As the temperature plummets, it is time for some hot tea. I set off for the city's wholesale markets and I find more than tea: immense knowledge and generosity. There are rows and rows of crammed stalls in the giant, drafty Tianshan Tea City (Markets). I tromp through two ... Read More
In 1897, 15-year-old Hayashida Heizadur went abroad to Hong Kong where he lived with a British family. He discovered several new kinds of soup: a Western consommé and a traditional Chinese chicken soup. Years later, he returned to his native Japan and launched modern fusion cuisine. Well, at least the ... Read More
On my most recent visit home to Boston, my family's garden was bursting with brilliant flavors. We ate fresh herbs on everything and sautéed just-plucked broccoli with newly-dug garlic. A garden is a glorious thing, although I did not always think so as a kid, when I was ordered ... Read More
A visit to Taikang Lu's Lane 248 inspires a bittersweet feeling. The sprawl of eclectic shops, each bursting with individual personality, expresses what could have been in many more of Shanghai's old neighborhoods which instead have become skyscrapers or manicured shopping districts filled with international name brands. Here ... Read More
I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere down the line fusion went from being an exciting, fresh interplay of Eastern and Western flavors to being a swear word. Yet, perhaps like dotcoms, the cuisine can be resurrected and given a chance to salvage its reputation. Sometimes fusion isn ... Read More
I write about fancy restaurants a good bit, but the way I eat much of the time? Budget. Easy. Neighborhood. Home-cooked or on-the-run. For street food, there are few things more carnally satisfying than greasy chunks of lamb on a skewer. The best kabobs are roasted on the huge Xinjiang ... Read More
As we drive up to the white clapboard house, she opens the gate looking trim and bright-eyed. She hugs each of us and welcomes us graciously–and gracious is precisely the word to describe Madhur Jaffrey, an actress and author of bestselling cookbooks. Jaffrey is revered for introducing Indian cooking ... Read More
For all the well-deserved anxiety about chemicals in our foods, the environmental effects of how we farm, and health problems from an over-processed diet, a simple solution is right in front of us: know who grows your food.
When we eat local food, we know our farmers or their agents ... Read More
The upcoming occasion of Mother's Day persuaded me to take an excursion to that far-off land which many mothers and families call home, Pudong. I started with brunch at the natural-light-filled syzygy (Fusion). Only in Pudong do you find scale like this—acres of blue cloth booths, and a ... Read More
"Heaven, I'm in heaven," she sings, "And the cares that hung around me through the week, seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak…" Piano notes plink gaily as we bite into satiny goose liver terrine touched with sake, a most unusual and delicate foie gras, just kissed ... Read More
"Oh," says my companion, "this is the best soup I have ever had." I have not even lifted my spoon, but the aroma of black truffle has already hit the back of my nose; clearly there is astonishing flavor in this small cup of white bean and truffle soup. I ... Read More
At eight a.m. on Tianping Lu crowds of people are wolfing down steaming doufu hua, youtiao, jianbing and baozi. As always, Madhur Jaffrey had her notepad out, assiduously recording the flavors and cooking methods of each dish. "Oh, that's the flower tofu," she exclaimed, spotting the drum of ... Read More
He's wearing a revealingly short yellow tank top, blue pants, an ear-to-ear smile, and he’s kicking up his legs for sheer joy—meet the Aisen pig, the dancing mascot for some of the finest pork I have ever tasted.
Aisen is raised on fine feed, in a scrupulously ... Read More
Fifteen years ago in Shanghai, a dinner of hot pot was an unimaginable luxury. Well, perhaps imaginable, but it was hardly within reach of the majority of the population. The average Joe (Zhou?) could only stand outside small restaurants which offered the dish and salivate as they watched, through steamy ... Read More
Nanjing, 1996: Dove chocolate bars debuted at campus "xiaomaibu." But at six kuai they were an extravagance for a college student. Besides, I found Dove too sweet and too soft.
So when craving sweets, I experimented with Chinese chocolate bars. I determined that there were two categories of domestic chocolate ... Read More
In this edition you are invited to eavesdrop on Shanghai's top kitchens and learn chefs' predictions for 2007 and their thoughts on Shanghai’s burgeoning food scene.
What will be the most inter-esting developments in the dining scene this year?
Sean Jorgensen, Finestre: People are becoming more educated about ... Read More
About two months ago, I was invited to join Jean-Georges Vongerichten in his restaurant's kitchen in Shanghai as he demonstrated a few new dishes. I had some trepidation that the lionized chef would be arrogant and distant, all-too-aware of his own celebrity, a master deigning to grace a few ... Read More
In 1996, I was invited to dinner by the daughter of my program director at Nanjing University. The apartment consisted of one room with a bed taking up most of it. They conducted all their cooking on a gas burner on their building's tiny balcony, a shared "kitchen" where ... Read More
Don't let your New Year's party fizzle like a bottle of flat champagne. It's the start of a new year, and you will be remembered for whether your gathering rings in midnight with a bang or with a whimper. At City Weekend, we don't have time ... Read More