[Shanghai] A Very Madison Thanksgiving

Madison | madisoninshanghai.com | Dianping
Address: 汾阳路3号2号楼1楼(近淮海中路) – 1F, Bldg 2, 3 Fenyang Rd (徐汇区 Xuhui District)
Date: Thanksgiving 2013
Total bill: Turkey to go kit RMB¥1688

Thanksgiving: a longstanding tradition of homecooked meals. Well, ain’t nobody got time to cook at home when we don’t have the day off in China. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Austin Hu for enabling us to have a most scrumptious Madison turkey feast at home.

For Thanksgiving, Madison offers a tasting menu dinner in the restaurant or turkey takeout for home. The tasting menu was quite enticing but we opted for Thanksgiving at home so we can at least pretend we made an effort (although truth be told we didn’t even bother taking anything out of the original container and plate anything so forgive the presentation because that’s my bad). We tried. Okay, no we didn’t.

A turkey by itself (with giblet gravy and cranberry compote) costs RMB¥1000 and the whole works with sides costs RMB¥1688. If you’re paying a G for a turkey, might as well just throw more money out for the sides. Expensive? Yeah. Worth it? Yeah. Everyone loved it. I highly recommend this… in another year I guess…

The RMB¥1688 kit includes: turkey / giblet gravy / cranberry compote / string bean salad with almonds, fried onions, and mushroom vinaigrette / mixed bread stuffing with celery, parsley, and sage / sweet potatoes with housemade marshmallow / charred broccoli with chills, garlic, and parmesan / mashed potatoes with roast scallions / brussel sprouts with walnuts, bacon, and mustard / pumpkin pie with bourbon whipped cream. Traditional Thanksgiving sides with a Madison flair.

Packed:

Unpacked:

First off, gotta have the mashed potatoes with roast scallions, which was so creamy and buttery! I love eating mashed potatoes and gravy with every bite of turkey.

The mixed bread stuffing with celery, parsley, and sage was also well-received. The bread was saturated with flavor.

The string bean salad with almonds, fried onions, and mushroom vinaigrette was the only thing I wasn’t too fond of because I don’t like the particular kind of mushroom used in this.

The glazed sweet potatoes with house made marshmallows was supposed to have raisins but I requested no raisins because I hate raisins. I always have room for sweet potatoes.

The charred broccoli with chilis, garlic parmesan was cooked soft, which I prefer over most broccoli that is still tough after steaming. I don’t find broccoli interesting most days, if any, but today it was.

I feel like spinach is one of those vegetables everyone hates as a child but grows to like as an adult. But no one ever grows into brussel sprouts. Ever. Well, tonight quite a few people said “I don’t like brussel sprouts but I like these” to the brussel sprouts with walnuts, bacon, mustard. Delicious brussel sprouts–what an oxymoron. Good job, Austin. I will send any kids who don’t eat their vegetables your way.

And of course, we have the turkey, which was moist and juicy. It received an unanimous yum from everyone.

Look, at least I plated my own food okay. There was some effort in this.

I liked mostly everything but the highlight for me was definitely the pumpkin pie with bourbon whipped cream finale. A simple piece of pumpkin pie to end the night in food coma. I may or may not have eaten a quarter of the pie.

 Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble gobble.

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