Foodarrific

Sometimes it’s hard to get everyone to agree on where to eat. But somehow Esquire Kitchen is one place we can always agree on when we run out of options.

They serve some pretty mean Shanghainese noodles which was what got me started going back again and again in the days before my kids were even born.

These days when I go with my kids, we usually have the ala carte dishes because “I want to have the wo tip“, or pot stickers.

These oval-shaped dumplings are filled with ground pork and chives, and fried in a shallow pan on the bottom side only, hence the name pot stickers.

The top of the Wo Tip is cooked by the steam of the water that’s gradually added to the pan. That’s why they’re only blackened on one side.

Scrumptuous when eaten with a coarse chili dip consisting of shredded ginger, vinegar and soy sauce!

Stir-Fried Fish Slices with Ginger and Spring Onion is a new favorite with the kids simply because the fish is boneless.

I think this is the Shanghainese style of preparing Stir-Fried French Beans. The beans are left long and cooked with ground pork till softened.

This Lemon Chicken is our perennial favorite. The chicken is practically boneless and deepfried to a crisp. The lemon sauce featuring finely shredded lemon rind comes in a separate bowl, so the chicken retains its crispness till the last minute.

The Claypot Tofu is also a regular dish that we order. In fact, we like this so much I even have my own copycat recipe for it and cook this at home every so often.

Tong Po Meat is one of their popular Shanghainese dishes which goes with the man tou, or flower dumpling. The 3-layer pork of alternating layers of lean meat and fat is braised in a sweet soy sauce till it melts in the mouth.

This is one dish we rarely order though because of the fat. After we throw out the fat, it seems there’s hardly half the dish left.

There are people who love the fat and would gobble down every last bit, and here we are throwing half the pot away . So I’d rather not order it. I hate to waste food.

Filed under: AsianReviews |