While we were at the “Venice of Shanghai” —Zhujiajiao Ancient Water Town — we stopped into one of the local restaurants for some lunch.
You’ll find 知青 — Zhi Qing Restaurant — diagonally across from the Water Town’s boat ticket-booth. And in addition to some great views of the canal traffic, you’ll find some pretty decent fare.
Our next dish —“Quick-frid” [sic] shrimp (RMB 58 or $8.11 US) — was actually a pleasant surprise.
When you see “fried” shrimp on a menu, you usually assume you’re going to get headless, de-shelled, deveined prawns, dipped in flour or a batter, deep-fried, and flavored with spices.
Not here. The restaurant used no batter, no flour, didn’t de-shell or devein. This was soft-shelled shellfish that was flash fried in its entirety.
While certainly not the prettiest sight, we found this relatively simple dish surprisingly light and savory, and, pleasantly crunchy. And because we were impressed with the portion size given the low $8 ask, we rated this offering a not-too-shrimpy “B.”
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