Shanghai Food

Any travel would not be complete without experiencing the FOOD, in China's case I am certain we have all had our share of Chinese Food. I mean Chinese food has gone global and is usually equated with fast, fried, flavorful food! The big question is how authentic is our local Chinese food? During my trip in China I made sure I would experience Chinese Food as authentic as it can be.. heck I am in China! (Anthony Bourdain- wannabe) 

The Chinese Fast Food -  Shanghai Expo

The Expo had several cafeterias with various cuisines to offer, depending on the theme location of the section you are in, you can choose from European, Mediterranean, American and Asian. Fortunately the nearest cafeteria served mainly Asian Food.

Typical Chinese Fast Food Tray @ Shanghai Expo

Tray on the left was for my friend, consists of (upper right clockwise) Miso soup, radish on the side,generous serving of rice, chicken curry, scrambled eggs, grilled pork and meat balls with taro, pumpkin with special sauce. That is if i remember it correctly.. hehe

I had the tray on the right, with the following (upper right clockwise), sweet and sour meatballs, a ton of rice, corn,carrots and green peas, miso soup, pork with carrots in tomato sauce more like menudo and that viand I can not remember! hehe 

The Verdict:

Price: 50-60 CNY, reasonable price considering the amount of food you get.

Taste: ★★ , I anticipated it would be really good considering most Chinese I have back home is flavorful read: salty 

Overall: I have had better meals, I hope our next meal is better.

Meet the Dimsum - Yu Yuan Garden

After the tiring wandering experience at the Yu Yuan Garden, my friend and I had to cool down. We found this refreshment shop that had all sorts of liquid refreshment. I know it isn't the smartest idea to have local ice since you wouldn't be sure how your stomach would react, but what the heck I was hot, thirsty and hungry! Turns out the drink was pretty darn good.

Sweet and Tangy - I can barely remember what was in it but it was pretty good. I think it had chunk of fruits.

After cooling down we decided to look for a restaurant to have our first meal of the day and to plan out our itinerary for the day. We settled for a dimsum place because, first it was right next to the refreshment stand, second and most importantly we were starving and  the dimsum is already there you just have to pick it up and start chowing down.

L-R : Kuya Mushi, Steamed Dumplings, Rice with Chicken and mushroom wrapped in Lotus Leaf and Fried Vegetable Dumplings

Fried Vegetable Dumplings, unlike most Chinese Restaurants outside of China, Vinegar is the staple dipping sauce.

Yummy  steamed rice with chicken and mushroom wrapped in Lotus Leaf

Steamed Dumpling, I can't seem to remember the exact content of this dumpling but its not Hakaw

Steamed Egg with tofu and shrimp. In Japan this is a staple dish called Kuya Mushi.

The Verdict:

Price: 15-35 CNY, relatively cheap compared to dimsum here, and the place had a good ambiance

Taste: ★★★ , Although I have had better dimsum, they weren't that bad, I guess just normal.

Overall: Normal Dimsum nothing worth remembering, except the dumplings were already cold.

New Shanghai Cuisine -  Downtown Shanghai

On our last day in Shanghai, my friend suggested we try this famous restaurant that serves this special fish. According to Qing, it is a traditional recipe with a modern twist. I was not in a position to decline his suggestion since I have committed to try chinese food as authentic as they can be!

Typical Chinese Appetizer: Carrots and Cucumber with chinese Vinegar and oil with a dash of sesame seed

Cucumber bathed in milk and honey. Perfect to cool down the pallet from the spicy fish.

We decided to have the fish cooked two-way. The left part of the basin, yes it is an actual basin that has a divider in the middle, is the spicy one for Qing. It isn't that spicy at first but once you've had a couple of spoonfuls you get that burning sensation, that is why it comes with the cucumber salad to cool down your pallet from the heat of the fish. The fish on the right was for me, it was salty and oily, it is almost the same fish you will have at a Szechuan Restaurant my only problem with the fish is that they didn't bother removing the bones so you would have to spit it out since it is mixed with the fish.

Fish Two-Way. Spicy and Salty

The Verdict:

Price: 200 CNY, the price was bordering cheap and just right, with the tonnage of the serving it was well worth every penny.

Taste: ★★★★ , Although I got my tongue burnt, the cucumber cooled it down, the dishes were very chinese yet had a twist of modernity in it. This is a perfect dish with your friends with a bucket full of cold beer and you have all the night away to waste.

Overall: I finally got my wish! to experience Authentic chinese food but with a modern twist.. or so i think i still have Beijing food to conquer!

McDonald's Chinese Menu -  McWings Goodness!

Whenever I travel abroad I make sure I swing my McDonald's to check out their localized menu, like here in the Philippines we have spaghetti, burger mcdo, rice and mcChicken, in China they have these really good chicken wings called McWings that comes in three flavors!

Surprisingly McDonalds in China do not serve rice, so we settled for french fries!

I must say the chicken wings were pretty darn good! L -R. Sweet Chicken Wings, Crispy Spicy Wings and the Salty Chicken Wings.

Probably the best McDonald's Chicken Wings existing!

I rarely have McDonald's when I am here, I just make the most of my travels and experience what they have to offer that aren't readily available back home. I am just being honest when I say these chicken wings are pretty darn good!

More Sights from the Expo 2010

Disclaimer: I know it's March 2011 and these photos were all taken last year, 2010, but that does not mean I can't blog about them anymore. The way I see it, pictures/videos capture not the moment but the memory of the experience; it triggers back how you felt and what you saw...taking you back to that experience. ALL PHOTOS BY JI unless otherwise stated 


Call me weird but I am fascinated with empty spaces, most of the time when I travel I prefer to take pictures of scenes without any person. I just want to have this notion that I was alone. However during the Expo this scenario was simply impossible, I think its in the entirety of China, since it is heavily populated. don't get me wrong I am a people person, its just that sometimes its better to take pictures without strangers in it. Here are a few of my shots during the expo sans the crowd.

More sights from the Expo. 

Towards the end of our first day, we went up to the Expo Culture Center. It's one of the most recognizable structures from a distance, it looks like an UFO that laded, its kind of cool actually. The top floor has its perimeter as a view deck, a 360-degree-view of the Expo grounds and its surrounding is quite a view at night

Expo Culture Center

Image source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shanghai_Expo_Cultural_Center.jpg

Sceneries from the view deck.

I will try to upload a video that summarizes my Expo 2010 Experience

I know the picture quality isn't that good. I was running on super low battery for my canon 550d at this time so I i just used my back up 400d camera with prime lens mounted. I also remember, how tired and hungry I was. I was sticky with sweat from walking all day under the heat. It was one of those experiences where it makes you just wanna go home to your bed to sleep all you want..

Expo 2010 Shanghai China Night Vision

Disclaimer: I know it's March 2011 and these photos were all taken last year, 2010, but that does not mean I can't blog about them anymore. The way I see it, pictures/videos capture not the moment but the memory of the experience; it triggers back how you felt and what you saw... taking you back to that experience. ALL PHOTOS BY JI unless otherwise stated

When the sun sets, the Expo grounds turn into a LED spectacle. Most people would be in awe with all the lights.  If you have seen the movie AI - Artificial Intelligence, you would feel that you are in that time sans the rubles, flying cars, robots but the atmosphere was close. It's like the pre-Jetsons age!

China Pavilion

The icon for this particular Expo. I like it a lot, it has this look/feel of contemporary traditional design. I mean the elements of traditional chinese designs are still present even if the structure is very contemporary. I find it a good fusion.

China Pavilion

More of the Expo Grounds

Taiwan Pavilion

 Taiwan's Pavilion was fully-booked until the end of the Expo. From the outside you could see this "floating" globe that is an actual spherical screen it's so cool since it zooms in and out. Just imagine google earth on a spherical screen.

Taiwan Pavilion

Philippines Pavilion

I have to admit i was excited to enter our pavilion, okay it was more of "shoot i hope its something decent" the queue wasn't that bad, as soon as I entered I heard clubbing music, and we just missed the dance presentation, the crowd i think was 90% korean, which didn't really surprise me. It was a busy crowd and unlike most pavilion, ours was more of the merchandising, I guess we aren't really that technologically advanced like most countries so we just showcased our products.  And the main highlight of our Pavilion was the "Hilot" of course it was for free! Overall the Pavilion was alright, it passed. Maybe next time we should focus more on showcasing our natural resources, culture and tradition, the various lifestyles we live here in the Philippines, you know just so we can show the world how "rich" our country really is. Just thinking.

Philippines Pavilion

The following pavilions, I was not able to go in, just took a picture of the outside. The queues for these pavilions were ridiculously long although I am sure the wait was worth it, i still wouldn't wait since my time was restricted.

Portugal Pavilion

Portugal Pavilion

Latvia Pavilion

Latvia Pavilion

Estonia Pavilion

Estonia Pavilion

Serbia Pavilion

Serbia Pavilion

Spain Pavilion

Spain Pavilion

Germany Pavilion

Amazing architectural design from Germany, and to think this structure is temporary.

Germany Pavilion

France Pavilion

Why are the French so... classic? We all should learn from the french, I still have to see something french-made/inspired that is not elegant. I could be wrong.

France Pavilion

Romania Pavilion

Romania Pavilion

Sweden Pavilion

Sweden Pavilion

Expo 2010 Shanghai China part 2

Disclaimer: I know it's March 2011 and these photos were all taken last year, 2010, but that does not mean I can't blog about them anymore. The way I see it, pictures/videos capture not the moment but the memory of the experience; it triggers back how you felt and what you saw... taking you back to that experience. ALL PHOTOS BY JI unless otherwise stated

Continuation..

Vietnam Pavilion

Another personal favorite, I like how everything was made of wood, the rich wood color gives warmth and simplicity to this structure.

Vietnam Pavilion Exterior

Entrance/ Foyer

Vietnam Pavilion Interior

Exit/ Foyer Part

United Kingdom Pavilion

The United Kingdom Pavilion was also a crowd favorite, the queue for this was just horribly long. I personally don't find the structure that interesting during the day, but comes night time and its quite an attraction.

Back Part of the United Kingdom Pavilion

United Kingdom Pavilion from an Ant's View

This is the front view of the UK Pavilion, I don't see anything special with the cube structure

United Kingdom Pavilion Front View

But I saw pictures of it during the night. Since it was drizzling the night we were near the UK Pavilion, the LED lights were not turned on. Apparently those spiky things have LED lights on their tip, enabling the whole cube to change color. It's pretty cool.

Canada Pavilion

I am partial to this pavilion since I lived in Canada. I like how minimalist the structure is, its classic and massive hehe, the inside of the structure is pretty straight forward, nothing too fancy, just a ramp that goes into the main room I think its just functional, ergonomics played a key element in its design.

Canada Pavilion

Inside the main room, are several interactive activities, there are these bikes and hand pedals you would have to work for the super tall screen in front of you to play a movie. The movies are different each time since the playback depends on how hard you work the pedal. I worked quite a sweat.

Me, having a blast with the pedals.

Canada Pavilion Back View

Italy Pavilion

One of the busiest pavilions, what else can you expect from Italy? aside from being CLASSIC! I swear i wanted to cut in line just to get in the Pavilion, you can barely see what is inside from the glass, just a glimpse enough for you to want to get in.

Italy Pavilion

Luxembourg Pavilion

Whenever I hear this country, I am reminded that they have the highest GDP per capita meaning POVERTY does not EXIST here. I am guessing they have an abundance in steel since the entire structure was built from steel. I learned this the "HOT" way I accidentally touched the exterior wall and damn it was really HOT!

Luxembourg Pavilion

Luxembourg Pavilion Interior

Luxembourg Pavilion Back View

Brazil Pavilion

Nothing special with this pavilion, aside from the HOT BRAZILIAN GIRLS inside assisting but they were kinda uptight and timed everyone's stay inside. The music and the video presentation as really catchy though.

Brazil Pavilion