DJ Strouse » Shanghai

Gourmet Cafe (Sandwiches and Salads)

djstrouse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:47:45 +0000

How I Found It:
My boss, Bob, took me and his partner, Alan, here on my first day.

Experience:
Very European. Started by a Brit expat. Offers a huge range of beef, chicken, and vegetarian burgers and salads. What struck me most was how fresh the food tasted. I picked up a carrot, apple, and fennel juice drink and a falafel sandwich. The drink was refreshing and not burdened with mounds of sugar and the falafel was the most delicate, non-greasy, veggie-packed falafel I’ve ever had (not necessarily the best, but certainly the freshest). It was expensive by Chinese standards but still under $10 (<70 RMB).

Recommendation:
Check them out for lunch if you work or live nearby. Maybe not cheap enough to be a staple, but best burger selection you’ll probably find in Shanghai, hip and refreshing atmosphere (great place to meet expats), and healthy and vegetarian options as well.

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Merrylin Restaurant (Chinese)

djstrouse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:37:29 +0000

How I Found It:
When I told my boss where I was shacking up for the summer, he suggested Merrylin as a good nearby restaurant. It is literally across the (large, busy, dangerous) street.

Experience:
Disappointing food and service. There were very few vegetarian options so I was primed to give a bad review. The waiters also had a difficult time communicating with us and kept taking away the fun, electronic stand that enabled us to call for water, orders, and the check. They also simply didn’t bring out 2 dishes that we ordered. The food was decent but not outstanding.

Recommendation:
I wanted to give a qualified recommendation like “If you are…, then you might enjoy it”, but I can’t think of any good reason to go.

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Vegetarian Lifestyle (Chinese Vegetarian)

djstrouse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:20:02 +0000

How I Found It:
A friend from work, Alan, took me and two others, Margaret and Delia, here for a quick lunch.

Experience:
Pressed for time, we ordered 4 set lunches and a plate of Ma Pan tofu that came out in under 5 minutes. The variety was amazing! Pumpkin soup, spicy peanuts, brown rice, cucumber salad, a potato and vegetarian meat (read: bean curd) curry, and an eggplant and pepper dish washed down with watermelon. The pumpkin soup was a bit tasteless but it was a good way to balance the flaming spice of the Ma Pan tofu. The “vegetarian meat”, or bean curd, would have satisfied any meat eater. I’m interested to return and see if the set lunch here is consistently this good… especially since all of this set us back only 20 kuai/person.

Recommendation:
If you live or work anywhere near any of Vegetarian Lifestyle’s locations (listed below in pinyin for those who can’t read Chinese), try their set lunch – great variety, great taste, very healthy, less than $3 per person, and all under 45 minutes.

*Branches:
Huaihai
No. 77 Songshan Road
Intersection of Songshan and Middle Huaihai
Gubei
No. 848 Huangjincheng Road
Intersection of Huangjincheng and South Gubei
Jiangning
No. 258 Fengxian Road
Intersection of Fengxian and Nanhui (near West Nanjing metro stop)

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Crystal Jade (Chinese)

djstrouse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:20:15 +0000

So normally, this would be filed at Yelp, but unfortunately the ethnocentric founders don’t service any communities outside the US of A. Send some angry emails my friends!

Crystal Jade was recommended to me through several different channels as one of the best Chinese restaurants in Shanghai. I’m a bit mixed. The food was excellent, but nothing better than I have had elsewhere in Shanghai. Two things differentiate Crystal Jade from the others – (1) its more expensive and (2) it also offers very high-end endangered species to eat, including shark fin and sea turtles.

Recommendation: Only go to Crystal Jade if you’re looking to impress friends, family, or clients with exotic traditional Chinese dishes. You can get great Chinese for a quarter of the price elsewhere.

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Warning: My Grammar No Good

djstrouse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:19:34 +0000

As some of you may know, I’m living in Shanghai, China for two months this summer.
As less of you may know, I speak a bit of Chinese.
As almost none of you may have expected, I am speaking more Chinese in Shanghai than English.
As certainly none of you expected, my English is atrophying like bedridden grandma’s legs.

Over the next two months, you may very well see bits of Chinglish appearing on this page. Get used to it.

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