As this was our first trip to Shanghai, we felt obligated to check out Xintiandi, a ‘The Grove/Americana’-ish place that screams ‘tourist trap’. We went there for dinner. Out of all the restaurants there (mostly expensive chichi place and chains, there’s a Din tai fung there too), Xin Jishi sounded most appealing as it’s a revamp of the famous “Jessie Restaurant.’ They specialized in modern presentation of traditional Shanghai cuisine.
A very tasty Spicy Crab Glass Noodle Claypot. The best dish of the night.
The Xiao Lung Bao is so so (thick skin, generic soup).
Their setup and menu is similar to Yuan Yuan, but Yuan Yuan seems to have better branding, decor and food. Xin Jishi lacks character, I was left with a ‘blah’ impression as I left the door. Perhaps the original ‘Jessie Restaurant’ would be better. Also the entire area of Xintiandi has little appeal to us (expensive shops, empty chichi all-look-same bar, cheesy jazz or cover band, bus loads of tourists…etc etc), definitely wouldn’t want to go back.
Xin Jishi 新吉士
41 Tianping Lu, by Huaihai Zhong Lu
Tags: Chinese, Shanghai, Xiaolungbao
Ooh, I want that first dish. Where can we get stuff like that here?
I bet a blah/tourist-trap place in Shanghai won’t hurt so much because it’s cheap? ^^;;;
It’s not that cheap actually…x_x Shanghai is actually quite expensive. I look up the internet, and seems like the places I considered cheap are still considered expensive for locals. In fact most of those giant malls, department store, restaurants are EMPTY…I felt uncomfortable walking in them because it’s like ghost town. So obviously most locals can’t really afford them. Only a few of very wealthy people can spend the money and they’re not that visible (maybe they rather spend the $ elsewhere?)
(unlike in HK where people lined up outside shops before opening time, or a very packed Sogo at 10 am on a weekday…geez i thought HK’s econ isn’t good)