Yin at Le Garcon Chinois

There had been one restaurant that I had wanted to go to for a long time, but I never had the chance, Yin.  According to the Shanghai Rough Guide, it is an excellent place to try Shanghainese food that isn't overly oily.  Also, it was included as a possible contender for best Shanghainese in the list of top places in town.

On one of my long, meandering walks, I had walked by the address listed in Rough Guide, so I decided to try Yin the next day.  The Rough Guide description of how to find the restaurant is wrong, but I found it anyway. 

I was surprised by how fancy the place was.  Hidden behind two old worn doors, were warm hard wood floors, vases full of fresh flowers, tasteful lounging furniture, all in a dim room.  Although, it felt very old world European, it was just rough enough around the edges to let you know you were in China.  Unlike the other places I have eaten at, this was the first restaurant, I had seen another foreigner.  It was an enclave for well heeled travelers and their Chinese coworkers.

As I was a little stressed from not finding the place, I decided to start with a gimlet.  The cocktail was expensive, but so worth it.  It was a perfectly made gimlet.  There was just the right amount of sweet and sour.  it went down too easy.

Yin has a huge menu.  Easily over 100 dishes.  It made it very difficult to choose one.  I settled on eggplant with garlic and some eel.

The eggplant was prepared in a yuxiang wine sauce.  There were big soft chunks of fresh eggplant in a thick sauce.  I found the sauce to be very sweet, but not in a sugar added way, more like caramelized onions are sweet.  Of course, the sauce was flavored with garlic, ginger, scallion, and onion.  



Sweeter than any other eggplant ever


The diabetes inducing on-slaught continued with fresh water eel in a szechuan sauce.  I now understand why every time I order something in the U.S. in Szechuan sauce, it is super sweet.  This dish was boneless pieces of eel that had been lightly coated and fried.  The sauce was sweet but had some spice and a lot of ginger. 

Sweet eel goodness

For dessert, I was thinking fruit, but instead, I decided that the best way to go was a black espresso. 

Although, the food was very sweet, I still really enjoyed my meal.  I want to give Yin another chance and maybe then I can order some food that is not so sweet.