Sunday, December 24, 2006

Shanghai Nan Xiang Xiao Long, Seng Poh Rd, Singapore

This place is located across the road from the Tiong Bahru market and is run and owned by mainlanders. Although they claim to be from the "Nan Xiang Xiao Long Pao" place from Yu Yuan in Shanghai, I don't know how true this claim is. Having dined at Yu Yuan in Shanghai, I still feel that their xiao long paos are better but this place comes close and gives me my fix in Singapore when I get my xiao long pao cravings.

They know the sequence of serving cold dishes first here, unlike some other Chinese eateries in Singapore which tend to serve the dishes randomly (as long as dessert comes at the end; it's all good hah!). Cold wine chicken, fragrant and salty, this dish is great with beer in a hot and humid Shanghai summer or just daily Singapore weather haha.

Water duck, another cold dish here and also an ideal salty side-dish for beer.

Stir-fried gluten, it was my first time ordering this and it was probably the bummer dish tonight. I just felt that it tasted too sweet.

Stir-fried large pea-shoots with garlic. Freshly cooked and piping hot, a tasty stir-fried vegetable is always good.

Fried buns (Jian Bao), these were almost as good as the ones I had in Shanghai (Xiao Yang Jian Pao) and was full of soup as well. You have to be careful when you bite into these because although it has alot of soup in it like the xiao long pao, it's encased in a harder exterior which makes it more prone to "popping" and hence propelling the hot soupy contents over a greater distance with much more impact.

Their xiao long paos.

The skin was only very slight tough at the top today but everything else was just as good as I remembered. I'll opt to come here over Crystal Jade anytime.

Noodles aren't really their specialty but they still serve a rather decent hand-pulled noodle with spicy bean minced pork (zhe jiang la-mien). The noodles didn't stick together which in my opinion is one pre-requisite for a good noodle.

This dessert of the fermented rice wine grains with glutinous rice was very good. Fragrant and not too sweet, this was the first time I tried this here and was rather impressed.

Their red bean pancakes were also stellar tonight. The pastry used is the thin crispy sort which I prefer a lot more as opposed to the flakey sort. The filling was also smooth and didn't only taste sweet but I detected a slight honey flavor as well? I'm not sure if it's honey but it defintely tasted like a molasse-based sweetener.

D

p.s: Am rushing to the airport right after I click "publish". Will be away for half a month. More food stuff when I return!

11 comments:

zhengning said...

Wow, the redbean pancakes' quite tempting! :)i guess i will love those cripsy pancakes!

oh, and have fun & a safe trip yah? looking forward for your food-ie updates!

Anonymous said...

Have fun D, and Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Zha jiang mian! oooh I grew up with those...fond memories :D

-grace

Sammy said...

Hey dude! Merry Xmas from down under!

Anonymous said...

Are the xiaolongbao served with a straw ? That's what Yu Yuan, Shanghai,does..

Anonymous said...

I had that cold wine chicken in Taiwan but seriously hated it. The fat on the chicken had some jellied fat on it and its pretty gross for me and my mom.. Maybe we just dont like it~ Heh and xiao long paus.. Its gonna be a long time until I touch it again or never.

D said...

In some really random net cafe now and it's really quite slow but here are some quickie replies:-

zhengning: Thanks, still enjoying my trip and those pancakes were pretty good.

angie: Same to you

YD: Back in Perth already? No farewell party? Aww...

tigerfish: I believe you are mistaking the "tang pao" for a "xiao long pao" I have pictures of the one with the straw too and maybe one day I'll do a xiao long paos of the world compilation.

mich: It IS an acquired taste haha but I wouldn't eat it during Winter. It's a summer dish. I know what you mean about xiao long paos, a friend of mine who worked and lived in Shanghai for 6mths developed quite a phobia for them as well haha.

Unknown said...

Merry xmas and a happy new year to you~ (:

Hope to see your updates soon!

Enjoy your trip!

Anonymous said...

Ooo, looks like I have to check out this place, D. I just went to Cheng Li Yuan on Saturday with my friend (it was our second brunch following char kway teow at Amoy Street), we had the red bean snow buns there, yummy! They do red bean very well.

But their pastry for red bean pancake is flaky IIRC and I prefer the classic pastry like you so gotta drag someone to this place to try.

Eleanor said...

Hello - enjoying your blog and food. The pancakes and noodles look delish! I should stay away from food blogs when I'm hungry. Look forward to more tales.

D said...

jiaying: Same to you =)

cindy: do check out this joint, it's alot closer than Cheng Li Yuan as well but the downside is they don't have any good "meat" dishes. That's why I had to order a whole duck from the roast duck stall round the corner to supplement the meal.

eleanor: Thanks.