eat and shop again

Saturday

Sunday

It must be the cold weather that makes us so lazy! We just kept "delaying" going out...so in the end, we ordered McDonalds delivery lunch on Saturday coz we were too hungry and lazy! Keke...

We finally left the house about 5pm to XuJiaHui/Gateway to meet Ann & Kitty then they brought us to this Japanese BBQ restaurant on the 2nd level of a "weird" building in GuBei. (GuBei is a popular residential estate for the Japanese) It is called Friendly Meat Shop! Apparently, this is a famous meat shop! There were lots of Japanese waiting outside for their table...but we had reservations coz of Joel! If you have a baby, you can get priority too! Haha! So nice! ;)

It's our first time there and we were quite amazed! The entrance looks like any regular Japanese restaurant, but once you get in, it's rows and rows of Japanese-styled seating (on the floor with the "hole" in the middle) with the "exhaust pipe"/hood at every table...and each section is partitioned! There's a small hotplate about A5-size in the middle of each table. We got the table right at the corner. Fortunately, we had brought along Joel's small stroller coz we predicted they wouldnt have baby highchairs. So at least Joel wouldnt be crawling around as we ate.


On the walls, there's lots of recommendation/menu/prices written in #1 Japanese and #2 Chinese. I would say about 80% of the diners were Japanese. The meat are "good meat"...so it's very delicious and tender. We ordered a variety of beef & pork. I ate a few pieces of 1 kind of meat (which i thought that its "texture" did look a bit weird)...and i later found out it's the cow's TONGUE!!! Awww... I was conned! Elvis didnt tell me those are things i dont eat - including the intestines! O and there was the pig's leg which they said is super nice (and has collagen good for skin). I really didnt like it...plus it's disgusting to eat the fatty skin. So i figured i should stick to meat-meat. Overall, it's a good experience at this BBQ meat shop! ;)
(No website for this, but it's under this Group.)

After dinner, we decided to go shopping in XinTianDi coz I.T. is having SALE! Everyone says they're going to see but not buy. In the end, everyone bought something. Elvis bought a Puma by MIHARAYASUHIRO hi-cut shoes and i bought a See by Chloe purse. (If you buy ¥10,000, can get another ¥3000 "FREE" on additional items that you pick. The catch is CANNOT deduct directly. Buy ¥5000, get ¥1200 "free".)

After that, we sat outdoors at CoffeeBean. Actually, it wasnt that cold these few days...but probably still about 5˚c. There's a few of those standing heaters placed outdoors...but it really doesnt help at all. (The temperature is expected to drop again on Thurs to at least -2˚c)

Sunday
We had lunch at Afternoon Tea at XinTianDi (AT & XTD again. Boring people). Maybe i should stop taking pictures since it's always the same food/drinks. Elvis had the risotto and i had my fav Flying Roe Carbonara AGAIN. (Last week at DaMarco, 1 our friend who is American-Japanese told me that it's a popular pasta in Japan now)

We tried a new seasonal dessert Strawberry Mousse Tart. The Caramel Milk Chai was exceptionally good today...coz the marshmallow took longer to melt. Keke...so i finally got a good picture of it...showing what's really inside. Today, they also served the Chai with powdered cinnamon (i hate) and sugar cubes (i like)- 1 brown, 1 white. Hmm... (Usually they will pour the tea into the cup for you and the blob of cream, caramel and marshmallow melts immediately. SO now you know the ingredients...you can try to make your own concoction!)

The headcount for Joel's Gymboree class was full, so we went to alter Elvis' clothes at this very local shop. (Usually we go to Parkson but their prices have increased to almost double and there's always a lot of people. This tailor is also very good...and we realized his prices also increased! Maybe Shanghai's standard of living is just higher now.) I took some pictures of the alley which i thought was quite "unique" and charming in its own way. ;)

After that we walked to another of our favourite street - XingLe Road - where Source and many other small shops were also having SALE! A new Dusty store also opened on that street! Now everywhere also SALE SALE SALE!

Check out at this sweet potato machine! I was attracted to it by the nice smell! Haha! So high-tech...coz usually the sellers will be peddling on the streets in those "big can" (like a huge rubbish can) and they will weigh the sweet potato you pick with a "chen" (Chinese weighing scale). This is ¥5 nett. I didnt buy any...just wanted to show this here. ;)

We left about 5+pm to go home to cook dinner. Coz we still had some leftover meat from last week and we wanted to cook everything before we go back to Singapore. Here's our dinner... Elvis' specialty pork chop, "wa wa" vegetables and luncheon meat/egg (i like!)...and chicken soup. ;)


O i wanna tell you about this Happy Lemon drink stall which we like. Usually, the crowd standing around is at least 5 times more than this... (That's Elvis in the middle while i'm munching on my Beard Papa puff!)

And this is the fireworks & firecrackers makeshift stall set up just opposite our place. It's legal. I'm always tempted to check it out coz i always see/hear all these fireworks from our balcony. Ann said last year, her colleagues chipped-in about ¥2000 and they had a decent fireworks display! Their own! Shiok huh! ;)