Xindalu, Hyatt on the Bund 新大陸

Shortly after checking into their hotel, Ritz-Carlton Portman in Puxi (where Roger Federer apparently was staying as well), they left for their next destination at 9:25pm. Mum never skips her dinner when overseas!! And they had a mission. To take a cab and travel from Puxi to Pudong in Friday's night traffic and arrive at Hyatt on the Bund before 10pm. They made it!!

Just in time for the chef to carve two Peking ducks in front of them inside Xindalu, the Hyatt on the Bund's Chinese restaurant. Yes it was two ducks, but of course it was not just mum and dad dining. Apparently, they stop serving the duck past 10pm in the evening. The duck was definitely well worth the effort. It was served as three separate dishes, crispy skin, skin with meat and meat only. The duck looked tiny and the portions were small. But those were not the distinctive features of the duck. Upon the first cut through the skin, one could see two separate layers, a crispy skinned shell and an internal core of meat. Then dad recalled a scene from a food programme called Rhodes Across China, featuring Gary Rhodes traveling and tasting cuisines in different parts of China.

Before the Peking duck was roasted, water was pumped through a hole poked in between the skin and the meat. The whole duck ballooned up and voila you have a skin shell and a meat core. It's the first time mum and dad had a chance to taste Peking duck cooked this way. And they were not disappointed. The crispy skin dipped with a tiny bit of cane sugar, it was perfect, on par with some of the fame Michelin star dishes they have tasted before!!

Then mum saw another dish featured in the same show, "Pyramid" braised pork with bamboo shoots. But when she tried to order, it was too late. They had run out.

One could see the action packed kitchen in the comfort at their seat. The duck alone makes it a must go next time they visit Shanghai.