soup dumplings!

so we hadn't yet found time to get to our favorite place for soup dumplings this summer... which made the choice of dining locations for last night's dinner quite easy...

off we went to Potsticker House in Bridgeport.... where we watched two guys make a complete and total mess of eating their soup dumplings - they picked them up with the sharp tongs and the soup burst out into the bamboo steamer - aaaaccckkkk.  Then the other guy picked his up somewhat carefully but bit into it over his plate holding it with chopsticks and - big surprise- all the soup went onto the plate LOL

What a waste! Luckily most of the patrons are Asian so the kitchen doesn't need to feel too badly about all their effort (soup dumplings aren't the easiest to make since the soup needs to be in gel form until the steaming process)

so when another table of "gweilo" guys* asked the server what was the specialty and then ordered the soup dumplings I felt compelled to help out and explain that you carefully place the dumpling on your spoon and bite into it, just a bit, to open it up, to slurp the soup and then you eat the tasty dumpling stuffed with pork and adorned with one of two "sauces" (a chili based or soy/vinegar based).  I didn't watch these guys but they were in the line of sight for Phil and he reported they were doing fine with actually getting to try the soup part of soup dumplings

We also had the eponymous house potstickers (long form not the little demilune) and the pancake with smoked pork and salt and pepper shrimp and a favorite fried rice with green onion and egg (which sounds blah but is actually really flavorful)- we also had the less than terrific shredded pork with celery and bean curd- (too much celery)

if you delve in you can see the menu has lots and lots of choices-

we were trying some cavas and this one disappeared quickly so that would be a good sign for purchasing more-

you can see from the lunch menu- this is not a place that caters to those who don't read Chinese LOL  - they actually do have what they refer to as an "American Chinese" menu with the usual crap stuff like sweet and sour pork and kung pao chicken LOL but you can get stuff like that any place so why bother driving a half an hour to eat here....

for those of you not familiar with Chicago neighborhood geography - Potsticker House is located near-ish to Chinatown but in Bridgeport - and it across from a district police station (read SAFE) and they have parking in the rear but we always find street parking-

tonight we return to El Ideas another south side place - this one on the cutting edge of fine dining from Chef Phil Foss.... my two favorite courses from last visit are shown below- OK my three favorites - because it was too hard to choose--- LOL

so I will report back on that meal later - meanwhile if you were wondering -

*Gweilo (Chinese: 鬼佬) is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. In its unmodified form, it applies only to European ethnicities and has a history of racially deprecatory use. Cantonese speakers frequently use gwailou to refer to Westerners in general use, in a non-derogatory context,

see you when we return... because i have to keep up - the calendar is quite full and there will be wine dinners (The Bristol) and Chaine events (the Mondiale mezcal event at Quiote) and also coming up Oriole (with brother Larry) along with several concerts - and several dinners with friends.... #lifeisgood

"Chinatown" in Shanghai

so after lunch we headed to the old Chinese area of Shanghai and the Ming dynasty era Yuyuan Garden which is located within this old city area known as the Yuyuan Bazaar (which is recently built but in Ming style)- We walked through the bazaar area to get to the garden- toured the garden and then went back through the bazaar area- to see more food and shops...

these giant soup dumplings looked so appealing! - you sip the soup through the straw and then have the meat filled dumpling! oh yum!!!

 
the map gives an idea of how big an area this is and how much shopping and food surround the garden which is a fairly good size in itself-

the whole bazaar are is built in the style of the building shown below-

 
we enter the garden-

 

a regular sight- we are not the only tourists here- despite the fact that we tend to think all Chinese are local- LOL

we exit the garden and return through the bazaar- where as you can see below- we encounter more food!

and more shopping streets-

we skirt the boundary of the garden to see the famous tea house-

there are many unusual and unrecognizable food objects- and sometimes we are grateful not to know- LOL

and of course no heavily populated area would be without them-  - - the golden arches- shown here in Chinese characters so you will recognize it in the future- LOL

we head back to the hotel and then later, after dinner at the fabulous Lost Heaven, out for a walk along the Bund which is lit up until ten o'clock.  It is our last night in Shanghai and we have barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer- we all agree we loved our time here and would return in a flash... tomorrow we move on to Hangzhou on a morning fast train.  But tonight we take time to really enjoy the evening out with many others just strolling the Bund- with the views of Pudong all lit up and creating a light show nearly as spectacular as the one we saw in Yangshou...on the Li River...

below I have a series of photos that show how the building lights in Pudong change over the course of minutes- there is a never ending combination of views-

so off to packing and then bed in our fabulously luxurious hotel - the time in Shanghai has been one of the highlights of the trip... we have been to Hong Kong in 2002, 2005, 2009, and 2013 - and for the 2005 trip we were there for five days... so we know Hong Kong fairly well but Shanghai has previously required a visa and so we shied away from visiting- but now there are several new factors that make it much more likely to be a destination of choice- 1. getting a visa in Chicago is not too difficult since we have a consulate there- 2. we can get a non stop flight there from Chicago- and 3. we now know what we have been missing all these years only using Hong Kong as our multi-day transit point... further - now China has a 72 hour no visa policy for those who come through Shanghai for points onward in Asia.... so- we will be back!!!!!!