Five Resources That Make Shanghai Expat Life Easy

Yes, there are many challenges to life as an expat...especially for an expat in Shanghai, China. Pollution, internet frustrations, trying to read those thousands of characters and perfect your tones, and the overwhelming noise and traffic of 24+ million people. But, really, let's be honest, we have it easy as Shanghai expats. Incredibly easy in many ways. Some of this is just thanks to modern tech that has generally made life easier as an expat or traveler, but there are many unique (and ever-changing) conveniences in Shanghai that make up for the lack of Google Maps and Translate.

Here are my top five Shanghai expat lifesavers (particularly geared to those of us with limited Chinese skills):

WeChat: The indispensable communications app that does so much more. First, you need it to get or keep in touch with anyone here (calling or texting is so old-fashioned!). With the ubiquitous use of WeChat, I now end up connecting with every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Xu, Apple and Dolphin) because we can easily translate each other's messages and not deal with messy attempts at phone calls. It's how I make my haircut appointments and was the only way I could negotiate with my gym a couple months ago. Group chats are used for planning every event (and laughing at all the resulting pics). Everywhere you go there's a QR code to scan so you can keep updated on the latest happenings, receive discounts, login to wifi, make appointments and more.

WeChat Wallet: Ok, yes, more WeChat love. But, this one deserves a separate mention. It’s (relatively) easy to set up (make sure you know the exact way your name is written on your bank account, and that this phone # is listed on that account). And, once you have it set up you won’t know how you lived without it. Just a short list of things I did using WeChat wallet recently: received money from a student, topped up my mobile phone, bought dinner, paid for groceries and a Taobao order, bought event tickets and paid my electric bill. Just another way you can avoid leaving the house when Shanghai feels a bit overwhelming! And, just wait until you receive some random hongbao money at Chinese New Year.

BonApp: Since this app arrived, I have been one happy camper (eater). It makes searching for restaurants in English easy and has a great review community. Besides reading reviews (local friends tell me they trust it more than the Chinese app, Dianping) you can check out the hours of the place, special deals, and the nearest metro stop and location (on a great map, in English!!!). You can save a wishlist of places you want to check out to refer back to when you're stuck in that rut of going to your old favorite too often. Plus, they have Deals and Meets so you can check out cool new places and special events. And, for many of the restaurants you can make a reservation right from the app via Chope (I’ve yet to try out Chope directly, but it works great via BonApp).

Sherpas: The classic savior of all lazy Shanghai expats. Other English-language food delivery sites have popped up, but this is still the best for service and the huge array of restaurants. Tip: order during happy hour (2 pm-6 pm) for free delivery! Seriously, if you’re not a Shanghai expat you probably don’t know the beauty of sitting home in your PJs, browsing through hundreds of restaurants, picking anything you fancy and getting it delivered free in about 45 minutes (and, you can also order booze and even cigarettes…clearly this could bring down the world if it went worldwide). I was so lazy (or productive?) that I ordered a cup of coffee the other day. There are many other great specialty delivery services for wine, specific foods, etc. that also make life in Shanghai great (shout out to Spread the Bagel!). Food from the Hood is the next one on my radar.

Kate and Kimi: Of course, you can get your groceries delivered in Shanghai (I can’t think of any category of item someone won’t bring to your home here) and you have tons of options. There are bargains to be had at the big stores (Carrefour, Yi Hou Dian), if you can navigate Chinese (even if you don’t, a lot of people manage it with some help setting their account up initially). But, as a Shanghai expat sometimes you need those comforting tastes of home. Darn those cravings for that ridiculously priced cereal or cheese! My #1 online grocery store is Kate and Kimi. They have a good selection (and many items I can’t find elsewhere) but the best is their BSK fresh selections and all the local "foodpreneurs" they promote. I am in love with their salads and chopped veggie kits as well as the meatballs and stews for quick dinners. Read my more detailed post reviewing Kate and Kimi favorites.

And, a bonus 6th: My newest favorite is Baopals, a simple way to shop on Taobao and your gateway into a world of goods. Check out more about Baopals and get a coupon to try it out here.

Kate and Kimi: My Favorite Choice for Groceries in Shanghi

Kate and Kimi online grocery store made my list of top five conveniences that make Shanghai expat life easier. So, what has me raving about Kate and Kimi?

• Wide selection of products (imported, fresh/local, healthy and pre-made/easy dinners plus a huge selection of fruit, veggies, meat...)
• Convenient delivery (multiple time slots and quick turnaround--I usually choose the early AM slot which cuts down on waiting around). What is better than groceries coming to you--for free*? *with minimum order
• Easy payment options (WeChat Wallet--I love you!)
• Good customer service: they've emailed me and credited the amount when something was out-of-stock and they respond quickly to questions or problems
• Discounts and sales: they have a random sales page where you can pick up some bargains and they offer discounts for various groups (I'm a member of Shanghai Expatriate Association--SEA--and they offer an every day discount to group members)

But, the unique food options make Kate and Kimi my favorite Shanghai grocery store...

Blue Sky Kitchen, Kate and Kimi's own kitchen providing handcrafted specialty foods

Blue Sky Kitchen

Salads and Glow Bowls: BSK offers an array of tasty salads and "glow bowls" which make perfect, healthy on-the-go lunches. My favorite is the Tuna Nicoise (with dill dressing) and I also love the Roots and Kale salad (yum...beets!). You can choose your homemade dressing to personalize it to your tastes. The glow bowls include loads of veggies, kale and quinoa. I've had the Buddha's Delight several times...it comes with a delicious cashew honey mustard and is loaded with healthy ingredients like carrots, sweet potato, broccoli, dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds on the base of kale and quinoa.

Nicoise salad

Kate n Kimi Happy Buddha Glow Bowl

Roots and Kale Salad

Sliced and Diced Cheeses and Veggies: The prices are reasonable for the diced cheeses and it's easy to grab a few bites to go as a snack. Especially when you're cooking for 1-2, having someone else gather a variety of veggies and prepare them for you is not only convenient but is often cost-saving (and less wasteful). My favorite at Kate and Kimi is the stir fry kit! I cook it up with some ginger and add a little soy sauce and vinegar at the end and it makes at least two meals with rice.

Sir Fry Kit: mushrooms, edamame, peppers, cabbage, onion, snap peas

Yogurt Pots and Homemade Applesauce: I tried the yogurt pot with blackberry chia jam and it might be my new favorite breakfast, but I also can't wait to try their overnight oats and homemade applesauces. What a great way to get a healthy start to your day!

Easy Meals and On-the-Go Solutions

Lizzie's Smoothies: I'm not a big smoothie drinker but we tasted a couple of these recently and I can really see how great they are for a nutritious solution on-the-run. The Basil Drop had a fresh, tart taste and the Pink Punk kept Mr. Twowhotravel fueled up for nearly half a day through several classes and the grueling Shanghai commute.

Easy Meals: Kate and Kimi carries delicious local flavors with homemade sauces, stews and meatballs. We love the Chicken Basquaise (just serve over rice) and chicken meatballs (serve over pasta or with some crusty bread). The Chicken Tagine may become a new favorite!

Chicken Basquaise over rice (Kate and Kimi can even deliver the wine!)

International flavors/frozen meals: Kate and Kimi also carries a selection of frozen meals, including my husband's beloved Hot Pockets (which I had not previously seen at other Shanghai grocers).

Kate and Kimi also carries our favorite bagels from Spread the Bagel, which is an added convenience not having to place a separate order (though I wish they'd add the whole wheat bagels!).

In addition to all the specialty items, you can find your everyday items such as frozen beef, chicken, canned goods, pantry items, and a large selection of veggies and fruit. If you live in Shanghai, check out Kate and Kimi for an ever-growing selection of great groceries, delivered to your door.

*I was given several items to taste test for this blog post, but all opinions and the decision to create this post were strictly my own and based on my honest reviews from personal experience.

A New "Pal" for China Expats: Baopals

I'm working on an article on my top conveniences that make life easier as a Shanghai expat...these are the little things that I will definitely miss when I move away. Life as an expat is infinitely easier today with all the technological help, and no where is that more true than China/Shanghai. In the meantime, though, I wanted to share my latest find in convenience: Baopals.

Baopals' tagline is "Taobao for the rest of us". Yes, Taobao in English so you no longer have to awkwardly translate or ask a coworker for help. There's a little more to it than that...here's a description from their site: "We bring you all the products and shops from China’s Taobao and Tmall, the largest marketplace in the world. We’ve reorganized the products into baopals’ own departments, and added plenty of other tools to make it easier for you to find what you want. From there, simply choose your items, checkout with a variety of payment methods, and we’ll make sure your items get to you!"

For those that don't know Taobao, it is a massive marketplace of products and has just about anything you could ever want. Many Shanghai expats I know use it, but it's tough to navigate if you don't read Chinese. Not only does Baopals make it more accessible but you have a contact who can help if any shipping or other issues arise. They take (and will be adding more) additional payment options as well.

I ordered my first product recently...found just what I needed, saved about $10 over Amazon.cn and it was delivered to my local convenience store within 2 days (this is one of the handy shipping methods, so you can get the items at your convenience rather than coordinating home or work delivery...you receive a text and show the code at the store). We'd been searching for some odd light bulbs for our apartment and also got those for next to nothing in one day.

If you're an expat in China, here's a little gift for you: a coupon for 10 RMB for baopals.com.

Shanghai Restaurant Reviews: Picks from Around China

You can get just about any type of food in the world in Shanghai.  We've previously shared a couple of our Mediterranean favorites and have newly discovered Casa 700, a great Spanish restaurant and DeMarco for outstanding Italian.  But, of course, the greatest number of options come from the regional cuisines of China.  Again, you can get it all here, from fiery Sichuan hot pot to crispy Beijing duck.  I constantly bemoan all the pitiful renditions of Chinese food I ever had in the U.S. but I'm dedicated to overcoming that by sampling as much as I can here.  Here are a few short reviews of some we have tried:

Cuisine/region: Beijing  
Quanjude
Smart Shanghai listing

This chain from Beijing is known for its duck, though it has a huge menu spanning various Chinese regions.  While a Beijing native would likely pick a local favorite over this large chain, this place does know what they're doing.  When we crave some of that crispy skin, it is nice not to have to travel to Beijing (though I look forward to sampling some there!). Your duck arrives on a cart and is skillfully butchered table side (you can tell these guys do this every day by their speed and skill) and presented to you along with scallions, sauce and the pancakes to roll the pieces of duck in to tasty little pockets.  Small bits of the crisp skin come along with a small bowl of sugar for dipping (if you've never had it, have no doubt!).  A lot of patrons get the carcass in a bag to make soup later.

The atmosphere here is nothing great--think large banquet hall--but always lively and packed.  It is fun to go with a group so you can enjoy the duck and also try some of the many other dishes.

Favorite dishes:  Beijing roast duck, pan-fried pork buns

Tidbits: The menu is bilingual but the staff generally are not.  You can easily get by with gestures, though.  The staff who answer the phone can generally understand enough to get a reservation and you will receive a text message confirming your reservation and providing the restaurant address/info. (automated, so only if calling on a local mobile #).  It always seems pretty crowded, so a reservation is recommended.

Cuisine/region: Yunnan
Southern Barbarian

This is a favorite amongst Shanghai expats for homestyle Yunnan, along with the more upscale Lost Heaven. Everything we sampled was tasty and they also have one of the most extensive international beer lists in Shanghai.  This place is a bit dingy and not much on atmosphere, but it is fun to taste their wide array of choices to sample the homestyle cuisine of Yunnan (some are even daring enough to try the various bugs such as fried honey bees).

Favorite dishes: fried goat cheese, fried potato pancake, spicy mint salad

Tidbits: They obviously cater a bit to expats, so the menu is bilingual.  This is a great place to go when you're in the mood for beer as you'll rarely find such an extensive list.

Cuisine/region: Cantonese/Hong Kong Cha Chaan Teng  
Tsui Wah

Tsui Wah originated in Hong Kong and has several branches throughout Shanghai.  We discovered it because the Tianzifang branch was always packed with locals so we knew it had to be good.  We've been to the Tianzifang branch and one near our home, they are quite consistent.  The wait at Tianzifang, especially, can be quite long.  Tsui Wah offers up a large menu of mostly Cantonese favorites along with some of the popular western imports and unique blends made famous in Hong Kong's cha chaan tengs.  They run a bakery where you can get the various popular Cantonese baked goods to take away, as well.  The food is consistently tasty and pretty inexpensive.

Favorite dishes: Sizzling prawns on fried noodles, fried rice with dried scallops and prawns, honey barbecue pork, pineapple bun

Tidbits: The menu is in Chinese and English, but the staff are mostly Chinese speaking only.  We have always managed with our limited phrases and gestures, though.  Expect a wait at Tianzifang and many of their branches.  Grab a pineapple bun or other baked good to tide you over.  Pay your check afterwards at the cashier.

Molokai

For a bit of better atmosphere with the same tasty Hong Kong dishes, Molokai is a great choice.  It has a clean, modern design with an open air kitchen.  Everything we have tried is tasty and they have a nice array of choices.  Consider saving room for some baked goods, such as the sinful buttered condensed milk toast.  They have a creative list of drinks too, from the ubiquitous milk tea to fruit combinations and even some innovative alcohol concoctions.

Favorite dishes: fried rice with ginger, toast with butter and condensed milk

Cuisine: Modern/fusion  
People 7 Restaurant
Trip Advisor listing

Great design touches everywhere, even beautiful placemat art

This one does not necessarily fit under one Chinese region, as it serves an array of dishes inspired by various Chinese cuisine and ingredients, often with a bit of a twist.  I would say this place is all about the atmosphere, but the food deserves more credit than that.  However, the atmosphere and presentation make it special.  Somehow they have created a innovative, modern atmosphere without pretension.  It is all a bit mysterious, with a "trick" front door and a bathroom that is like a hall of mirrors.  It is interesting and yet the overall effect is very "chill".  We sat on the 3rd floor, a romantic setting amongst the tree tops in the Former French Concession.  They also have a great bar and lounge area downstairs where I enjoyed the most delicious dessert coffee ("floating coffee", i.e. an ice cream float made with coffee).

Chinese broccoli in ice bowl (with rose petals)

Spicy tofu in paper bowl (comes over its own little burner)

Favorite dishes: The spicy tofu was great, but I think the winner was the udon noodles in vinegar (hearty udon noodles with a sweet sauce almost reminiscent of cinnamon, veggies and pork).  The stir fried beef was also delicious, and every dish looks as good as it tastes.  The prices are not bad considering the atmosphere.

Tidbits: Don't wait until you're desperate to go to the restroom as it may take some time to figure it out.  There's a secret to getting in the front door (google it if you don't want to play detective).  If you have poor eyesight or bad balance, this might not be the place for you.  Check out the cool dumbwaiter system traveling up from the first floor.  Plan to get a drink or coffee in the lounge afterwards, you'll want to spend some time here.

I decided to separate Shanghainese places in to another post, so look for more deliciousness to come, along with a post about my beloved dumplings (again, I think that will need to be its own as there is so much dumpling deliciousness!).  Happy eating!

Our Chinese Christmas

We spent our first Christmas away from the U.S. this year.  Even with all our past travels, we have always been somewhere in the states in all the years past.  We certainly wondered with Christmas as expats in China would be like...

After returning to Shanghai in early December, the Christmas decorations began to appear.  We really didn't know what to expect, and perhaps we should not have been so surprised by the level of "festiveness".  While Christmas is not traditionally celebrated by most people here from a religious point-of-view (Wikipedia says about 4-5% of the population is Christian), the commercial side of things has certainly been embraced.

Everywhere we went, the store employees donned Santa hats atop their usual uniforms.  Christmas decorations filled the aisles of stores, trees popped up throughout town and a lot of businesses sported decorated windows.

Our apartment building had not one, but two, Christmas trees in the lobby--including this one which we were invited to "make up".

When I returned from my trip home, my unexpected Christmas gift was a festively decorated apartment.  After an attempt at "Holiday House" which turned out to be more "Christmas junk store", Ikea saved the day with some classy decorations to make our apartment sparkle.

The Shanghainese people seemed to get in to the spirit in their own ways.  Our friendly apartment doorman (who mainly sits in the lobby smoking, but is also responsible for fetching the water jugs for residents' water machines--and he does keep a "discard battery" box at his desk, so I guess the duties are really quite diverse), flashed a big smile and wished us a "Merry Christmas!" (I'm being generous with the pronunciation, but let's be truthful it far exceeded my Chinese pronunciation) when he came to bring our new water on Christmas eve.  It was a nice change of pace from our usual exchange of "Ni hao" and gesturing.  We got greeted quite frequently with "Merry Christmas" all over town.  At the office, apparently there was a day of giving small gifts amongst all the Chinese colleagues and we saw several company parties out celebrating throughout the season.

I also got a lot of smiles when I wore my Santa hat out and about and we got in to a nice chat with a newly transplanted expat from Australia who was heading to meet friends for a holiday lunch.  Of course, I get an even better reaction when I wear my panda hat.  I never saw so much enthusiasm as the spa receptionist's welcome when I was wearing my panda hat and gloves on our trip to get massages.  No one thinks it is unusual since cutsie animal wear is all the rage, but they do seem to puzzle over a foreigner in it.  I think it also made quite an impression at home in the states, but people had to struggle between curiosity and those pesky western mores telling them not to stare.  (By the way, even though we spent Christmas in China--as you can see, we got in to the holiday spirit back home first and celebrated early with the family.  Now you see where I get it from!  They encouraged me to buy the matching Panda gloves at Claire's.  Here we are in all our finery at the Williamsburg Grand Illumination.)

Back to Christmas in China...we began scoping out all the holiday options.  Our choices seemed endless, especially if we wanted to eat and drink until we popped.  Every restaurant seemed to be offering holiday dinners and festivities.  The major hotels all have large pre-set dinners and drinks, often including entertainment and the ubiquitous "lucky draw" and prizes.

Side bar:  To give you an idea about the cross-cultural popularity of chances to win (and I won't say the cultural phenomena because it seems to be pretty universal if Powerball, El Gordo, etc. are any indication that people universally love a random game of chance) the official receipts/invoices here contain a scratch off chance to win.  Why?  Apparently, it was an effort to encourage people to actually report income and sales, instead of the more common practice a number of years ago of skirting taxes at all times--what better way to encourage people to demand official receipts?  Give them a chance to win something!  P.S., you ask for the "fapaio" to get this official receipt (with the ever-present red stamp).

We started off the holiday season by joining in Santa Con 2012.  What a great way to get in the spirit!

For holiday eating, we scoured the magazines and online postings and finally decided to try El Willy, one of Shanghai's most well-known Spanish restaurants, for Christmas eve dinner.  We love El Willy's "younger brother", Elefante, and have enjoyed many good meals there.  Our six-course Spanish meal with to-die-for views of the Bund made for a great Christmas eve.  We had also discovered one of the best holiday deals in town--a 98 RMB (about $13) all-you-can-drink "happy hour" running throughout the holidays at The House of Roosevelt's rooftop deck.  The setting cannot be beat and they have glassed in the deck to make it nice and toasty for winter.  With the price, you can enjoy a cocktail or two with a view that is worth the price of admission.  On Christmas eve, they had a supposed "Christmas film" night, which consisted of a screen in the corner showing some random cop flick.  Not exactly the Christmas movie we expected, but it was more fun to watch the neon lights of Pudong and the varied crowd celebrating.

We started out Christmas Day Skyping with family back home--Christmas eve their time.  Unfortunately, bad weather changed their plans so we only got to Skype with half of one group and caught the other group rushing off to beat the icy road conditions.  When our ayi arrived to clean (the benefits of this not being a holiday here--cleaning on Christmas day!), we went out to enjoy some (cold) sunshine and visited the European Christmas market at Xintiandi.  It was enjoyable to walk around the park and check out some of the items for sale, but I don't know that this market really lives up to the standard.  There was plenty of random stuff to buy, but the Merry-go-Round was only for show and the entertainment consisted of taking your picture with a Garfield or Gangnam Style cut-out (which I had to do, of course, because nothing says Christmas like Gangnam Style).

For Christmas dinner, we had decided to order from our favorite online organic grocery store, Fields.  They were offering various holiday meals and we got a dinner suitable for 4-6 and invited our new neighbors to spend the evening together.  Fields usually delivers within about a 4 hour time block, but were nice enough to get more specific for us so we could have the meal warm and not have to deal with reheating in our limited kitchen.  As we sat chatting with our neighbors, the doorbell rang and our feast arrived.  We had a whole chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, purple cabbage, squash and pumpkin pie.  Every bit of it was delicious, and we ate heartily with plenty left over.  We enjoyed the company of our new neighbors and getting to know each other better, as we all adjust to living in our "home away from home" adopted Shanghai.

We received a nice Christmas bonus when our realtor came over Christmas morning to help us figure out the TV that we have never been able to work.  We can now watch our movies on the big screen, instead of the tiny little laptop!  And, with newly purchased speakers, we can hear the movies better and could play our thousands of Christmas carols while we enjoyed dinner.  We finished off our Christmas with a favorite holiday movie, Love Actually.  Don't worry--we also watched that great American classic, Christmas Vacation, the next day.

Now...on to the bigger holidays here!  Chinese New Year will be something to behold, and from what we hear 12/31 is not too shabby either.  We have a "front row" view from Hyatt on the Bund to watch the fireworks and stay out of the cold.

Wishing everyone everywhere a peaceful and joyful 2013!