Shanghai is a funny place. Still within sight of the gleaming skyscrapers and steps from strings of luxury brand shops (Cartier! Louis Vuitton! Porsche!), you’ll find a very different, much poorer world. The Starbucks and Pizza Huts disappeared, replaced by local food stalls. We steer clear of pre-prepared shellfish lying in the noonday sun, but are generally brave enough to sample some of the other fare. These shots are all from the Old Town, which is less than a 10-minute walk from The Bund.
I am head-over-heels for sheng jian, Shanghai’s iconic fried dumpling. Amaze-balls.
Chinese snacks - mmm, hot Welsh onion…
What weird and wonderful foodstuffs we have eaten in Seoul: gimbap Korean barbecue dumplings hot dogs for breakfast (yes, seriously) seafood soup spicy stirfried tofu We inexplicably don’t have any pics, given that we ate it multiple times, but also bibimbap, of course.
Gwangjang Market: all sorts of crazy and tasty footstuffs to be had. Kimchi features heavily, naturally enough, but pig intestines and fried mung bean pancakes are also a big hit.
Seoul is a great city for coffee. There’s a fabulous coffee shop around every corner. We stopped at one today and ordered cups of coffee by the bean, and it was delish. While our coffee cost just as much as our lunch, that probably says more about the cheapness of the dumplings (although nothing about their quality - super tasty)
Seoul instantly feels more westernized than Japan, from the visual branding on the signs to the way people move around in public. But also: street food. A rare sight in Japan, where eating and walking is generally Not Done, with the noticeable exception of rice balls on sticks. But street food in Seoul is seemingly endless. There were massive line-ups for these vaguely phallic ice-creams (not especially nice, but the line-up snakes through shelves of vintage toys; hence Astro Boy). The road side take-out cocktails-in-a-bag were lethally strong, and also not especially nice. But, hey: cocktails in a bag.
The knife skills (and massive knives*) of the guys at the Tsukiji fish market are something to see. *Not a euphemism
Tsukiji Market is just enormous. There is aisle after aisle of small stalls selling just about everything that swims, crawls or floats in any sea or ocean anywhere in the world. Most stalls sell just one or two things, having bought large batches earlier in the morning and now breaking them down into smaller amounts for restaurants. It’s a stunning sight, but when you think that this is just one day, and the market is open) days a week, all year round, thoughts do turn to how much we are overfishing the oceans.
We headed down to Tsukiji market on Saturday to check out e biggest fish and seafood market in the world. To fortify ourselves for the sightseeing, we tucked in to a (very fresh) sushi breakfast in this tiny little restaurant, washed down with a 7am beer. Japan is really a very civilized country.