Till now, each time my Hong Kong friends mentioned Dan-Dan Noodles (擔擔麵) as they mean Shanghai Noodle, I'm quite not used to it, actually we never have noodle called Dan-Dan in Shanghai, and as all I know, the name Dan-Dan comes from normal egg noodle in Sichuan/Cheng Du cuisine. So, what is Shanghainese favorite noodle? Dry noodle with special soy sauce, I shall rank this one as the No.1.
It is a very simple noodle dish, with normal round-shape egg noodle which should be soft, elastic but still chewy and not sticky. Just to use a lot fried spring onion and secret sauce made from soy sauce, (sesame) oil, sugar and other ingredients, to dress up the warm noodle. It is without soup, but the noodle is fully covered with enough sauce and oil, so you won't have a 'dry' taste. The beauty of this easy noodle is its incredible fragrance and smooth taste. We call it Cong-You-Ban-Mian (蔥油拌面).
There is a Noodle guidance for Shanghai's local restaurants, while I just found this Taiwan-Shanghai restaurant very popular among expats. The restaurant called Jianguo328, because it's just simply located on Jian Guo Road, No. 328... It is owned by Taiwanese, who's moved to Shanghai quite long time again, and very familiar to the Shanghainese cuisine. Reading the menu, all the names are never too familiar to me as my everyday before 23-year-old is surrounded by those dishes.
Very tiny restaurant but still have two floors; a typical local method of small family-mode restaurants to enlarge their capability. There are around 25-30 seats downstairs, and about two 10-person round table upstairs. People there are quite nice, but to have a table of dishes cost some time.
Fermented Tofu
The golden fried Tofu skin looked a bit transparent under the light; how thin the Tofu skin is!!! You could imagine the crispy texture it had. Inside, it was soft and semi-dense Fermented Tofu in the special flavor, which a lot of people will never accept. It was a new version of traditional Fermented Tofu, which has rawer skin, while this one gave softer and more beautiful taste from the skin.
Fried Duck Leg
Amazing dish, absolutely No.1 recommended dish, and you must try it definitely!!! The paper-thin duck skin is deeply fried and dressed with some pepper, chopped onion and spring onion. It tasted dry, tasty and crispy while wouldn't give you an over-load flavor. The soft duck leg under the skin was melting in your mouth, very moisture, very tender, and you could taste even the subtle flavor of savory dressing has already got into the meat.
Fried Fresh Vegetable
To be honest, I don't know how to call this one in neither Chinese nor English (only know the Shanghainese name...); while it is one of the most normal vegetables I have in my family. The interesting thing is, every time the fried vegetable would give out some colorful soup, sometimes in red like this one, sometimes in purple. The taste is quite similar to watering spinach, but softer.
This one was perfectly fried by strong fire. The vegetable was perfectly kept with its water, its green color, its freshness, while it was already well-done.
Cong-You-Ban-Mian / Dry Noodle with Special Sauce (蔥油拌面)
Coming to the last dish, we were going for the signature Noodle in the restaurant. By the presentation and the taste, I could not find anything not decent. It was quite similar to the Mama's flavor which I was living with all the time (probably this one was less sweet than my mother's)... The deep fried spring onion mixed with thin egg noodle together was such a perfect matching to just make you stick on your chopsticks.
Jianguo328
328 Jianguo Xi Lu (Near Xiang Yang Nan Lu)
Xuhui District
Shanghai
(Metro Line 9, Jia Shan Lu Station)
+86 21 6471 3819
Mon to Sun. 11am - 9.30pm
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