MAYA | Mexican | Shanghai

As I think about this place, I still yearn to eat the food here. In my more recent trips, I had decided that after traveling to Shanghai over nearly two years, it was time to start exploring some of the places that my colleagues were raving about. Ron kept raving about their guacomole & I decided it was time to test it out. So, one fine afternoon, I decided I was going to head to Maya, printed the directions from their web site: http://www.cosmogroup.cn/maya/and tried to tell the hotel concierge that this place existed and that he was to give the taxi guys directions!!

He wasn't quite sure it existed & skeptically directed my cabbie in the general direction. Sure enough, it is a minor bit tricky to find, as it is actually off the street inside an apartment complex - watch for the numbers and look for an entry gate to an apartment complex where there is a teeny sign proclaiming Maya is inside the complex. Once you find it, rest easy & get ready for an explosion of taste in your palate. Well, be also ready to shell out some RMB, as they are a tad bit pricey - this is, after all, the french quarter!



I decided I was going to munch on some nachos & salsa (stingy quantity), a garlic & jalapeno quesadilla & a unique chile relleno (with pumpkin & goat's cheese and a walnut & pomegranate reduction - whatever that is!). I have to say the food was plain blissful!! simple as that!! The garlic and jalapeno combination was certainly something to write about!! Made it worth the trip absolutely.



The Chile Relleno was the right combination, with promise of spice that isn't delivered and sweetness that is simply delicious!! Its a fusion like something I had never tasted before. I wiped the plate clean, resolving to come back, which I did with Ron. The next time when Ron & I came over, we tried the guacamole, which was reasonably OK (I think Charan & I make a better guac), some tacos - after having had tacos at several places, I have decided tacos aren't for the vegetarian palate. Somehow, when the person across from you is oohing & aahing, you just done get the sense that you are done justice!! We did end up ordering two plates of the garlic jalapeno quesadilla. It took considerable effort to leave.

A caution: The second time we were over, we found it a tad hard to find taxis to get back (given it was a bit late & there was some rain/ intense cold in the city). So, you may want to ask your host to call a cab for you instead. Another restaurants in the same area that is well acclaimed is the Mesa Manifesto.

Pane e Vino - Shanghai

After looking for new non-Indian food places to eat in Shanghai, I read about Pane e Vino in the City weekend magazine - http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/dining/italian/has/pane-e-vino/ - the review in the magazine was better than the one online. It talked about the ambience, the Caprese Salad & the fabulous thin crust pizza that they serve.

On a cold wintry night in Shanghai, I decided it was pizza time and moreover, time to find a new spot - I also decided I am going to take public transport. I love being able to take public transport everywhere. After a bit of online research, I found that this place is just a gentle walk from the Shaanxi Rd station - So, I decided to take Line No. 10 from Nanjing East Rd station and arrived at Shaanxi Rd (S) station. Take exit #1 and once you reach the top of the stairs, take a left (or ask the people hawking wares outside for MaoMing Road). The next intersection is Mao Ming Road - take a right at the intersection and walk a couple blocks and there you are staring at a Mexican place, Blue Frog, Melrose Pizza, Pane e Vino and a Moroccan restaurant in a little stretch in the middle of what appears to be no where.

The ambience, as described resembles that of a tiny Italian restaurant you could find in the Little Italies of the world, giving you the feel of a cozy family owned restaurant. I arrived late (9:20 PM), was frowned upon & told the place was closed. However, they were willing to make a pizza for me. So, quickly, I decided I wanted there famed Margarita pizza. The pizza arrived rather quickly & as promised was about 10-11" in diameter, but was extra thin that it had to melt in your mouth - trust me, this is thinner than the brooklyn style pizzas that New York has become famous for. The servers were a bit jumpy literally willing & wishing for me to get the heck out of there. Given I didn't really need the urging, I devoured the pie in a few minutes and walked out quickly. I'd give the food & ambience a double plus & the service a minus - it feels like a good cozy place to get down to with a bunch of friends, a bit earlier in the evening.

Line No. 10 also stops at Xintiandi & Yu Yuan Garden (places that I didn't know the subway went to). So, I stopped at the Xintiandi station & found out the station is just a block away from the central Xintiandi party places - wandered the area for a bit & returned to the comfort & saftety of a nice cozy bed. All in all a good night.

Slice Deli - Shanghai

Slice Deli is an upscale expat focused place, one of the two locations of which is near the Biyun road Carrefour store and right next to the expat school playground in Pudong Shanghai. Location & menus are at: http://www.slice-deli.com/locations_en.htm

The sterile ambience is sort of inviting - the food is reasonably tasty and of shanghai price - meaning, this will likely be equivalent to what you'd pay in a nice restaurant in the states or the UK -

While vegetarian fare is limited, the options presented are indeed decent - the 12" pizzas are sumptuous (recommend not trying the pumpkin pizza, despite how exotic as it sounds).



The vegetarian panini sandwich featured below, tastes exactly like it looks - excellent. So, all in all, it works out - they have a little store that sells stuff there as well that you can take back with you.

Shanghai Xintiandi + Xin Ji Shi + Vegetarian authentic chinese food

After staying in Shanghai with Charan for a week & complaining to Jack daily about how we didn't get any authentic Chinese food as we were vegetarians, Jack & Lulu took pity on us and took us out to Xintiandi and gave us a tour of the place, the french architecture.

If you don't have the luxury of a chinese speaking friend, don't despair. Xintiandi (pronounced Shin-tendi) is well-known with the cab drivers & the hotel concierge can easily send you off there. It is on the Puxi side of the river. However, this area is designed for the tourists & especially packed with american/ european fare. There are steakhouses, breweries, cafes and a few authentic chinese restaurants as well. I have heard good things about another Chinese restaurant in Xintiandi called "Southern Beauty" which I haven't been to yet.

Jack & Lulu said this was one of the good places to go to & so we did. They made us believe that Chinese food is truly vegetarian, at its heart. Historically, meat was only sparsely available and was consumed only by the rich. Hence, the average daily fare consisted of rice and vegetables - it isn't true anymore.

One of the things I find immensely useful in Chinese restaurants is the picture menu. Xin Ji Shi does have a few pictures in their menu .. but, unfortunately, not all of the above are well represented in the menu. From left to right, we had a tofu dish with mushrooms in a sweet sauce and garnished with salty peanuts, a tofu dish with coriander leaves & spices (not my favorite), lotus root stuffed with sticky rice, steamed and sliced - this was just wonderful and then, a stir fry of a combination of different vegetables including bamboo shoots that was mildly spicy and very tasty. Not represented in the photographs, Xin Ji Shi serve an "onion bread" that is oozing with oil (as most shanghainese foods are), but is just simply fabulous.

Chinese foods are served family style, as in the bowl is set in the center of the table and each person starts poking at it with their chopsticks - the ability to use chopsticks helps. If not, good luck asking for forks. A good idea would be to ask your concierge to write down the above menu in chinese and also to write down how to ask for forks in chinese.

would certainly recommend Xin Ji Shi for a taste of authentic Chinese food, yet very vegetarian. Let me know if you find it.

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shanghai + the blue frog + veggie burger

Continuing the section on "being vegetarian in shanghai", here is the second post - we had dinner at The Blue Frog, which I guess serves as a pub in the evenings for the "american fare"starved. The menu resembles what you'd find in a reasonable american grille - burgers & the kind. The atmosphere resembles the same. There is one Blue Frog near the Super Brand Mall and another in the vicinity of Carrefour in Biyun Road near the Jinqiao commercial center.

We found two vegetarian dishes at the Blue Frog - a veggie burger that claims there is a falafel in between two buns and a pasta. The pasta is something you'd order only if you are forced to - of course, the table has some ketchup & the Mexican Maggi. You can get some Tabasco as well, on request. The garlic bread that accompanied the pasta made it taste a lot better.

The veggie burger does not have a falafel inside, by any means. It does a vegetarian patty between two buns and comes with all the fixings a burger should. The patty has moderate flavor, or lack thereof. A genorous portion of ketchup & Tabasco adds some taste to it. The fries were reasonably good though

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If you crave a vegetarian burger and wish to take a break from the chinese food, the Blue frog is a good choice.

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Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple - Vegetarian Restaurant

The Jade Buddha temple is quite popular and is on the Puxi side and most hotels should be able to help you get there. Once you get there, if you walk around inside, it is easy to find the vegetarian restaurant.

We tried several things there (things were much cheaper here at the temple). The place appears a bit dingy and being comfortable with using chop sticks is a definite plus. In trying things, we loved the veggie dumplings soup style - most people at the temple don't speak English and chances are you have to look for this picture in a menu with pictures & point. Rest assured that it is well worth the finding & pointing - one advantage you have in the Buddha temple is that everything there is vegetarian & so, even if you point at something that looks a bit silly, chances are you may not like the taste, but your vegetarian vows are still intact!

Again, if I haven't said it enough, the "veggie dumplings soup style" is served piping hot - so, watch out for the tongue burn, but tastes best and I haven't found a comparable veggie dumpling elsewhere in Shanghai so far. Enjoy & let us know what you think.

 

 

 

 

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Being a vegetarian in Shanghai

I am going to write a series of blog posts on being a vegetarian in Shanghai - I have had the good fortune to be in Shanghai for over 45 days this year and I have found Chinese, Indian, Nepalese & western vegetarian foods in Shanghai. I will review them each here, post photos & recommend how to order. But, for starters, here are some of the restaurants where I ate in Shanghai:
1. Xintiandi has a chinese restaurant called Xin Ji Shi
2. Most shanghaiites would recommend "Gong-De-Lin" - this is a buddhist place & by definition everything they serve is vegetarian. They have "mock meats" that are made of tofu with the texture of meat - not sure which vegetarian would want to eat that
3. Nizang - A nepalese restaurant in Pudong
4. Punjabi Restuarant - Indian restaurant in "Thumb Plaza" in Pudong, by the Carrefour store
5. Element Fresh - in a few places, but by the Super Brand Mall and Jinqiao commerical centre
6. New York City Pizza - has a cheese pizza that is ok
7. The flying fox - an irish pub that serves a decent lunch
8. Din-Tai-Fung - a dimsum place in super brand mall, with a vegetarian dimsum as well as a "taiwanese noodles" with a spicy peanut sauce that is absolutely delicious
9. Hongkongese restaurant on top of Ba-Bai-Ban (Next Age) department store in Pudong
10. Vedas - an upscale Indian restaurant in Puxi
11. The Pudong Intercontinental - has a few items on the menu; wouldn't recommend going there unless you actuall stay there
12. Face - an exceptional thai restaurant with some veggie items on its menu
13. the vegetarian restaurant in the "Jade Buddha temple" - I am not sure if it was our hunger, but, man, the soup style veggie dumplings is something Charan & I are still talking about!!! - be comfortable with chop sticks though!
14. The Blue Frog - an American burger joint that has a veggie burger that is palatable

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