Chefs and restaurant managers in town might be feeling a little unsettled this weekend, as the Shanghai edition of that maroon-hued bible of dining, The Zagat Guide, is being peeled off the presses as I write. There is a press launch on Tuesday, where Shanghai’s insular food media folks will gather, sneer at each other, and shake their heads at all those numbers. To get in the spirit, I’ve decided to write a little Zagatty ditty about my neighborhood noodle shop:

“Be careful not to slip” on the bok choi at “this slapdash neighborhood noodle shack” where “guys with long fingernails” serve up "steaming bowls of dubious noodles" with “enough msg to stun a rhinoceros.” Still, “the beer flows like water (and tastes like it, too)” and “lunch costs less than a napkin on the Bund.”  Ah, that was fun.


It’s mango season. Right now, Hainan mangoes are in full swing and they’re damn cheap (about RMB 3.5-6 per jin). They’re also juicy and delicious, and excellent when dipped in a little salt, sugar and chili powder. Try it out.

Last week I met Dane Clouston, who’s a great addition to Shanghai’s growing number of very respectable chefs. Dane formerly ran Opia, the restaurant inside Hong Kong’s Jia hotel. The New Zealand native has moved to Shanghai to kick start the operations at the new Puli Hotel, which you can see morphing into a five-star luxury palace as your taxi coughs and sputters on the elevated highway next to Jing An temple. I’m looking forward to trying his food.

In the coming weeks I will be traveling to Ningbo, Qingdao and Yantai to do some food and travel pieces. If anyone has any recommendations about where to go and what to eat in any of these cities, please leave comments below!

It’s a beautiful sunny day, and so I’ll leave you with a beautifully sunny shot of something to eat that I took in Shimla, a hill station in India’s Himachal Pradesh. These are some wonderful potato pancakes with fennel seed cooked on a griddle, in a golden puddle of ghee. From the cook’s viewing perspective, you could see the Himalayas springing up in the distance. Enjoy.