Shanghainese Cuisine in Hong Kong

Stir-fried river shrimps are a classic Shanghainese dish

Hong Kong has some Shanghainese associations where residents with ties to the city can have their favourite Shanghainese dishes.

On this trip I was lucky to eat at two of them. At Ning Po Residents Association at the foot of D'Aguilar Street, my friend ordered stir-fried river shrimps, drunken chicken, stinky tofu and spinach with broad beans.

Two giant (and pungent!) pieces of stinky tofu

River shrimps aren't readily available in Canada, they are tiny, yet plump and sweet. I can't even imagine de-shelling them... stir-fried they are coated in a glistening cornstarch sauce and then dipped in dark vinegar. Delicious.

I haven't had stinky tofu in Vancouver either, so why not here, especially as my friend likes eating it too? At Ning Po we get two giant slabs that are deep-fried and before they even arrive at our table we can smell them. The tofu is piping hot, and then biting into it, it has a slightly crunchy exterior and then very soft and smooth inside.

For dessert we had Shanghainese deep-fried souffle balls filled with banana. The egg whites are whipped up, and then dollops of the mashed banana are added to the egg white to create a ball and then put in hot oil and cooked for a few minutes before they are scooped up, dried and then icing sugar dusted on top.

Lion's head meatball with cabbage in broth

The ones here were so light, fluffy and delicious. 

A few days later I had a chance to eat at Kiangsu Chekiang and Shanghai Residents Association also in Central. Our generous host ordered several dishes, like the stir-fried river shrimps, and giant lion's head meatballs in soup with cabbage. The meatballs were soft in texture, made with fatty pork but the broth barely showed any oil. 

For dessert we had lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice in osmanthus syrup and lotus seeds. This is a pretty laborious dish, having to clean the lotus root, stuff them with glutinous rice, steam them and braise in the osmanthus syrup. 

What a treat.

Stuffed lotus root with lotus seeds