[Shanghai] The Grumpy Pig
The Grumpy Pig | thegrumpypig.com | Dianping
Address: 茂名北路65号103(近延安中路) – 65 Maoming North Rd near Yan’an Middle Rd (静安区 Jing’an District)
Date visited: 2014.03 for dinner
Total bill: RMB¥183 for two people
Will return: No
The Grumpy Pig serves mainly pork-based dishes. Chinese people love pork and this Shanghai girl especially loves pork belly so The Grumpy Pig’s menu sounded like a good fit for me. Unfortunately, the yumminess on paper did not materialize on our plates. I really wanted to like this place but it was a let down.
Food aside, here is my lovely dinner companion for the night.
Pork Steamed Buns 五花肉荷叶夹 (RMB ¥25 for two pieces) with taré braised pork belly, cucumber, red cabbage, Kewpie mayo
Recommend: maybe
The braised pork belly sauce was very salty. I enjoy heavily saturated flavors and even so, this was too salty for me. In addition to backing off on the salt, I thought this could use a tad of sugar in the braising process (that’s the key to hong shao rou/braised pork belly/红烧肉 sauce).
Pork Rice Bowl 香葱卤肉窝蛋饭 (RMB¥55) with poached egg, braised pork belly, bok choy, roasted onion
Recommend: maybe
I really liked the idea of this bowl and all the ingredients suggested I would like this. But again, it didn’t deliver and the braised pork belly sauce was overly salty, even when mixed with the rice. It would have also been more practical to have the bok choy cut into smaller pieces for easier consumption and to ensure a homogeneous mix of pork, rice, and bok choy in every bite.
The “Grumpy” Sandwich with Fries 招牌猪肉三明治 配薯条 (RMB¥68) beer-braised pork, bacon onion compote, arugula, aioli, ciabatta
Recommend: no
Prior to our dinner, my friend did her homework and read some reviews that the pork in the Grumpy Sandwich tasted like tuna. Say what? How does pork taste like tuna? I didn’t think this was possible but I believed it when I bit into this sandwich and there it was, spongey-tuna-tasting-pork. Oy.
Carrot Walnut Cake 胡萝卜核桃芝士蛋糕 (RMB¥35)
Recommend: no
The icing on the carrot cake tasted like regular sugar icing. Cream cheese frosting is a must for carrot cake.
