Creamfarfalle: Shanghai's Hai Di Lao Hot Pot and Shopping!

On our second day in Shanghai, we went shopping at Qipu Lu 七浦路, which is actually a hotspot for shoppers because they sell wholesale clothes. I've heard many great things about Qipu Lu and was super excited to go shopping. (despite spending loads of money in Korea already) Here's us in the morning. Bought the cobalt blue scarf in Seoul at one of their underground shops for 5 bucks. The photos in this post are all taken using my trusty iphone because I didn't dare to bring my Nikon with me due to theft issues. Also partially because we will be too busy shopping to snap photos and the camera takes up space in my bag. haha

First thing we did when we got there was to grab our morning grub. I was super hungry and the food looks so enticing! They have a few stalls selling food nearer to the entrance of a huge shopping mall so it was easy to spot for food.

If I'm not wrong, I got a bowl of XLBs for 6 Rmb. These XLBs didn't have any soup inside them like the normal XLBs we get in restaurants. However, you are allowed to add generous servings of chili and vinegar on them. I think they are meant to be like chili wantons. Very yummy. I also bought this bubble milk tea which was too milky for my liking. BUT it was hot bubble tea. So yay to that.

The shopping mall was SO HUGE and everything was SO CHEAP. Prices are definitely generally cheaper than in Seoul. The bottom level was full of shoes and then there were just clothes everywhere else. We only really combed through two of the malls in the area. I bought these Hello Kitty inspired glasses for S$1. STEAL! haha. I thought they looked pretty adorable.

Ended up wearing them for the rest of the day.

Here's us looking cutesy and all. #actcute. It is seriously a winning instant-cute accessory to have.

Apart from that, we were browsing through stores, trying to avoid any spit on the ground. The people in Shanghai literally just spit on the ground in the shopping mall! It is major gross. Super thankful that Singapore has a fine imposed on that.

Getting dressed for the night. We were going to a club that night and we didn't wanna wear out our coats so we had to run everywhere in the cold to prevent ourselves from freezing.

J brought us to Hai Di Lao 海底捞火锅 which is a popular Hot Pot restaurant in Shanghai, made famous in Beijing and Sichuan before its debut in Shanghai.

This is the interior of the restaurant and it looks extremely posh so I was definitely in amazement when I stepped in. I mean, if you compare this to SG's Hot pot restaurants in Bugis area, this is 10 times more posh!

The service at 海底捞火锅 was impeccable. We had a waiter who kept waiting on us the whole time. Every time we turned around just to take a look at him or something, (he's usually standing behind the table) he will definitely come over to ask us if we need anything. They even provide aprons to keep your clothes clean! Here's Corinne wearing one:

There was also a sauce station where we were able to mix our own sauces. They had like 20 over options and it was quite fun trying to mix my own sauce but somehow, the sauce that J makes always turn out nicer ): Never mind. It is ok to steal sauce. Good sauce must share.

Them, all ready to indulge in fooooodddd

I can't really remember what soup base we chose but you can roughly guess how the taste was like from the ingredients in our pot. There were 10 odd soup bases to choose from in the menu! We didn't order the Ma La one but you could if you want to.

Our prawns, seafood pastes and meatballs/fishballs. One had hot soup bursting in your mouth when you bite into it. YUMMM.

We also ordered a 7rmb La Main whereby the La Mian chef would do a la mian dance right at your table to separate out the noodles from the dough. Cheap thrill for the win! I actually am uploading a video of it but it's not uploading despite many tries so I'll have to leave that for another post.

Happy people after a great meal (: We were greeted with Chinese Chrysanthemum tea after we were done with our food to help us detox.

Just to let me say this and that is - their toilets are absolutely amazing. They are extremely clean and there are staff waiting to hand you a hot face towel once you step out of the toilet and to the sink area. There's also a bunch of exciting toiletries at the sink area which you can make use of at your own free will. There's hand creams, hair sprays, floss, toothbrushes, ear buds etc. Tell me that is not amazing, seriously.

Dinner cost us about S$10-12 per person. That is honestly an amazing deal because hot pots in Sg can definitely come up to S$20 easily. The only down side is that it's not a buffet I guess but the individual food items are so cheap anyway.

After dinner, we took a cab and made our way to a little pub called Narrow Gate. It's located very near the Fu Dan University's International Dorms and this is where J usually hangs out everyday after classes with his bunch of friends. Needless to say, we were there to meet his friends and have a round of drinks.

The interior of the pub was very chillax and I can see why the international students love hanging out here so much. I would too. There are flags of every nation hung around the pillars and famous artworks by famous artists of the past don the walls! That was what I was most impressed by.

Here's a better photo taken with flash on my Nikon a few days later for a Christmas gathering with his friends.

Last stop of the night was at a club called Phebe which is quite a popular night spot for Shanghai-ans. They play mostly Rnb and the dance floor was really tiny. I think clubs are generally free in Shanghai and you don't have to pay for cover, perhaps just for drinks. In this club, you get free flow of drinks for an extremely low price as well.

The interior of the club. We also managed to catch a 3 minute sub-par dance performance by two ladies who were pretty scantily-clad. I was stopped from taking a photo of them so I guess it's not allowed. It was pretty funny because everyone just stopped what they were doing (whether you are drunk, sober, tossing your head up and down a second ago) just to watch them. Guess it was a new experience but pretty weird...