Xiao Nan Guo (Little South Country): Favorite Meal in China

My best meal in China was at Xiao Nan Guo, in Shanghai, where my father's high school friend took us for dinner our first night in Shanghai (also the restaurant where we finally got to try hairy crab).  There are a couple of locations around Shanghai; we went to the location near the corner of Wu Jiang Lu and Nanjing East Road.  I thought the food was excellent; serving classic Shanghainese dishes, flavorful while not too heavy or oily.

Fried fish on the left, really good wood ear mushrooms on the right

Bamboo shoots on sauteed greens

Fried nian gao (shanghainese rice cakes)

Duck tongues

Local river shrimp

Local vinegar fish; scales are meant to be eaten

Tagged and certified hairy crab

We each got two hairy crabs: female on the left, male on the right

Best shen jian bao I've ever had; perfectly fried on the bottom: crunchy and airy at the same time

Shaoxing wine served warm; went well with the crab.  We also polished off almost an entire bottle of Johnny Walker Blue