Yang's fried dumplings

[petronia]

Went to the Uniqlo flagship store on Nanjing W. (I dunno if these tees were actually designed by Bonnie Pink and Mochida Kaori or just vaguely "inspired" by them, but they are really nice), hopped across the street to Costa Coffee (if ever you need to find Europeans in Shanghai, stake out a joint where they serve a proper cappuccino), then into the mall right next to it on the Wujiang pedestrian street in order to use the washroom on the first floor (sorry for writing all this out but I need to be able to find the place again if I return years later XD; - Shanghai's 21st-century geography is fluid, eddying around the occasional architectural mainstay - forex I don't even remember aforementioned pedestrian street existing in '06). Which was a bog-normal mall food court, more or less, but it is a fact universally acknowledged that when you see thirty Chinese lined up patiently outside a fast food vendor it is worth your while to step in behind them without even knowing WTF you're waiting for (although in this case it turned out you had to pay at the counter and get a ticket first XD;). Thirty Chinese and a handful of whites? now shit gets serious. Data transfers on ye olde Blackberry are not working or I'd show you a picture. "Fried dumplings" is a bit of a mistranslation as they are fried xiaolongbao... on steroids. These things are MASSIVE and full of soup, on your head be it if you unintentionally puncture one. You get six for 7.50RMB, which is less than 1.50$ Canadian and a reasonable dinner. Somewhere else on the street you can get a dozen kebabs for 10 yuan. I didn't check, but I'm willing to bet that wouldn't buy a single donut at the Krispy Kreme(!) on selfsame pedestrian block. It's not the prices in Shanghai that throw me for a loop so much as the spread: brand premium in its rawest manifestation.

Also on the same block: Marks & Spencer. Don't judge me OK do you have any idea what ridic travail it is to find Ceylon teabags in Montreal for some godforsaken reason. Also M&S carries REAL BOOZE, like wine made out of grapes grown in European countries and everything. I am drinking a, a pinot grigio rose from Hungary which cost me about 10$CAN and doesn't suck, go figure. Arguably the best things here cost next to nothing: 2 RMB for waxy jasmine flowers on a twist of wire, that one hangs from one's purse and perfume the entire apartment...

Comments

[two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com]

SABINA WERE YOU EATING SHENG JIAN BAO

BECAUSE IF YOU ARE I MIGHT BE SO JEALOUS I COULD DIE

[petronia.livejournal.com]

:D~~~

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

IAWTC

[tongari.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous that I don't know what sheng jian bao is but it sounds delicioussss

Yea I think Singapore in particular also has a dire case of brands everywhere, especially branded foodstuffs, but in this case people will line up in droves for the brand..

Also died laughing at the M&S (no judging here I'm just surprised it is hard to get proper booze in Shanghai)

[two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com]

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Shengjian_mantou

HWEI YOU HAVE NO IDEA, I HAVE FANTASIES OF THIS STUFF

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I am unclear from your comments whether you've had the ones from Yang's, but they are on another level, dude. XD

[two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com]

I haveeeeeee :(((((

SABINA I AM SO JEALOUS I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN

[petronia.livejournal.com]

One of the most popular pavilions at the Expo is Coca-Cola's! IDGI. The Saudi one does look rad, though, it has palm trees coming out the top. XD;

[dipping_sauce]

I MISS YOU BB

(... do you think you could find Japanese knitting books in Shanghai?)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

You should let me know these things ahead of time, I could've looked in Narita XD; (although I didn't see any offhand - knitting isn't the hipster hobby here it is in NA, still too much of a granny thing).

[cis.livejournal.com]

"Fried dumplings" is a bit of a mistranslation as they are fried xiaolongbao... on steroids. These things are MASSIVE and full of soup, on your head be it if you unintentionally puncture one.

o_0 I WANT

[cis.livejournal.com]

oh ps 0wen 'nasty brutalist and short' h4therl3y is in shanghai atm according to his blog, points if you accidentally meet him.

[koganbot]

it is a fact universally acknowledged that when you see thirty Chinese lined up patiently outside a fast food vendor it is worth your while to step in behind them without even knowing WTF you're waiting for

My friend John says this was also true in Poland in the '80s under the Communists, 'cept not fast food lines but any lines anywhere, and probably what was at the front of the line wasn't something delicious but something necessary but not always available.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I think this is a reflex retained by many ppl from ex-Communist countries, to the extent that even the Chinese my age of my acquaintance have had at least one experience of queuing up for something only to realize no one in line knew what they were queuing for or indeed that queuing was necessary. XD;

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

My colleague was just mentioning Yang's dumpling to me today. As as I was catching up on my LJ backlog, what do I see? XD Apparently they are drop-dead delicious?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

They are indeed something else. XD I have tried shengjianbao elsewhere in Shanghai but definitely not the same.