麻酱面 Sesame Sauce Noodles (Ma Jiang Noodles)
Another foray through the local cuisine, based upon what has been recommended and featured in the expat magazines (City Weekender and Timeout Shanghai) and I can bet the reviewers were Americans.
The raves about a rich peanut buttery taste, the cacophony about how tasty the noodles were at such economical prices and the claims that it was the best ever best ever. I can bet somewhere in the US, someone is frying dollops of peanut butter and eating them.
I agree on one point - it was economical. The shop, '味香斋', is selling these for RMB8 - an amazing price! I also agree about the 'hole-in-the-wall' bit, the shop was a rumble and shamble sort of place, full of grime and smelling of it.
The agreeance stops here. The noodles did arrive looking pretty - surrounded by a moat of sparkling brownish liquid and topped with a beige thick paste. Unfortunately, once you mix them up, it really does look like a disastrous midnight snack as if someone has spilled peanut butter onto noodles in desperation. It did smell of peanut butter but it does not have the oily aftertaste that peanut butter delivers. The paste is actually roasted sesame paste, which somehow came across as peanut buttery and it was a tad powdery, as I would imagine talcum powder would taste like.
I do like the alliaceous bursts from the pieces of spring onions - they were like little bombs going off in my mouth. After a few mouthfuls, a mild umaminess developed, probably from either soysauce or added MSG but the taste remains relatively bland, and I was screaming for something stronger in taste. It did not get moreish with mouthfuls, in fact, I just felt that the rich sauce made the noodles tasted starchier and heavier.
The locals were ordering fried pork ribs and curry beef soups to go with the noodles but I am not keen on oily slabs of pork ribs or turmeric heavy soups.
I had cold boiled chicken served with the same sauce before and it was delicious. If and only if, the shop could serve pieces of boiled chicken with these noodles - it would make the trip to the Yan Dang Lu [雁荡路] shop more rewarding...either that or I have an American friend visiting suffering from severe peanut butter withdrawal!
麻酱面 Sesame Sauce Noodles (Ma Jiang Noodles)
Another foray through the local cuisine, based upon what has been recommended and featured in the expat magazines (City Weekender and Timeout Shanghai) and I can bet the reviewers were Americans.
The raves about a rich peanut buttery taste, the cacophony about how tasty the noodles were at such economical prices and the claims that it was the best ever best ever. I can bet somewhere in the US, someone is frying dollops of peanut butter and eating them.
I agree on one point - it was economical. The shop, '味香斋', is selling these for RMB8 - an amazing price! I also agree about the 'hole-in-the-wall' bit, the shop was a rumble and shamble sort of place, full of grime and smelling of it.
The agreeance stops here. The noodles did arrive looking pretty - surrounded by a moat of sparkling brownish liquid and topped with a beige thick paste. Unfortunately, once you mix them up, it really does look like a disastrous midnight snack as if someone has spilled peanut butter onto noodles in desperation. It did smell of peanut butter but it does not have the oily aftertaste that peanut butter delivers. The paste is actually roasted sesame paste, which somehow came across as peanut buttery and it was a tad powdery, as I would imagine talcum powder would taste like.
I do like the alliaceous bursts from the pieces of spring onions - they were like little bombs going off in my mouth. After a few mouthfuls, a mild umaminess developed, probably from either soysauce or added MSG but the taste remains relatively bland, and I was screaming for something stronger in taste. It did not get moreish with mouthfuls, in fact, I just felt that the rich sauce made the noodles tasted starchier and heavier.
The locals were ordering fried pork ribs and curry beef soups to go with the noodles but I am not keen on oily slabs of pork ribs or turmeric heavy soups.
I had cold boiled chicken served with the same sauce before and it was delicious. If and only if, the shop could serve pieces of boiled chicken with these noodles - it would make the trip to the Yan Dang Lu [雁荡路] shop more rewarding...either that or I have an American friend visiting suffering from severe peanut butter withdrawal!