing. Took a cab which costs 30RMB from our hotel there. We decided to go for unlimited skiing which costs 200 RMB for the double board and 101 RMB for single board. Below is a snapshot of the indoor skiing arena.
And here is a quick snap of us all (if you can see us) at the end of 3 hours non-stop action.
Our next stop is dinner and it is decided to go Japanese this time round. It is more like a match between dinner and supper as it is approaching 10pm when we arrived at the restaurant The restaurant is just next to Shanghai Sheraton. This area is known as mini Japan in Shanghai due to the abundance of Japanese people and companies in the area.
The restaurant is really in its traditional Japanese best. We were ushered into a mini room where all 4 of us can either choose to sit in Zazen or normal sit upright. A waitress dressed in kimono took our orders. She spoke a fluent Japanese and from our room, we overheard the other waitresses learning Japanese in a small room beyond. It is already 10pm and I guess most customers have already left and they are making use of this time to brush up on their Japanese.
We ordered a lot and the dishes keep coming in.
A quick snapshot of the dishes we have ordered. The soup from the tea pot is the best. It left a very memorable feeling just sampling from the soup. Not the diluted kind we normally get from soup back in Singapore but it is a carefully prepared stew soup.
There is also the usual stuff of tempura and the deep sea fish found only off the coast of Japan. And also the powerful steamboat serving which left all of us overly full. The meal is quite alright after yesterday's fine dining, just another 200RMB (S$40).
Day 17 (Tuesday)
For dinner tonight, we went to Shan Xi Nan Lu MRT Station to rendezvous with our 2 other colleagues. We are going to a famous Peking Duck restaurant just a 3 minute walk from the station. When we arrived at the entrance, we were immediately greeted by the picture of our founding father, who also savoured a meal there many decades ago.
The waitresses are mostly dress in tradition Qing dynasty palace maidens attire. One of the palace maiden directed us to the 4th floor in the lift. The waiting area is beautifully designed to that of the traditional chinese interior. We got down to our seats after hanging around for 5 minutes.
We ordered the main Peking duck dish followed by other normal and exotic Chinese crusine. When the duck arrived, it is prepared in front of us by a assistant chef. Slicing off the crispy skin first, follow by the first layer of meat and lastly the inner layer of meat. 3 plates of Duck meat in all. One of my colleague mentioned that this restaurant sold up to 6 million ducks a year.
All the meat can be eaten in the usual add with duck sauce manner or wrapped in a pop piah like skin, as well as eaten with bread. The rest of the dishes arrived and we finished all of it with the exception of the snail-like seafood dish shown right in front in the picture.
We discovered that it is a trend that not only on our table by several others next to us where the customers left a huge excess of this dish. All of us only took one or two pieces and call it quits.
With a hearty meal, we left the restaurant and back to our hotel. Having great difficulty in catching a cab at Shan Xi Nan Lu again at 9.15pm.
Day 18 (Wednesday)
After 3 consecutive days of extreme fine dining, we decide to lighten our meals for today. But coincidentally, it is Dong Zhi. The chinese had a tradition of having chicken rice on Dong Zhi. And so we tag along our colleague for chicken rice lunch.
In the evening, we seriously decide to go for light stuff. We took the usual Bus Service 205 back to our hotel vicinity for dinner. By the time it reached the second stop, it is so jam pack with people that leaving the bus is totally impossible. When we reached our stop, we have to squeeze through the compact throng of people to the front of the entrance. Thank goodness we are able to squeeze through and kudos to the patience of the bus driver in keeping the door open for us to alight. Else we will have to wait till Xujiahui to get out of this trap bus.
Had a light dinner of vegetables and rice at just 16 RMB per person. The meal is less meaty but nevertheless oily. Had a early rest the night watching DVDs and recuperating.
Day 19 (Thursday)
Knock off work and had a go again at the pack bus. We are wiser this time round and decided to hang around the back exit throughout the journey. Nevertheless, passengers were still allowed up through the back exit at the second bus stop from our work place. Alighting is almost an impossible task with 2 to 3 people to squeeze through before being free. Had dinner at our usual restaurant and return back to hotel thereafter.
Day 20 (Friday)
The bus journey is likewise uneventful and my fellow colleague had a fallout with a fellow passenger when he attempted to alight but was blocked by hordes of passengers going in the opposite direction. My style is just to ignore and squeeze through them, in similar imitation to the local Chinese style.
Thereafter went down to Da Lang Tao Sa (大浪淘沙). It is a majestic building next to our usual restaurant. The whole building is actually a complete spa, health fitness cum entertainment centre in one.
Had dinner at our usual restaurant.
Day 21 (Saturday)
Today is Christmas eve and we got the places to visit all plan up. Join me in my cab journey through the heartlands of Shanghai.
A morning scene of PuDong:
A morning scene at PuXi:
Through the old streets of Shanghai:
A we finally arrive for lunch at the Book City. A scene from our lunch place below:
Our meal of spicy food:
Our next plan for the day is shopping, so we went on down to purchase even more of the original cheap DVDs and had a stroll down back to Xiang Yang street market. Along the way, we noticed the daily newspapers are setup on reading boards throughout Shanghai streets.
We came upon a very unique garden with a peacock-shape like design.
One of our favourite gifts for friends back in Singapore is the Mont Blanc pen collection. I bought a large number of them and have given almost all of them out to my friends within the first week back in Singapore. That explains why I spent close to S$300 on gifts. Anyway, it is Christmas, a moment of giving and sharing.
And lastly we have dinner back at Xin Tian Di. It is extremely packed with people today. Had outdoor dining while enjoying the spectator of celebrations going around.
