All I can say is thank you, thank you to Helen Y for once again turning me onto another style of Asian cuisine. I had no idea that there were so many places here in our wonderful city for authentic Asian cooking.
At first glance you see the English menu and you see the Chinese menu.. tell them to keep the English menu and translate the Chinese menu. The English menu is the typical stuff you'd find at any American Chinese food place.. now the Chinese menu is where all the good stuff is. Fortunately Helen speaks and read Chinese so it was a snap. Ive been super excited about trying Shanghainese cooking and this place was no disappointment.
Of course my eyes are bigger than my tummy (really they are) and we ordered a ton of food. Had spicy tendon, water boiled fish, soup dumplings, rice cake (awesome) pork belly with pickled vegetable and some green veggie dish that I'm not sure what it was but very tasty. Here's the breakdown..
Rice Cake.. Off the chain rice noodle disks with shredded meat and sauce
Soup Dumplings.. dumplings filled with a meat ball and meaty broth.. oh yeah!!
Spicy Tendon.. yes, that would be cow tendon that has been stewed in a spicy sauce and served cold or room temperature.. trust me, a little strange but all about the texture.
Water Boiled Fish.. this come in a pot with tons of chile flakes and cilantro.. its bold and very saucy, not watery as the translation might have you believe.. this one is good times!
Pork Belly with Preserved Veggies.. braised pork belly on top of pickled veggies but not like you'd think.. the veggies look like mulch but taste much better. The pork belly is really tender and fun to eat!
Avoid the sweet and sour bullshit and go right for the goods!!