Getting Crabby In Shanghai

After my trip to Xi'Tang I didn't expect to be wow-ed again for a while.

Boy, was I wrong.

Amelia's in-the-know friend Angeline had reserved a table for a party of 8 at Shanghai's Home's Restaurant on Julu Lu, where Shanghainese specialties took centerstage -- most especially crab.

We started by sucking on delicate, succulent bits of Raw Drunken Crab (pictured above), marinated in rice wine. Then we moved on the the main event: Hairy Crab...

Lucky for me, these world-famous freshwater crustaceans were in season, so we ordered up a dozen. Angeline gave expert instruction on how to open the furry-clawed suckers and we soon were slurping and scraping out the tender, milky flesh.

Mmmm...

Our nightcap of sickly sweet Margaritas at Shanghai's award-winning Mexican hot spot Maya, didn't do the crab dinner justice, but the crowd was thumping and supposedly the chef had won raves for his Chili.

That said, I was too full up on the crab to start digging into Maya's menu. And, sugary or not, the Margarita was starting to kick in.

Time to hit the hay. Tomorrow was another day. And, Beijing awaited...