Grandmothers' Restaurant, Shanghai, China

Grandmothers' Restaurant, Shanghai, China
Sunday 1 May, 2005

I walked past this restaurant everyday in Shanghai and the first few times laughed out loudly at the name. It conjures up an image for westerners. Surprisingly, our local guide walked us inside on Day 3 in Shanghai - it is nothing to look at but we were led upstairs - very narrow, steep stairs, to a private room with airconditioning - thank god!

The food here is fantastic - cold duck, cucumber soaked in garlic, chicken and peanuts, water spinach with garlic pieces, thick chilli soup with fresh tofu (to die for...) and massive pork pieces. They don't quite get the concept of cold beer but after several visits we had educated them, so they had it on ice and waiting...

After about 4 visits over 10 days I can definitely say this was my favourite place to eat - not flash, cheap as chips and when the beer is cold - priceless!