Family Dinner at Ning Tu

Ah...a family dinner at Ning Tu, I always look forward to these! There's always Peking Duck and new and interesting dishes to try.

The starter was a mixture of pork cubes, marinated fish, drunken chicken and jellyfish. My favourite is the jellyfish...and the chicken...

Sorry for the blurry shot...it's what happened when I take photos with the iPhone instead of the Berry, with its built-in anti shake feature. These bean curd rolls are filled with preserved meat, and the soup is made heartier with vermicelli. Yeah, good comfort food.

Deep fried garlic crab...I am not a huge fan of crab, I prefer lobster most of the time. But considering it was deep fried and garlicy...I was sold.

One of my all time favourite foods...Peking Duck! They really know how to make it here, the secret is to slice the skin off the duck thinly...so that it's not like stuffing a piece of bbq duck into the paper thin crepe. It should be skin in skin...loaded with green onion and hoisin sauce, of course.

And part two of the duck fiesta...stirfried duck meat with veggies and vermicelli, all wrapped up with lettuce. It's so simple, but the fact that you can play with your food is the best part!

Here is something new...spinach topped with egg whites, whipped up to simulate crab meat. And yes, for all you salmonella worriers out there, that is indeed a raw egg.

This is my mom's favourite, deep fried fish breaded with a seaweed batter. The sauce that comes with this dish is traditionally vinigar, but they also present you with ketchup and mayonnaise here. It's like they think they are making fish and chips! 

Here is another new dish...stirfried beef surrounded by pillows of yummy steamed buns. I don't know if you are supposed to put the beef inside the bun or not, but I ate the bun all on it's own, using it to mop up all the beefy sauce.

If you like Shanghainese food, you've probably had this before...deep fried pork ribs, lightly flavoured with garlic and seasoned salt. This dish is a homerun everytime.

For the mushroom loveres in the house...more veggies topped with oyster mushrooms. These might have been King Oyster mushrooms...super meaty, and not as juicy as a portobello.

Finally reaching the finish line...stirfried yee mein, with shredded pork and bean sprouts. Load this up with chilli sauce and you've got a satisfying end to a great meal.

Oh boy...sesame dough balls served with a wine broth...so chewy, so gooey.

More deep fried goodness, this time sweet dough balls filled with milk and sprinkled with sugar. Yeah, I'm done.

Dim Sum at NingTu

Whenever I go to NingTu for lunch, there are two items that I just have to order. The Siu Loong Bau (steamed soup dumplings Shanghai style) and the Chee Fan (sticky rice stuffed with Chinese donut, pork floss and preserved vegetables). Everything else is gravy. This time, we rounded out the meal with Green Onion Pancake and Pork Chop in Noodle Soup.

First to arrive was the Chee Fan. A little disappointing in appearance, since the two end pieces were falling off the edges of the plate, so it wasn’t as “rolled” as it should be. Most Shanghai dimsum places serve their rolls still wrapped in saran wrap, to avoid this. Appearances notwithstanding though, the roll was perfect. Crunchy donut (some places cheap out and give you stale ones), lots of pork floss for the salty flavour and diced preserved veggies for added crunch.

The Green Onion Pancake was next, and there were two golden rounds of flour with loads of green onions…perfect for a green onion lover! Not as oily as I expected, thankfully, but still piping hot with a doughy chew softness.

The Pork Chop in Noodle Soup came and they were the only mild disappointment in the whole meal. The pork chop was fried well, nice and golden in colour but the noodles and soup were bland. But never fear, hot sauce to the rescue!

The Siu Loong Bau came last, and there were 8 cute little dumplings sitting atop of thinly sliced carrot, to prevent bursting as you peel it off the bottom of the steamer with your chopsticks. Gently dip the dumpling into the vinegar, and then carefully bite through the skin, releasing the juicy soup inside. Oh wow…delicious!

We only had the green onion pancake left and one section of the Chee Fan to pack home. Comfort food, Chinese style.
Note: this place is Cash Only...something my dining campanion will attest to as he had to go grab cash so we didn't have to wash dishes...