Shanghai Shanghai

The day my husband and I left for our little trip back to the States we decided that we would treat ourselves with one last authentic Chinese meal, as the Chinese food where we live back home is mediocre at best. The meal we decided to eat was at Shanghai Shanghai, located in A9 of the Mitsukoshi by Taipei City Hall. (This restaurant is a chain, so there are several other locations as well.)

We don't often eat at Shanghai Shanghai, not because it's not good, but because it can be a little pricey if it's just two people. When we go it's usually with family or friends, and then it doesn't feel like such a splurge. But then we heard that they offered our favorite thing in the world - the set menu, hooray!

For 450NT per person, you can pick three dishes, plus soup and dessert (you don't have a choice for dessert). Oh, and this is for lunch - I'm not sure if they offer a set menu for dinner.

One of their specialties, tiny shrimp with sweet peas. Yum.


I can't remember what this vegetable was called, but it had a wonderful crunchy texture, and it came with slices of pork and fermented soy beans.


Here is one of Luke's favorite foods ever: fatty pork. And my, was it ever fatty.


I didn't like the soup. Luke thought it was ok, but I thought there was way too much noodle, and the soup itself wasn't flavorful enough. Next time we go, I would order the other choice of soup.


Here's our dessert. I liked those square things on the bottom left hand corner the best. They had the consistency of marshmallows, but not as sticky or sweet. And you can't go wrong with watermelon. But I wasn't a fan of the sweet soup on the bottom right hand corner (but that's just me, I'm just don't really like those kinds of soups in general), and the dates with - I can't even remember what it was anymore; I've blocked it from my memory - were so gross I spit it out.


So the soup and dessert were the most disappointing part of the meal, but I think all the entrees were good enough that I was able to overlook everything else. And for 450 a person, it's really not a bad deal at all.

Shanghai Shanghai
www.shanghaishanghai.com.tw
A9 Mitsukoshi, Song Shou Road
(02) 8771-5511

Oh, horror of horrors, I stupidly left my camera at my friends' apartment back on the other side of the ocean! Alas, it might be awhile then before I post about any new restaurants, as reading about food is not quite the same without the pictures to go with it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures to horrify you Taiwanese readers out there. My husband told me the other day that a study found that based on their BMI, 2 out of 3 Americans are overweight. You'll see why when you look at the picture:


Wait, you're saying, those portion sizes don't look big at all. That looks like the regular portion sizes you'd get at The Diner! Well, that's because I already ate HALF of my breakfast here. That empty space on the plate arrived completely dominated by a monster omelette and a pound of potatoes. Top that off with a stack of three pancakes.

I know I'm perpetuating all sorts of stereotypes about fat Americans now, and of course not every restaurant in the States is like this. But because my parents live in the suburbs, the only restaurants you can find are chain restaurants, where more often than not the portions sizes are enough to feed a small nation.

I might not have missed the heat and the hustle and bustle of Taipei while I was back in the States, but I definitely missed eating out here!

One Last Hurrah

I'm heading back to good ole Taipei tomorrow. In honor of my last night here in the States, I decided to do all the things that I won't be able to do in Taipei for the next several months. So I went to Target and H&M, my two favorite stores here in the States. I visited my best friend's mom, one of my favorite people in the world. And, I made these Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies to commemorate the last time I will be cooking with a normal sized oven and without fear of cockroaches scurrying out to eat every last crumb (not that this even happens, but I'm paranoid).

I'll be back to my regular posting schedule sometime next week (depending on my jet lag), so look out for some new reviews!