Dinner With Friends

In a city with over 24 million people, Shanghai has no shortage of amazing restaurants.   Each restaurant is as unique as the city’s inhabitants.  Many restaurants cater to the communal dining experience!  I have had a great time learning about different cultures while dining with friends at these local eateries.

Korean Barbecue at Ben Jia

If your party is craving flame-broiled goodness, Korean Barbecue is the way to go!  I have gone to a couple of Korean Barbecue restaurants, but I have found that Ben Jia is my favorite.

The Korean BBQ experience starts with a bucket of hot coals placed in the middle of the table.

Then meat and veggies are grilled on a screen or grate.

Then pick a piece of lettuce...

…wrap the meat and eat!   So yummy!

Hotpot at Haidilao

If you are looking for a soupy good time, go to Haidilao Hot Pot.  Hot pot is like fondue with a sauce bar.  The fun always starts once you set foot in the restaurant.

If you don't have a reservation for Haidilao, you may have to wait for a long time.  To help pass the time, diners play board games, check their email on waiting area computers, or even get manicures!

Once seated in the waiting area, diners snack on complimentary snack food and seasonal fruit.

Once seated diners order soup and a variety of meats, veggies, and pastas from the iPad! 

Most dinners come with two soup bases.  One of my favorites is the non spicy tomato base!

After ordering, it's off to the sauce bar to create your own dipping sauce from a variety of herbs, spices, and oils.

I am a fan of sesame, so I usually mix sesame oil, sesame seeds, chives, coriander, and garlic for my dip!  Feel free to experiment; you can get a different sauce if you mess up your secret recipe.

It's dinner time!  Diners cook their food in the boiling soup!  Yummy!

A visit from the noodle man is a must for every Haidilao meal!  He will dance with and hand pull noodles for your pot!

After all that cooking, I needed a free mani!

Duck at Lao Beijing

Imagine the crispness of a fine roast chicken with the flavor of a thanksgiving turkey.  That is the flavor of roast duck! If you don’t have time to travel to the Capitol to eat duck, head to Lao Beijing to experience one of my favorite dishes in Shanghai!

Chris stuffs his wrapper with onion, cucumber and duck!!

The table side presentation reminds me of Thanksgiving!

The crisps with kiwi and duck skin are amazing!!!

Teppenyaki at Tairyo

It is difficult to beat to 200RMB all you can eat hibachi and sushi at Tairyo.  Like many hibachi restaurants in the states, the hibachi chef entertains diners with his culinary magic, however they don’t serve the white sauce that most hibachi restaurants in the states provide.  The meal includes all you can drink kirin or sake, so prepare to stuff yourself!

At Tairyo, if one person orders a dish in your party, prepare to eat it!  I always leave Tairyo stuffed!! 

Late Dinner and Bingo Night at Mr. & Mrs. Bund

Being a Midwestern Catholic, Monday Night Bingo with friends was part of my culture.  When I learned about Bingo Night at Mr. & Mrs. Bund, I had to teach my international people about one of the great games from my childhood.    Every third Thursday of the month, one can purchase a two course late dinner or drink package for 200 RMB and play bingo for some great prizes!

Many of my friends assume that Chris and I love meat and potatoes because we are American. They are right!  The truffle whipped potatoes at Mr. & Mrs. Bund are amazing!

Bingo prizes include iPads, teddy bears, luggage, cappucino makers, hotel gift certificates and other random prizes.  The grand prize is usually a motorized scooter!

There are no B-I-N-G or O's on the board, but we still call out "Bingo!" when we win!

The first time I played, I actually won a set of earbuds!

The last time we went to Bingo, our table won 4 oversized teddy bears.  One bear ended up at my place!

There are many more great restaurants in Shanghai, but in my opinion these are a good start.  Have fun dining, my friends!

Tai Tai Field Trip Time: The Shanghai Aquarium

Chinese New Year is almost here, so like last year I have five unpaid weeks of freedom!  This year I have decided in an attempt to prevent myself from going stir crazy, I will be taking field trips to various Shanghai destinations every Tuesday and Thursday.

Last Tuesday, I took my first field trip to the Shanghai Aquarium.  I have to admit, after visiting the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, I am a little bit of an aquarium snob.  However, I have to say that the Shanghai Aquarium exceeded my expectations.  The visit to the aquarium was well worth the 160 RMB.

The aquarium is located near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Pudong.  I highly recommend visiting both locations in the same day.  For directions to the aquarium, click here.  

At first I was afraid the aquarium would be too much like a seafood restaurant for my liking. 

Fortunately, they had a large variety of many beautiful, colorful fish!

They even had some beautiful fish that weren't so colorful!  I had never seen an albino fish before. 

These were the most active penguins I had ever seen!  They knew how to party and entertain!

I was mesmerized by the thousands of jelly fish!

Many of the hallways and escalators were fish tanks!  I especially enjoyed the tank tunnel on the first floor.

A sea turtle floated on by. 

I was impressed by the sharks!  The entire time I was in the Shark tunnel, the Jaws theme song was going through my head. 

One of the perks of hanging out in the shark tunnel is the ability to get up close and personal with the fish!  Check out the teeth on this big guy!

While the aquarium wasn’t Shedd, it was a lot of fun!  I do recommend taking your time on each level.  Once you take the escalator down to a lower floor, you are not allowed to return to the upper levels.  For more information on the aquarium, click here.

A Merry Little Chinese Christmas 2.0: The Man in the Hat is Back

Expat holidays can at times be downright depressing.    While many of my family members and friends posted photos of holiday celebrations, I (like many other expats) had to carry on business as usual.  As a laowai, I figure I had two ways of handling holiday induced feelings of loneliness and homesickness.  My first option was to bury myself in a bowl of tears and xiaolongbao (Chinese dumplings) while catching up with my Veep DVDs.  Or with the help of Chris “Kringle”, I could bring the party to Daning! I have to say, my school community loves to celebrate holidays!

A plastic Michael Jackson/ John Lennon Santa Claus greeted the kids for about a week before the big day.

We started the day with a round of "Jingle Bells" with my 5th graders. 

Santa gave each of them a personalized ornament.

In return, each of my students personalized an ornament for me.

Then it was time for Santa's dance party and limbo contest.

The kiddos had a pretty good time.

Between classes, Santa got mobbed by students whom were hungry for chocolate! Some of the kids got confused, walked up to him, and cried, "Trick or Treat!"

Santa got swarmed by my second graders and the iPhone paparazzi.  Kids of all ages wanted their pic with Santa. 

My second graders loved their Santa pins.

Some of my third graders questioned the authenticity of Santa's beard.

My third graders take a goofy group shot with Santa.

My fourth graders weren't as excited about Santa as my younger students, but they played along anyway.

One of my first graders announced that Santa wasn't real the Monday before Christmas.  When we introduced him to Santa from the North Pole, he kept saying, "Zhenda?  Zhenda?"  (Really?  Really?)  He was quite surprised.

One of my friends, Grace, helped Santa pass out Jingle Bells to the nice first graders.

These first graders were feeling the Christmas Spirit!

My English Corner kiddos showed Santa their best YMCA!

Then, they decorated ornaments!

Needless to say, Santa was beat after his rounds.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and wish you the happiest of new years!!!