A Taste of Shanghai 小南國

Quite a while ago… On a rainy Friday night, we came to this Shanghainese restaurant. I’ve been wanted to try it since one day I drove by the plaza and saw the name of the restaurant. It caught my attention because I used to frequent the 小南國 in Hong Kong. I like the food there, including the dessert 心太軟 (Heart too soft = stuffed red date)

心太軟 – 最具代表性的蘇杭名點之一。將紅棗用水泡軟瀝乾，對切去籽後備用，糯米粉加水搓成粉團，再揉成小粒狀釀入紅棗心中，以大火蒸十分鐘至熟後，淋上由桂 花醬與冰糖煮成的糖漿。心太軟的滋味香Q甜軟，咀嚼紅棗，漸漸散開的甜味充滿口中，格外滑嫩順喉。 (More…)

That night, we ordered another famous Shanghainese dish – 東坡肉 (slow-braised pork belly). There are so many different versions of stories about how this dish got named after a Chinese poet, a scholar. (More…) But looking at these cubes of braised meats, how exactly it got its name somehow didn’t really matter to me. The belly consisted of half fat and half meat, but when you eat it, it shouldn’t taste as greasy as it may look. The slow-braised pork belly there was actually quite good. 3 pieces per person, plus a bowl of rice! Yummm… It tasted good – somehow reminds me of “lard + rice” (豬油撈飯) Not very healthy, but it’s ok… I’m not eating that everyday. (More…)

We also ordered the 蘿蔔絲餅 (Turnip Cake… this name is quite misleading since the turnip cake i’m talking about here is made in a way that shredded turnip mixed with green onion, dried small shrimps is put inside a dough, and baked.) The turnip cake we had was so-so… the turnip was a bit raw, and the crust was kinda hard.

(Two recipes of this cake: 1, 2)

Since we only ordered two things, it’s not fair to judge the restaurant based on that. However, I found that it took them a bit too long to cook/deliver the food. Given the size of the restaurant, the turnover should be faster. Service was ok. The dinner was about $20ish.

FYI: A Taste of Shanghai 小南國
360 Highway 7 East. unit 15-16 Richmond hill. (富景商場內)
Tel: 905-707-7355