chang's garden

chang's garden
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

though not mind-blowing, chang's garden was a good and authentic introduction to specifically shanghainese food. i came here with a large group, sat with 8 other pleasure palateers and we sampled 11 dishes, some better than others.

boiled peanuts: this is a nice little snack while you wait. it tasted faintly of allspice.

pork ribs in lotus leaf: consists of a good-sized pork spare rib that has been wrapped in sticky rice with spices and then a lotus leaf. the lotus leaf imparts an earthy flavor to the rice and pork. the rice had a slight red chili zing, and the meat was so tender and moist it came easily off the bone.

bamboo fungus with chinese squash: the squash was light and tasted faintly of rock but not much else. not exactly earthy, but of the earth. the bamboo fungus had a crunchy texture, and soaked up the tasty broth this dish was sauteed in. it was a little sparse on the fungus, which although it doesn't sound appetizing, was tasty and the better of the two.

greens and bean sheets: don't remember exactly the name, but this dish had largish, green shellbeans with a diced green vegetable and thinly sliced tofu sheets. it was more interesting for the novelty. the bean sheet tasted like the way raw, freshly made tofu from an asian market smells. there really wasn't any sauce or strong flavor. it had more natural vegetable and tofu flavors.

seaweed fried fish: chunks of fish are battered with strands of seaweed and deep fried. it tasted freshly of the sea. my boyfriend liked it a lot.

five spice beef pancake: beef is thinly sliced and well done, wrapped in a fried pancake with green onions, cilantro and bits of cucumber. between the fragrant green onions & cilantro, i really couldn't taste the five spice. other people liked it. i thought it was interesting, but the beef itself was not overly flavorful.

xia long bao: the pork filling was moist but not overflowing with soup as i had expected and had hints of ginger.

rice cakes: round discs of chewy rice starch are sauteed with pork, greens and scallions. it reminded me of chow fun, except chewier. i liked the slightly smoky taste.

steamed fish: can't remember exactly which steamed fish it was, but it was cooked in a dark, sweet and salty sauce with scallions. the fish had absorbed what sauce there was. it was flavorful, but i wished i had more sauce to drip over the white meat inside.

tea-smoked duck: i was surprised by the tastiness of the duck. any hints of tea were subtle, but the skin and meat were good and neither dry nor too fatty. it would have been great if they had taken out the bones, though as it was a little hard to eat with the dough cakes.

tung po pork: i'm a pig. i can't help myself. this was my favorite dish. although the inside meat was a little on the dry side, i enjoyed the dark, sweet and salty braising sauce with hints of allspice and loved the pork fat floating atop and melting in your mouth as you envelop it with your tongu. it was like butter, but less creamy and more concentrated with pork flavor.

chicken hot pot with water chestnuts: the sauce was sweeter, saltier and thicker than the pork. it really needs to be eaten with the steamed rice. the chestnuts were a nice texture contrast to the chewy chicken. my pet peeve though was pulling out the little bits of bone.

the service started out a little rocky. they brought out the wrong pork dish--mu shu pork--and it took about five minutes of chaotic "arguing" with the waitress that it was neither what we ordered nor what we wanted. her english was a little rough, and she kept insisting it was good, which was beside the point. this was righted, and the rest of the evening was fine, with the food being brought out quickly and us getting attentive enough service at our large table.