Shanghai Grandmother's Restaurant, Fuzhou Road, Shanghai

Shanghai Grandmother's Restaurant, Fuzhou Road, Shanghai
Friday 12 May, 2006

First thing....forget about the name. I have been dreaming about this place since I first visited 12 months ago. Located a short walk back from the Bund, Shanghai Grandmother's Restaurant is a real find. It was here that I was first introduced to Grandmother's beancurd. It may sound gross but it is quite possibly the best Chinese dish I have ever eaten.

The interior is very basic - mismatched tables and chairs and staff that smile alot because you don't speak Chinese and they don't speak English. There are a number of tables downstairs with a non smoking section in a small room off the main floor - thank goodness as the Chinese love to smoke and eat. There is also seating upstairs with a few private rooms up the narrow stairs on the 2nd floor.

Tonight we came prepared. I had arranged for the dishes we wanted to order to be written in Chinese so I could literally just hand it over to the staff. This was really amusing as the staff weren't expecting it. We ordered a feast of:

- cucumber, garlic and chilli (brilliant refreshing starter)
- grandmother's beancurd also known as hot chilli beancurd (one of the hottest dishes I have ever enjoyed and absolutely delicious with fresh silken tofu tossed with thin beef slices and a thick chilli sauce)
- kung pow chicken (small chicken pieces tossed with peanuts and chilli in a thick sauce)

There wasn't much talking over dinner as this was the best meal I have enjoyed in Shanghai so far. As we were leaving we discovered a staff member (or rather chef that spoke English) and we spoke with him at length about another famous dish with small chicken pieces cooked with dried chillies. He wrote it out in Chinese for us and encouraged us to come back. It didn't take long to twist my arm....we booked a table for Sunday night.

Shanghai Grandmother's Restaurant - 70 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai - 86 21 6321 6613