yay! dunkin’ donuts is finally here, and the donuts are delicious! the service was a bit clumsy, but we forgive them since it’s the first day…
shanghaiist is right though, there seems to be somewhat of a donut war going on at the moment, with so many donut shops opening in shanghai. the more the merrier, i say! this dedicated reviewer shall visit them all and report back.
ever since moon river diner closed its doors, we’ve been “on the market” for another place to hang out and work a couple of hours. our only requirements: a quiet place with simple food and internet.
we did indeed find it. it’s called munchies and it sits on the corner of wuding road and jiaozhou road. munchies has all the ingredients to be good. it’s not pretentious, since the place is small and lacks the fancy furniture. the walls are painted with colorful flora, and orange lampshades hang from the ceiling, making the place rather funky i think (opinions vary).
the menu is a collection of american favourites, including hamburgers, hot dogs, cincinnati chili, sandwiches, ice-creams, smoothies and milkshakes, and also some mexican dishes. we’ve tried a bit of everything and apart from the chili (everybody raves about it, but we just don’t find it such a big deal), the rest of the dishes are great. tasty, fresh and yummy.
our lunch today, a mushroom burger with pasta salad, chicken quesadillas and cosmic charlie smoothie (apple+pear+raspberries):
they deliver in the neighborhood, their prices are decent and the service is fast and friendly (people actually speak/understand english). what else could you ask for? :)
lonely planet (aka, the tourists bible) said we should taste the ice cream sandwich in the streets of singapore, and of course, as prompt and faithful tourists, we were eager to try it.
it’s basically a big block of wall’s icecream (or olá for the portuguese readers) between two thin waffles or slices of pink bread. mango and coffee were pretty good, and they even had it in durian flavor… we were not brave enough to try it out but i wonder if the ice cream smells as bad as the fruit (which is actually forbidden in singapore’s metro).
so there we were, in the middle of rows of tables. kampung baru, the same area that was deserted during the whole day is now busy with life. people all around us, sitting on these tables, food steaming in front of them, colorful plastic glasses filled with iced colorful drinks. but no one is eating, not even the kids who stare at the food with hungry and impatient eyes. there is rain outside the improvised tents that cover this canteen and it is getting darker.
at 7:15, a chant on tv, subtitled in arabic. on the radio as well, a man prays in a mixture of praying and singing. and as soon as they stop, the feast starts. in the whole country.
last time i went to portugal, my parents proudly showed me the progress of their “tiny clementina’s tree”. it’s a cute little tree that they purchased way before i came to china, but to which i never paid much attention. and it turns out that it wasn’t clementines that tree was growing – it was kumquats!! lots of them! i was in shock, and incredibly happy to be putting my new asian knowledge to work! :)
but this, i think, is something we don’t see in portugal (or europe) so often. they’re called pomelo, or youzi (柚子) in mandarin.
in china they’re on display on every supermarket (both fresh and candied) or street fruit stand and they look like green-yellowish oversized lemons (hence their latin name, citrus maxima). inside, there’s a really thick rind that you need to remove completely to reach the juicy pulp.
they taste not as tart as lemon, and not as sweet as an orange, but with hints of both… it’s probably closer to grapefruit, now that i think about it, only sweeter. and oh-so-adictive!!
give it a try if you find it around!
on the next episode of china fruit series, the mini-mango! stay tuned! :P