Qidong, the earliest dawn city in China & it's cuisine

Qidong is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Nantong, situated in the north of Yangtze River, the opposite of Shanghai.


In my previous trip to Shanghai, I dropby to have a glimpse of the city.

Dubbed "the earliest dawn" in China, Qidong is the most eastern city in China's eastern coast, facing Shanghai on the opposite of Yangtze River. Geographically, the land was formed by sediment of sand particles brought by the Yangtze River in a history of more than a thousand years.

After Christmas 2011, the bridge connecting Qidong and Shanghai has opened and it only take about an hour from Qidong to Pudong airport in Shanghai. Unfortunately, I was rushing to catch the ferry over to ChongMing island to connect back to Shanghai by road and that whole journey took me two an a half hour. I was there just 2 days earlier before they officially open the bridge.

What is good there? I don't know bout others but this place has very good seafood cos it is at the coast! Managed to have a wonderful lunch before I left for Shanghai.

Sliced abalone. Simple, fresh and nice.

At first I thot this is a plate of fried potatoes but surprised me, it tasted better than potatoes. A kind of roots, local product.

Drunkened prawn. I have not tasted this for a long time. The prawns here were slightly bigger and they soaked them into the brown liquor and served raw. Since that was my last day in China, I decided to take! No regret cos it was so sweet and hooray, no stomach upset!

A kind of local sliced fish meat cook with garlic and special sauce. Great taste.

Prawn soup. Simple and refeshing.

Braised fish skin. Sounded weird? but tasted great! Haha. I enjoyed this dish.

Surprised to see this dish here. The small white /yellow fishes. I tasted that in Yangzhou. Apparently, they shipped to Yangzhou daily. This is very nice.

I have been hunting for this vegetable during this winter season. Missed that for a year. Finally I had the chance to enjoy it on my last day of the trip. Haha. They did it in soup form, very much cantonese style. If this is done in Shanghai, it will be cooked with a mixture of white liquor. The small tou vegetable.

Surprised to see a sea fish, pomphret. I didn't take at all. Hehe, too normal in our country!

Another highlight of the lunch is this baby yam. This is shipped out to the whole China and a delicacy in this small town, eventhou they called it city! Well, I took one and it was really good.

All the seafood that we consumed were catch of the day. That made this small place very special and with the connection of the bridge, U will expect the town to boom cos people will come over for seafood!

Happy trying.

Shanghai Golden Anchor Restaurant

I am very loyal to a few restaurants in Shanghai and I have to say that my number one favourite is still the Old Jes Se (http://tangeddie.blogspot.com/2011/12/favourite-old-shanghai-restaurant-in.html). However, each time if I could not get a place there, I will opt for this restaurant, Golden Anchor (0086 5258 1097) located at Xin Hua Building, Xin Hua Road, Changning Dist.

This is a very much newer restaurant and the food is great too. Mixture of old and new Shanghainese food. By the way, u still need to book to avoid disappointment!

During my recent trip to Shanghai, I dropby again to this restaurant and we had a great time. So much food were wasted, the typical china man style.

Steamed chicken in chinese wine is a must order dish here. Perfect heat and the stock was really so tasty. Indeed, this is my favourite dish here.

Steamed chicken in chinese liquer 

We had a few starters, among which the cold duck marinated in a special sauce is extremely nice.

Duck tongue is normally a starter. Unfortunately, they run out of the braised type which is my favourite. This style is simple and have to say that it is so-so only.

My friend ordered this crab meat dish as we were a bit lazy to have the whole hairy crab. Slightly difference from Jes Se and this is being modernised. Taste great cos it is the hairy crab season now! I enjoyed it with a little vinegar on top.

The cold fish is just so so only.

I enjoyed the spare ribs more. Simple and nice but a little too sweet for me. Well, Shanghainese has sweet tooth!

I have forgotten the name of this fish, could be kwee fish but this is really good. U can only find it in Shanghai.

Since we have ordered the steamed chicken, we decided to opt for the fishball soup. The fishballs were hugh but a little soft for our standards. Anyway, no complains cos this is their style.

We were so full and most of the dishes were half or partially finished. However, this crazy friend of mind ordered a few desserts too.

The glutinous rice cake is very nice and we still take one each eventhou we were so full.

Pan fried bun is a special dimsum in Shanghai and this place did this very well. Again, we gobbled one each.

As my friend knew that I like pumpkin soup, he actually ordered it eventhou we all have pulled up our white flags. Anyway, the pumpkin soup is very good and I enjoyed a small bowl.

It sounded like a torture but I assured u that we had a wonderful time. A little heartache cos there were so much leftovers. I think we need to educate the Chinamen not to waste food. This has becoming a very bad culture for decades.

Prices are quite reasonable and much cheaper than Old Jes Se.

Happy hunting if u r in Shanghai.