[Shanghai Lao Lao] Hairy crab season is here

Hairy crab season this year started off for me with Hairy Crab Roe dishes from 上海姥姥 Shanghai Lao Lao.
There are so many branches in Hong Kong.

I was captivated by their Hairy Crab roe poster at Wong Tai Sin and all over the MTR stations.

As I was in Causeway Bay the other day, I went there with friends and we had other dishes as well.
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Sliced Pork Terrine:

Started with this classic terrine where the jelly melts in your mouth while the pork bits are really tasty.
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Mung Bean Noodles with Shredded Chicken:

This one was my favourite, springy mung bean noodles in a thick peanut and sesame dressing complimented by refreshing julienne cucumber.
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Smoked Fish with Mixed Spices:

The fish was crisp and sweet with a play of spices that were not spicy.
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Noodles with Hairy Crab Roe:

I love noodles and these have to be eaten asap while it is hot and delicious.
There was so much crab roe to cover every strand of noodle.
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Assorted Mushrooms wrapped in Crispy Bean Curd Sheet with Hairy Crab Roe:

This had to be the star of the show, the dish that was advertised on the poster, it was crispy with juicy mushrooms in the middle served with a generous pile of crab roe to compliment it.
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Scrambled Egg White with Hairy Crab Roe:

Another classic dish was the scrambled egg white covered in an abundance of crab roe, great with rice.
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Steamed Pork Dumplings with Hairy Crab Roe:

The pork dumplings are a must in Shanghai cuisine and these were bursting with rich crab roe and pork in the middle.
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Mini Glutinous Rice Balls in Fermented Rice Wine Soup:

Dessert ended with a sweet touch of soft chewy glutinous rice balls in sweet fragrant osmanthus flowers and rice wine soup.
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Finished with the warming Fresh Lemonade with Ginger and Honey and the Chrysanthemum tea with Wolfberries and Honey.

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上海姥姥 Shanghai Lao Lao:
https://www.facebook.com/shanghailaolao.hk/

Hairy crab delights at HKCEC's New Shanghai

Every time I go to the exhibition centre I am always busy looking at the leaflets to notice any restaurants here.
New Shanghai on the first floor near the entrance.

The restaurant was spacious with high ceilings that you forget you are at the exhibition centre.

That night we had some special dishes from their hairy crab menu.

Here was what we had.

We started off with the soup.
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蟹粉白玉羹
Winter Melon Thick Soup with Hairy Crab

This was a filling soup with a scoop of wintermelon mash in the middle.
It was warming and light with pieces of crab roe in it which was further enhanced by the vinegar.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed hairy crab:

I really liked this place because they helped you the crab.


Within a flash, the crabs were ready to eat.

The crab roe was sinfully delicious just like sticky egg yolk, while the crabmeat was sweet and made even more appetizing when it was dipped in vinegar.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
湖光泛影 

This was an assortment of Sautéed Egg White with Fresh Crab Roe,sautéed Mandarin Fish Slices and crispy prawns coated in salted egg yolk.

Started off with the mandarin fish slices which were silky and delicious, then I had the sauteed egg white which was topped generously with crab roe and crab meat.
I finished off with the crispy prawns which had the strongest flavour coated in delicious fragrant and crispy salty egg yolk that was not too salty.
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Fried Hairy Crab with Bean Paste and Glutinous Rice Cake

When this was served, you could smell the lovely aroma of bean paste, each glutinous rice cake was thickly covered in this deliciously sweet and savoury sauce paired with crab roe rich crabs.
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Poached garland chrysanthemum vegetables:

I loved the vegetables because it was in delicious broth with shreds of Chinese ham yet the grassy taste of garland chrysanthemum came through.
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Steamed Pork Dumpling with Fresh Crab Roe:

The dumplings were perfect with lots of broth inside and fresh minced pork filling.
When I took a bite, the broth oozed out.
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ginger tea:

Ginger tea is always served with hairy crabs, it had a nice warming fiery ginger taste without being too sweet.
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Dumplings in ginger tea soup:

To finish off, dessert was dumplings in ginger soup. The ginger soup was similar to the ginger tea but the fiery taste was amplified.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

NEW SHANGHAI:

L1, HKCEC, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Menu:

http://www.hkcec.com/catering-and-dining/dining/new-shanghai

Luxurious Hairy Crab Roe Set Menu at Shanghai Lo

This is one of the best Hairy crab meals I have tasted this year and the price was affordable too!
It was Shanghainese food with crab roe without the fuss of eating the hairy crab itself.
It costs $498 per person which includes a starter, main course, dim sum, dessert and ginger soup.

After having this meal, you are definitely going to feel guilty because the photos will reveal why.
You will see that it is pure crab roe and crabmeat and generous amounts of it too with vibrant glistening crab oil surrounding it!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Starters:

To begin with we had Crispy bean curd sheet rolled with mushrooms, tea leaf smoked egg, garlic cucumber.
All of them were delectable especially the bean curd sheet roll and the creamy thick molten yolk from the egg which I used to dip the bean curd sheet in.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sauteed bean sheets with hairy crab roe:
To begin with, there was my favourite bean sheets which tasted so nice with crab roe, they were hot and springy and the hot crab roe was fragrant with golden orange crab oil coming from it.

Crispy rice with hairy crab roe:

It was interesting to see rice crackers in an Oriental dish, but these crackers were light and crispy with a roasted rice taste which went well with the savoury crab roe.
The crackers were rather filling.

Braised beancurd with hairy crab roe:



More crab roe and this time it was paired with protein rich tofu which was silky and smooth.

Lasagne with hairy crab roe:

This was the final dish and my favourite because it was a fusion of Italian pasta sheets with crabmeat and crabroe.
I loved the texture of the pasta sheets which were firm and neatly layered.
When I used chopsticks to break it into smaller pieces the lasagne did not collapse.
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Steamed pork dumpling with hairy crab roe:

The set finished with a plump pork dumpling oozing with pork and crab roe broth in the middle.
It was a satisfying meal because there were lots of carbohydrates and proteins to satisfy your hunger.
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Dessert was black sesame dumpling in ginger soup which I didn't try.

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Ginger tea:

Ginger tea is always paired with hairy crab meal.
The ginger tea had a nice fiery kick to it and it was sweet which made it less spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The environment at this place is really classy and modern.



At the entrance on the ground floor, there is a really cheerful guy who I used to see working at the Causeway Bay branch of SASA cosmetics.
That guy has so much energy and charisma that he should be offered roles in movies or MTVs.
If it was not for him, I would have walked past Shanghai Lo without knowing it!!
Anyway, I will be back for the dim sum soon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Restaurant: Shanghai Lo
1/F, 5 Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai
3125 3232

Udon in rich crab sauce at Donka

Ever since GF recommended this place, I have always wanted to go but couldn't because they don't open on weekends and it is located on the 11th Floor which puts me off.

Basically any restaurant above the 1st floor will not be high on my priority list because I can't be bothered to wait for elevators going there and on the way out.

According to the reviews, the service is cha chaan teng style at fine dining price.

I got there at an odd hour, so there were no customers throughout my meal.

The service was reasonable because they were not busy, but the staff were rather noisy because they had trouble with their phone so they kept shouting to whoever was on the other end.

The decor was simple and reasonably comfortable.



The menu had Japanese and Chinese fusion dishes starting at $98.

I chose the udon in crab sauce as planned.
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Udon with crab sauce:


The udon was nicer than anticipated because they served the thin Inaiwa type which was extremely al-dente.
It was richly covered in orange crab sauce which was enough to finish the whole bowl of udon, but I found it a bit too salty and there was quite a fair bit of grounded pork fat, other than that, I loved the chunks of crab which did not have any annoying bits of crab shell.
There was vinegar too which was supposed to enhance the taste but I found it too sweet to do any good.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The udon was $148 but with the 10% on top, it came to a whopping $16X which was rather pricey for a bowl of udon which does not include a starter or soup.

It came with a drink but the choice could have been better because for Japanese and Chinese fusion I would have expected a choice for Japanese tea but it was only the local chachaanteng choices ie lemon tea, HK style tea or Coffee which I don't drink.

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Donka

11/F, 11 Stanley St., Central

Caught by the confusing Ad

Walked past one evening and saw this poster!
It was rather confusing because it seems to imply all you can eat but it is not all you can eat.

As I was a fan of their crab congee I didn't mind going back again for it.

When I went in, I asked them about the confusing promotion and they said it was a GIMMICK because they are located on 127 Wing Lok Street, so they simply did a special offer for the congee at $1+27 ie the congee costs $28 only!!!

Although it was not all you can eat, $28 was a bargain because it normally costs around $5X.
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Crab congee:
I had a better experience this time because it was served in a ceramic bowl with a proper metal spoon.
The quality was better too and you could see how much crab was in it because the colour was lovely and vivid.



Not to mention, the taste was amazing, rich in crab essence flavoured by the saltiness of the crab roe with lots of crabmeat in it.
As well as the crab, the freshness of the spring onion and the congee tasted great together.

I wish this promotion would last forever.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Photos of the restaurant:





bloody clam sashimi!! LOL

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Freshlodge Limited
127 Wing Lok Street