Mint.Music: Food Review:A taste of Shanghai at Centrepoint

Welcome To Shanghai!

Actually, you don't have to travel all the way to Shanghai to satisfy your Shanghainese-food cravings. Head down to Eastern Restaurant at Centrepoint instead.

Looks like Moses Lim got ahead of me. He was already there when I reached.

Even he says it's good. I can't wait to feast! However it's not going to be candlelight dinner with Moses Lim though. It's going to be.... a feast with a group of friendly bloggers & freshly-made friends- (clockwise) Wendy, Valentine, Yongwei, Dennis, Ginny, Joyce, Yingzi(standing), Zelia and me!

I'm so happy because Eastern Restaurant serve hot chinese tea in BIG glasses!

Fret not if you can't read these chinese characters on the menu. All you require is just to recognise the stars under the lines. These stars meant that they are the chef's recommended "MUST TRY" dishes.

Alright I'm kidding,

The English translations of the dishes are on the top left hand corner of the menu.

3,2,1- FEAST!

Question: How do you differentiate between a normal customer and a blogger?

Answer:

The one who starts taking out his/her camera and starts snapping away at the food for the next 10minutes determines the blogger.

Are you ready for the mouth-watering dishes?!

(not by order of preference):

Cold dish: 绍兴醉鸡 (Chicken marinated with shao shing wine)

The meat is tender and soft- QQ texture. Also, it's not chilled meat taken straight out from the fridge. The meat is slightly chiller than room temperature- a wonderful starter dish for meat lovers.

Cold Dish: 皮蛋豆腐（Century Egg with Beancurd)

Garnished unselfishly with roasted nuts; Beancurd lovers, this is a must-try, must-try, must-try! Be prepared to be overwhelmed with the smoothness of the white beancurd and crisp of the roasted nuts with a surprise bursting flavour of the chopped century eggs exploding in your mouth! The is one dish which you can control its saltiness; spread more sauce on the beancurd if you want it to be more salty and vice versa.

A heavenly yet much healthier delicacy indeed!

Yingzi and I loved it so much we ordered a second plate and finished it up in 10minutes.

红油抄手(Wanton with Hot Chilli Sauce)

Spicy index: 3/5

The concept of placing the spring onions aside on the tablespoon is interesting. Add as much to your preference. Don't waste. Love the freshness wrapped up within.

胶原蛋白拉面(Collagen La-Mien)

Premium Collagen + Handmade Noodles = Collagen La-Mien.

You heard it- men and women alike- this is the first and only COLLAGEN La-mien! Eating ramien can helped you maintain and enhance your beautiful skin too! This is a definite refreshing idea. First of all, you can a form of beauty supplement. At the same time, you can satisfy your empty stomach.

What an awesome deal!

*GRIN*

Best of all, it is on PROMOTION: $8.80 (U.P $9.80-$12.80 according to the size)

BONUS: Free gift worth $9.90 with minimum order of $25 and above.

担担面(Dan-dan noodle)

The bloggers who ate this went 'thumbs-up' for every mouthful.

The bowl was empty by the time I had finished my other dishes and heading for this one.

I'll head back to try again with my friends some other time.

炸酱面 (noodle with minced meat & mushroom in spicy sauce)

Zelia insist no matter how full I was, I had to give it a try. In the end I emptied the bowl on her behalf. *OPS*

I was telling Zelia and Yingzi that the taste of this noodle is indescribable. The sweetness of the sauce is really addictive. Mouth after mouth, I kept going until I finished the last of it.

After rounds of busy eating & photo-taking, it was then that I realize the kitchen was right beside me- seperated by thin clear glass panels. The noodles are actually handmade in their open concept kitchen-on the spot! Shifu's hands were so quick, the dough were pulled into noodles in less than 30 seconds.

How I wish I can try make some myself!

东方仪品小笼包 (Eastern Yi Ping Steamed Pork Dumpling)

"It's bursting, it's bursting! Quick, put it in your mouth!"

Made of slightly thicker skin as compared to the other pork dumplings I ate, I seriously don't think that the dumpling will burst that easily. Nonetheless when it really did after I bit into it(in my mouth), the sweetness of the pork has seamed into the soup so thoroughly that the after taste still lingers for awhile at the tip of your throat before it totally vanish down totally.

上海抄年糕 (Fried Shanghai Rice Cake)

Makes me think of the korean style fried rice cake with kimchi, without the Kimchi of course. This dish taste like those vegetables with oyster sauce fried with rice cakes- but I don't know if it's really oyster sauce or not. That's what this dish reminds of.

香江酸辣汤 (Spicy & Sour Soup in "Hong Kong" Style)

Comes in a claypot with fish slices. It is not anything like TOM YAM at all. You'll be able to taste the sour and the spiciness separately. Allow the soup to tease your taste buds slightly longer while biting on the fresh fish slices.

扬州抄饭 (Yang Zhou Fried Rice)

Yongwei ate so much there weren't much left for me! I'm a fried rice lover. The rice was fried to the right texture.

If you tried frying fried rice yourself, you'll find that the cooked rice will turn watery and lumped themselves together. That is because the fire is not big enough. When you use really big fire to tackle the problem, the edges of the rice grains will become really burnt. They say, the simpler the dish, the more difficult it is to make to perfection. Fried rice is one of the simplest dish to make- just throw in some mixed veges, meat, scrambled eggs. Add in the rice and fry. You'll get fried rice. But under every plate of yummy fried rice, there is so much more to learn and experience. There is so much story to tell...

Seriously, you would be able to smell the fragrance immediately as the plate brushes past.

龙井虾仁 (I suppose this is Shrimp in "Long Jing" style)

The direct translation of Long Jing is Dragon Well. Long Jing Tea is a famous variety of green tea from China, reowned for its high quality, with a portion of the production is reserved for the Chinese government customers.

I wished they'd peeled off the head and the shells of the prawns- the reason why I didn't touch this dish. However I did tried to bite off the shell of one of them and the sauce blended very well with the prawns! :)

I can't wait to introduce this section! I think by now the whole world knows that I'm a sweet tooth and desserts happen to be my favorite!

沙流包 (Flowing custard bun)

The fillings- custard and bits of yolk from salted eggs!

The dough: could be smoother and thinner.

I feel myself salivating just thinking of the fillings. Freshly steamed, the mist fogged my camera lens as I tried to take a close up shot of this baby!