Here's another post on a meal we had in Shanghai. Again, I found the restaurant in Sugar & Spiced. I had to fit this restaurant into my must-dine list after reading about all the pork dishes.
The Grumpy Pig is located on Maoming Bei Lu, a charming tree-lined street with old shop houses renovated into restaurants and boutiques. Access to the restaurant from the street is through a Converse shoe store. There is another entrance, with cobble-stoned walkway, at the side. When you sit down, you realize that The Grumpy Pig is really a roof and a glass wall between two buildings. It's really cool and we love the cosy, relaxed atmosphere.
Again, I ordered whatever was recommended by Sugar & Spied although I now feel that if a place is good, I should just order anything.
Potato Salad, RMB25/MYR13/USD4 was good but the portion was shockingly small. It's just potatoes and mayo, isn't it?
Pork Street T! oast, RM B18: "Pork, sweet potato on baguette, battered and fried, with sweet chili sauce"
Pork Rice Bowl, RMB40: yummy especially since three of us were fighting over it.
Pork Wontons, RMB30/MYR15/USD5: the pork is supposedly hand-chopped (that's how my MIL does her SH wontons too) so that the meat doesn't taste mushy. While this was good, I felt that for the price, I could easily eat two bowls of just as good wontons at regular Shanghai restaurants. It just felt rather pretentious for me to eat this in a western restaurant at more than twice the price that SHnese restaurants charge.
Tonkatsu Ramen, RMB45/MYR23/USD7: Since we wanted to leave some space in our stomachs for supper (in Shanghai, the food choice is endless so it's wise not to eat too much each meal), we had to choose between the two most popular dishes, the Grumpy Sandwich or the Tonkatsu Ramen. We went with the ramen because that's what we all prefer on a cold night. My daughter started going "Ohhh" and "Ahhh" about the noodles, but I found it quite ordinary, especially the soup.
Overall, I like the place. The service was excellent, the waiter (owner?) spoke perfect American English, the ambience was relaxed and the food was good although I found the portion small for the prices. That's anothe! r of say ing the prices are higher than you'd expect, especially for the SHnese food, and for a casual restaurant.
The Grumpy Pig
65-4 Maoming Bei Lu65-4(near Yan'an Zhong Lu)
Tel: 6217 3335
Hours: Sun to Thurs 11 am to 10 pm, Fri to Sat 11 to 12 pm
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