New Shanghai feast

[yumyum]

As a late Chinese New Year celebration, a group of intrepid hounds pounced on New Shanghai in Chinatown for a feast. We didn't special order any dishes, but instead did my favorite kind of ordering -- everyone just called out a dish or two they were interested in. We ended up with mostly Sichuan dishes, but also a few others that I never would have thought of.

We ordered:
bamboo shoots: super ma la baby
dan dan noodles
"husband and wife": variety meats in a spicy numbing oil
mini pork dumplings in chile oil: these were ridiculously good
rabbit with peanuts
black pepper scallops
cumin lamb
shanghai rice cakes with shrimp
bok choy with vinegar: new to me, this dish should be in every order, the vinegar is saucome!
twice cooked pork belly: we got this two ways, Sichuan style and regular
pea pod stems

I like some of the dishes at Fuloon just a tiny bit better, but it's really neck and neck and we are lucky to have great options both downtown and in the burbs.

Here are a few pictures, hopefully my DCs will chime in with more info....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7284555@...

[Niblet]

Agree with nsenada about the rabbit, don't know whether to crunch through the small pieces of mostly bones, or nibble off the tiny bits of meat. If anyone knows how it's intended to be eaten I'd be interested. Those bamboo shoots are addictive, just perfectly spicy, sour, sweet, salty and they still taste so fresh. Plus the texture is welcome when most dishes are braised or steamed (except the crunchy rabbit). And the cumin lamb is just crazy-good. In fact the only issue I have going there is that it feeds a craving to go back for more.

[StriperGuy]

Nibble crunch nibble, I loved the rabbit, but I know what you mean.

[heathermb]

Given my total wimpy-ness when it comes to spicy food I was limited in what I could eat this night. I did try the dan dan noodles (from the top of the dish with less sauce). They were delicious. I also enjoyed a sauce-less wonton :-), the cumin lamb and the not-spicy pork belly with leeks. For me though, the stars of the night were the bok choy in vinegar sauce and the rice cakes with shrimp. I WILL be going back for those! Oh, and the pea pod stems were bright and delicious as well.

[lissy]

I really enjoyed those rice cakes with shrimp. That was new to me and something I would definitely order again. I love pea pod stems and theirs were quite tasty and I did especially like the vinegar sauce that the bok choy came in. Oh and the wontons were fantastic. It was great fun and delicious!

[MC Slim JB]

I've had about half those dishes there, and you've given me some good notes for my next visit. I'm not putting it up there with FuLoon yet, but it's definitely one of my favorites of the moment in Chinatown. Very versatile: I can bring just about anyone there.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Allstonian and I had those bamboo shoots the last time we were in there, as a last-minute replacement when they'd run out of our first choice of veg: they're just amazingly good. May have been my favorite dish there.

[nsenada]

Yes, they were clearly quite fresh, too.

[Alcachofa]

Those bamboo shoots are amazing. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_e...

Also, really dug the wontons, the bok choi. The cuminy lamb was the best I ever had it. Usually it is crazy garlicy, which has its place, but this time is was all about cumin mastery.

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New Shanghai Restaurant
21 Hudson St, Boston, MA 02111

[9lives]

I love the bamboo shoots too. A few other favorites besides what's been listed are the Peking Spicy Cabbage, Shredded chicken w/Spicy Special sauce, and Boiled Beef Fillet/red pepper and bean sprouts.

[barleywino]

also like their Chengdu chicken (I tried their version of Chungqing chicken the other day (not on menu anymore iirc, although it used to be) and it was just out of control heatwise)

[galangatron]

how was the regular pork belly prepared?

[nsenada]

Very similar to SG on the sichuan 2x cooked pork - cut like thick sliced bacon, in a dark sweet and spicy sauce with rough chopped green peppers and leeks. I think I may have liked the "regular" version better, as it was essentially the same, but without the sauce (and could concentrate on the porky flavor more).

[yumyum]

I'm glad you could remember. At this point we'd had 74 bottles of wine and the details were a little bit fuzzy.

Nubbins. Heh.

[nsenada]

My shirt wound up being a very good guide to the menu, as per usual.

[nsenada]

That was a fine feast (and recap). I usually go there for lunch and cheap out with a rice plate special, but the quality of the food at dinner (off the non-lunch special menu) was way better. Which is not to say they aren't still a superior option at lunch.

This was my second experience with peanut butter-less dan dan noodles, the first having been at Sichuan Garden in Framingham, and these were comparably delicious. I'd say heat levels in general were a little higher and lengthier at New Shanghai. I'd also say that the food at NS was a bit "lighter" overall than SG (though for me, that's not necessarily a plus). The sweetness of the bok choy was surprising, and worked really well.

Husband and Wife Lung Slices scared the bejeezus out of me both in terms of name and appearance, but were quite delicious, in a mildly cinnamon flavored, brutally hot sauce. I think I needed some training in how to eat the rabbit, it seemed like there might have been some meat in there, but I had trouble extracting it. What I did pry out tasted great. Also really liked the cuminy nubbins of lamb, and I could have eaten 500 of the pork dumplings (may try SG's version this weekend). Would definitely go back, and maybe give their fryolater a workout.

[Nab]

Sounds like a fine feast, indeed. I can understand why the "lightness" may not bode well for you nsenada, as I've noticed your statin of choice is a weekly 3-pound serving of pastrami. ;)

The husband & wife (aka fu qi fi pian, aka beef & maw, etc) is something I like to order at every Sichuan restaurant. I find the New Shanghai version to be quite good -- meaty and spicy.

(photo courtesy of Niblet):
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4...

Those lil' sichuantons are mighty tasty. I would like 500 of them right now please.

[nsenada]

We shall see how the miracle pastrami diet does very shortly. If only they could have worked some into the wontons - now that's fusion for ya.

[barleywino]

if you find the pastrami diet to be too lean for you, maybe you can switch to foie gras pastrami http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeanda...

[nsenada]

Holy moly - that is utterly insane. I wonder if there are any studies on the health benefits of foie gras.

[nsenada]

Just realized, I meant Sichuan Gourmet, not Garden

[nsenada]

Just had dinner at Sichuan Gourmet in Framingham - the New Shanghai wontons were way better, much fresher and more flavorful. The SG double cooked bacon was truly amazing again, though. One of the single best things I've eaten in a long time.

[barleywino]

for a very different take on twice cooked pork belly, try the version that comes with the ricotta ravioli at Scampo-- small matchsticks of delicately crisped, almost puffy, pork belly (tastes more like guanciale actually), giving some welcome bursts of saltiness and texture to an otherwise subtle and melt in your mouth dish of pasta (in a CHinese restaurant, such a dish might be given a name like Pigs in Snow :)