Continuing to Blend

Went to a mall for dinner.   I’m in Shanghai by myself.  When I dine by myself I don’t make any great effort to walk beyond a five-block radius in search of a place.  Dining with friends is different and this usually means heading over to the somewhere over near Xujiahui.  When I get in a cab and head over that direction I generally have no idea where I’m heading but I certainly imagine a sultry, plane-treed side street drenched in crepuscular cool.

I hopped out of cab, oblivious to where I was, finishing an animated phone chat as quickly as I could so that I could notify my friends that I’d arrived at the relevant corner.  No need for this.  My friend noticed me on her way from here to there and walked right up to me just as I’d managed my “got-to-go” with the man on the other end of the line.

We exchanged greetings.  It was lovely to see here and she lead the way to a mall.  These guys know where the best places are and we darted along up one and then another escalator.  I can’t imagine how they found this place, up on the third floor away from any windows.  But I supposed tis like Tokyo where you don’t necessarily make your choice at street level but rather reviews and “likes” on mobile apps.

The place we settled down in was billed as “Korean Barbeque.”  Certainly every table had a grill and a characteristic aluminum nozzle dangling down, ready to whisk away all the smoke.  But instead of filling your plate with a dozen small appetizers, they way they might in Seoul, this was set up like a shuang yang rou place might be in Beijing.  Head over to the counter and get as much lettuce and garlic and pickled radish and kimchi and sauces as you like and bring them back to your table.  Your meat choices are traditionally kept limited in Seoul but this menu was unbridled with bacons and chickens to go with our beef.  I didn’t have to worry about any smiling shots of sweet soju, but they didn’t have any wine neither.  Rather it was like Tokyo as they were serving Suntory highballs that tasted grand and hit the spot a little too well.

We closed out the place as the food went on and the conversation was rich, but as we packed it up and let the staff finally close up the register for the final account, I considered the way in which all these North Asian elements were continuing to blend together and become indistinguishable from whatever they had been.

Wednesday, 05/31/17