Pudi Boutique Hotel Shanghai

Eating Snake - a cultural & gastronomic experience

by MarioPortugal

This represents a unique life experience. At least for me !!!

On my first trip to China I wanted to try some Snake !!. I must confess it was not a easy decision of mine but, as a cultural experience, I wanted to do so.

I was told that Snake is not something that Chinese people do eat regularly at home since it requires a lot of work when prepare it for cooking.

For our dining experience our group chose a fine Chinese restaurant in Shanghai. The Snake was ordered by the size and it seems that about 2 kilos a piece, being not too big and also not too small, is a good sizable specimen.

I learned that those Snakes are grown and fed for the sole purpose of being eaten by humans. Therefore I guess there's a whole industry behind that business. The specimens are then kept alive in cages located at the restaurants until a customer asks for it.

That was our case. A specimen of about 2 kilos was chosen and by our requirement it was then brought alive to our table (as pictured on this tip) since we wanted to check it alive too. After some additional time it was then brought fried cooked and ready to be eaten.

One has to wear a plastic glove in one hand since the sole use of chop sticks makes it impossible to reach the snake's meat.

I found out that snakes contain dozens of small bones. Therefore, would the Snake had been a smaller specimen, it would also have been more difficult to reach the meat between those smaller bones.

It tasted good. I liked it. Maybe because it was fried and cooked with some spices. Somehow it tasted like cooked rabbit the way my mother used to cook for me long ago. As a curiosity, some people I spoke with afterwards told me that snake's flavour reminds them grilled Chicken.

Anyway, overall, it tasted good to me and it is a gastronomic & cultural experience I do not regret.

SPEED GALORE!

by racayadi

This is the way to go from Shanghai airport PUDONG, into the city....

the MAGLEV is worth the 40 yuan (with that day's boarding pass) - 50 yuan without, one way..
it reached a speed of 430 km/h -- did it ever feel good to go that fast...
it is a short ride, links you to the metro, line 2 that takes you to Nanjing Rd, People's Sq, etc...

how hot do you like it...??

by rabbit06 about Spicy-Joint

Be prepared to wait for a table, this restaurant is ever so popular for it's affordable hot and spicy meals. They do not take bookings so be early and wait or go late and if your lucky, get a table. I am a lttle embarressed to tell how long our freind waited for a table here, but he did get up early that day so we were seated on arrival. Inside is all very pleasant with nice surroundings, clean, tidy, with good service which makes this restaurant a good one for it's very tasty dishes! The food is so nice, you must try the fish, but we enjoyed all the dishes and wanted to just keep eating and eating with no thought for after burn the next day....lmao! Make sure you have ordered enough cold beers...lol.... we must come back!!

Xin Tian Di

by coral0317

U may heard of Layefe Chen who is well-known 4 his painting, now he and several artists invested this area intend 2 make it a new attaction in Shanghai. If u r interested, u can take a look at his studio as well.

Shanghai Trip 2002

by dr_in_asia

"Shanghai At Night"

Shanghai at night is a feast...both for the stomach and the eyes.

The waterfront is not a glitzy as Hong Kong but rather mixes the colonial style buildings with excellent lighting and color.
Cruising ships with strung lights add to the shining waterfront.

"The Oriental Pearl Tower"

The tallest radio tower in Asia - with something like 11 balls interwoven in the design of this impressive landmark.

If you are going to visit it - I highly recommend that you go via the Underwater Pedestrian Tunnel - a nifty automated train which takes about 3 minutes but has psychodelic lights which makes the trip too short!

Oh, and the tower is cool too - very impressive.