Cycle 14 – Item 279

11 (Wed) October 2023

Claypot Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mushroom & Chicken

1.0

at Crystal Jade Shanghai Delights

(Hyundai Department Store)

-Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with W

Just like that, W’s watch quest came to an abrupt and unexpected conclusion this evening (see generally 14.276 Blancpain Chocolates).  Having selected the finalist model from IWC, she spent several days and countless communications with the IWC boutique in the Hyundai Department Store at Coex Mall to nail down a price.  But then, on a whim, she dropped by the IWC boutique in the main Hyundai Department Store and decided right then and there to purchase an entirely different model than the one she’d been considering – such an amateur move (I predict that she’ll regret the purchase soon enough, as most impulse buyers do).  I was summoned to make the payment.

For dinner, I chose Crystal Jade Shanghai Delights, which I hadn’t visited in over 7 years, one of the first (and still one of the few) restaurant chains in Korea that offer non-Korean-Chinese Chinese fare.

This special set, the only set on the menu, is dumb for 4 reasons.  1) Crystal Jade is a Shanghai-based chain.  2) Steamed Soupy Pork Dumpling (xiaolongbao), the first item on the spread, is a Shanghainese dish.  3) Of the 3 main items offered, Sweet & Sour Pork in Shanghai Style is, well, Shanghainese – why not develop a Cantonese (i.e., Hong Kong) version?; General Tso’s Chicken is American; and Deep-Fried Chicken with Hot Pepper in Soya Sauce (yurungi) is Korean.  4) Of the 3 noodle/rice dishes, Ddanddan Myeon is Sichuanese; Shanghai-style Jjajangmyeon is highly unlikely to be Shanghainese (does Shanghai even have a local variation of the dish?), maybe Beijing-style at best, though most likely to be Korea; and Yangzhou Fried Rice has disputed origins, but certainly isn’t Cantonese.  Only Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumpling with Fish Roe (shaomai) is Cantonese.   Yet another example of how utterly ignorant Koreans are where Chinese cuisine is concerned, even at a global chain.

Fortunately, the signature xaiolongbao remained on point.

Ranking of xiaolongbao in Korea, as documented on GMTD:

Recommended

1. 1. 1. Dim Dimsum (Lotte World Mall) (14.159 Roast Duck Noodle Soup) (14.244 Soup Dumplings (Xiaolongbao))
      2. Crystal Jade Shanghai Delights (Hyundai Department Store) (3.187 Xiaolongbao) (7.096 Xiaolongbao)
      3. Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (4.122 Xaiolongbao)
      4. Baozi Pu (11.303 Baozi)

Good

1. 1. 1. Songhwa Sansi Dosak Myeon (14.104 Shrimp Asparagus (Dumplings))
      2. Hyangmi (13.240 Gongsimchae Deopbab)
      3. Hongbokseong (13.089 Sorongpo)

Meh

1. 1. 1. Din Tai Fung (3.202 Xiaolongbao)
      2. Midim (The Hyundai Pangyo) (12.119 Xiaolongbao)
      3. Crystal Jade Shanghai Delights (Lotte World Tower Mall) (12.88 La Mian in Scallion Oil)

Not

1. 1. 1. Chungking Express (Common Ground) (1.5) (13.065 Xiaolongbao)

The Claypot Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mushroom & Chicken was not good.   First, everything was way too oily.  Second, the flavor of ginger was overwhelming.  Excited to get what promised to be a Singaporean dish (see generally 5.090 Claypot Chicken), I was sorely disappointed by the result.  I’d bet one of my watches that management had come up with the idea to offer claypot chicken but didn’t bother to develop a recipe with the advice of a Singaporean chef or anyone at HQ – “Oh, just find a video on YouTube, how hard could it be?”

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)