After strolling down Nanjing Pedestrian Street for a while and browsing the shops for a while, its a bit on the late side and time for lunch. I made a point to eat food that was less available to me at home, so I wanted to avoid xiao long bao, sheng jian bao, etc. during lunch and dinner. So I picked out a place that specialized in Huaiyang Cuisine 淮扬菜, the regional cuisine around the Jiangsu area - Yangzhou Fan Dian. Its also getting hot and tiring for me after all the walking in the morning so a nice banquet restaurant with strong AC was very much welcomed.
I was really hungry so I ordered a bunch of food. And a bit too much for me to finish in one meal. I had:
Sauteed river shrimp.
River shrimp was a specialty in the area with an abundance of rivers and shrimps, so I was going to eat a ton of it while in the area. Intensely shrimpy. Nicely sauteed. A bit sweet, a bit savory. Very well done. I ate the whole thing, head, shell and all.
Lion’s head meatball.
I profess that I never had a lion’s head meatball that I was happy with in the States, so I never had the proper appreciation for the dish. The lean-fat ratio in the meatball needed to be right, the meat needed to be chopped properly. The broth needed to be good. Nobody outside China liked to sell just one meatball in one order. The version here was good. For 29 RMB (~$4 USD), its a no brainer to get a lion’s head meatball, as an app, as a soup, as whatever. Its economical, yet its delicately and properly made, and its deeply satisfying. From that point onward I got into the habit of getting a lion’s head in decent restaurants.
Dried tofu strips
One of the classic Huaiyang dish that emphasized knife skills and heat/ timing. This was a nice version.
Yang Chow fried rice.
The carb. Good, properly made fried rice. I got this one just to see if the versions I had elsewhere was the same as the proper version from Zhejiang.
Dragon Well tea.
When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do. When in Zhejiang, or in this case, a Zhejiang restaurant, drink the Dragon Well tea, from the nearby Hangzhou West Lake region. Refreshing.
Ended up boxing up half of the shrimp and a bit of the fried rice, which I ended up eating them on the street as dinner.
Many other dishes on the menu I should have ordered, regardless whether I could finish:
扬州饭店(南京东路店)
上海市黄浦区南京东路558号南京路步行街
