Sheshan Shanghai Culinary Weekend Getaway

Duration: 2 days
Time: July

Cost per person: 800 RMB
Company: Friends
Activities: Gourmet food, independent travel, boutique, weekend getaway, Fine Dining
The author visited these places: The Bund in Shanghai, Dong Sheshan Forest Hotel, Lanxun Villa, Guangfulin Ruins
Published on July 24, 2020, at 00:15

I have been to Shanghai many times and seen its myriad faces, from the bright lights of the Bund to the childlike innocence of Disney. Recently, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai region have been in the plum rain season, which does have some impact on travel. However, no need to worry! There’s always a suitable leisure activity to be found. Thus, this time in Shanghai, I turned my attention to Sheshan, a place I had not visited before.
What is Sheshan like? Known as the backyard garden of Shanghai residents, it is located in Songjiang District and is divided into West Sheshan and East Sheshan. West Sheshan has an elevation of about 100 meters, which may sound low, but for the flat terrain of Shanghai, it is already the highest peak on land. East Sheshan is slightly shorter, with an elevation of 72.4 meters. It boasts an excellent ecological environment and is a place for health and wellness. So, not only can you enjoy the beautiful scenery on a sunny day, but the experience of visiting in the rain is also not diminished, as you can mainly come to experience the local food and culture, just like I did.
The itinerary for this trip is quite simple: from Changzhou, I took the high-speed train to Shanghai, with trains as frequent as buses. Then, I took a taxi directly from Hongqiao Station to Sheshan Forest Hotel. After lunch at the hotel, I rested in the afternoon, had dinner at Lanxun Villa in the evening, and visited the Guangfulin Scenic Area the next morning.
Sheshan Forest Hotel is a hidden gem amidst the bustling city of Shanghai. Located at the southwest foot of Sheshan Forest Park, it is a star-rated hotel built along the mountain. The first feeling upon arriving here is being surrounded by mountains and forests, with green bamboo and blue mountains in full view, truly away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The hotel’s front desk gives a very comfortable feeling, and there is a lobby bar where you can rest, have a cup of coffee, flip through a book, and wait quietly for the rain outside to ease… I couldn’t help but ask myself, is this really the fast-paced Shanghai? At least not in Sheshan.
The accommodation at the Sheshan Forest Hotel is different from the hotels in the high-rise buildings of downtown Shanghai. Here, red-roofed villas are nestled among the mountains and forests. I stayed in Building 2 of the hotel, which, from the outside, is a typical Shanghai ‘small western-style building,’ very pleasing to the eye. The decor of the front desk also clearly shows a somewhat European feel, and the guest room area is no exception. Walking into the small western-style building, the glass windows in the stairwell are particularly fresh. The room I checked into was a standard room, with a configuration that is quite standard and matches the room rate perfectly.
What surprises me is the large space of the guest room. Because I have stayed in many hotels in downtown Shanghai before. There, every inch of land is precious. Even some upscale hotels have relatively small spaces. Unexpectedly, in Sheshan, which is also in Shanghai, I can experience such a spacious room. With a spacious desk, it is convenient for me to stay in the hotel all afternoon. There is even a place for a sofa. Even when receiving guests, it won’t be embarrassing. Staying at Sheshan Hotel is certainly not just for experiencing accommodation. The delicious food here is also remarkable. At noon, I had lunch with friends at the Forest Family Restaurant in the hotel and ordered many special dishes. The average price per person for dishes here is a little over 100 yuan. Now, let me comment and introduce them one by one. If you are reading this travelogue on an empty stomach, be prepared to wipe your drool. The first dish is braised pork with home-style vegetable rice. Shanghai’s braised pork is a bit sweet. The braised pork at Forest Family is made from black-haired pigs with fragrant meat and appropriate amount of fat. It has a sweet aftertaste and is just right in taste without being overly sweet. The soup seeps into the vegetable rice, which is extremely delicious and can be called a masterpiece. The second dish is scallion netted pork ribs. The shape of this dish is very beautiful, and the dish name is also based on the shape. In terms of ingredients, the ribs are marinated, battered, fried, and finally stir-fried with homemade scallion seasonings. The aroma is tangy, the meat is lean but not tough. The key is that there are some cartilage on the selected ribs, which are very chewy and make people unable to stop eating. The third dish is a somewhat exotic Thai-style stone pot beef brisket. Due to the special period, it has been a long time since I flew to Southeast Asia, so it has been a long time since I had curry. The curry in this dish has a rich taste and is a feast for the taste buds. The beef brisket in the stone pot is stewed until it is tender and the potatoes are fragrant and glutinous. It is not very difficult to bite. The fourth dish is a soup with stir-fried mushrooms and egg white full of sentiment. According to the restaurant owner, this dish is a childhood memory dish in the suburbs of Shanghai. The soup base is made from chicken and big bones. The side dishes inside are the common oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and the egg white of boiled eggs. It seems simple but extremely delicious. For tourists from the suburbs of old Shanghai, it is an irresistible ‘memory killer’. Another creative dish of the restaurant is stir-fried shrimp paste with fresh pineapple. The new combination of shrimp paste, asparagus and pineapple is refreshing and delicious, very suitable for summer consumption. Do you, like me, always think that shrimp paste can only be used for hot pot? Unexpectedly, it can be so unique. The last dish is the signature coral fish head soup that we all highly praise. Like I live in Changzhou, I often have the opportunity to drink the fish head soup from Tianmu Lake in the local area. But this fish head soup at Forest Family is different from the traditional fish head soup. No one doesn’t love the milky white fish soup. Here, it is also served with handmade big fish balls. The taste is very delicate and smooth. With full of collagen and sprinkled with pepper and coriander, everyone almost starts with three bowls! That’s roughly all the introduction of the dishes at Forest Family. When editing pictures and typing words, I am still reminiscing about this sumptuous meal.
After the meal, many medals were seen on the wall at the entrance of the restaurant. No wonder there are many repeat customers coming to Sheshan. Even if you don’t stay in a hotel, you can come to Forest Family for a meal. There are many gold and silver cups, and the word-of-mouth of ordinary people has also been earned! Dinner at Lansun Villa We had dinner at Lansun Villa. In fact, it is at the intersection next to Forest Family. Entering 10 meters, you will arrive! Why change to another one? Obviously, we all want to experience more when traveling. Lansun Villa is also a comprehensive place integrating catering and accommodation. Lansun Villa presents a European architectural style as a whole, with pointed castle, red tiles and white walls, like a fairy tale. What we ate at Lansun Villa is also authentic Shanghai cuisine, including black pepper beef tenderloin, crystal shrimp, seafood stewed tofu, farmhouse steamed three delicacies and so on. The characteristics of Shanghai cuisine are thick oil and red sauce, moderate saltiness, maintaining the original flavor, mellow and delicious. The dishes ordered this time completely conform to these characteristics in terms of color. Shanghai cuisine likes to use sugar very much, but it is much more moderate than the sweetness in Wuxi and Suzhou areas. It plays a role in enhancing freshness and is not particularly sweet and greasy. This special gluten burger eaten at Lansun Villa needs to be mentioned. In Jiangsu, we can often eat gluten stuffed with meat. Usually, there is also simply braised gluten. However, this special gluten burger contains fish paste. But it is not as big as gluten stuffed with meat. It is a layer attached to the gluten skin. When you bite it, it will not be too full and extremely delicious. There is also a Taoyuan chicken cooked with Huadiao wine. When the chicken cooked with Huadiao wine is served, a faint aroma of wine will come. Huadiao wine does not have a very high alcohol content. Even people who don’t drink alcohol at all will not feel uncomfortable eating this dish. Appropriate Huadiao wine also removes the fishy smell of chicken, making the meat tender and not dry, very delicious and goes well with rice. Finally, I would like to popularize the name of the villa again. “Sheshan Lansun” became famous far and wide because of the favor of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Sheshan was also named “Lansun Mountain”. It is something with very geographical identification. Nowadays, every year, Sheshan will also hold a cultural festival with Lansun as the theme. With “digging bamboo shoots, tasting bamboo shoots, picking tea, and tasting tea” as the main contents, so that more tourists can know and appreciate Lansun and taste Lansun. This is also a major feature of tourism in Sheshan. Therefore, Lansun Villa can be said to be a must-visit place locally. Guangfulin Site Park When coming to Sheshan, in addition to the forest park, you must go to Guangfulin Site Cultural Park to play! If the forest park represents the natural scenery of Sheshan, then Guangfulin is where the cultural context of Sheshan lies. Guangfulin, originally known as Huangfu Forest and Guangfu Forest. In ancient times, it belonged to the category of Huating Valley. It gave birth to the splendid ancient culture of Guangfulin and was the cultural, political, economic and transportation center in the east of Soochow in ancient times… Until Huating County was established in the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it created the glory of Songjiang. Therefore, it is also called “the root of Shanghai”! Briefly speaking, scientific archaeology has confirmed that as early as 5,000 years ago, the ancestors of Songjiang had been working and living here in Guangfulin.
In the late Neolithic Age, around four to five thousand years ago, rice cultivation was already widespread in the area, indicating a sophisticated agricultural production method. Understanding the cultural background of the Guangfulin Heritage Park enhances the experience of visiting, as the scenic area’s introduction brings the history to life. Personally, I am particularly fond of two spots within the Guangfulin Heritage Park. One is the popular Duoyun Bookstore (Guangfulin branch) in Shanghai, which is not just about selling books but also about selling beauty. It focuses on literature, history, and traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, providing a good platform and venue for traditional culture, Shanghai-style culture, and Jiangnan culture. Nowadays, bookstores are not just selling books; they are selling culture and ambiance. I found many interesting cultural and creative products in Duoyun Bookstore. Although I have collected many similar items at home, I couldn’t resist buying more. I usually buy items that have local cultural characteristics, which I consider the best souvenir from a trip. Duoyun Bookstore is a typical Huizhou-style old building with wooden carvings on the beams and a pond under the skywell. The building itself has high aesthetic value. The Huizhou people regard rainwater as wealth, and modern people understand that books contain golden houses. The bookstore perfectly combines these two elements, making it very appropriate to visit on a rainy day. If not for time constraints, having a cup of coffee and reading a book here would definitely make for a fulfilling and rewarding day. The Guangfulin Heritage Park is quite large, and walking around can be quite tiring. At this point, it’s time to take a break and taste the local cuisine. Behind the main scenic wall, there is a restaurant called ‘Xie Xie Bar’ where you can enjoy local specialty noodles. The front hall is also a milk tea shop in a Huizhou-style building. The environment here is a bit more compact than in Duoyun Bookstore, but it’s actually right next door, making it very convenient to come here to satisfy your hunger after reading. At Xie Xie Bar, you can order more than ten types of noodles. I had the most expensive braised mutton noodles, which cost only 38 yuan a bowl. This price is very cost-effective in Shanghai’s scenic areas; for example, a drink at Disney might be more expensive! The mutton is genuine braised large pieces of mutton, with tender and flaky meat that can be easily picked up with chopsticks, resulting in an excellent taste. My friend ordered a bowl of authentic Songjiang specialty chili sauce noodles, which is more representative of local characteristics. Shanghai noodles, like those in the southern part of Jiangsu, are all topped noodles, and the key lies in the quality of the toppings. Chili sauce noodles are made by heating a wok, adding scallion, chili powder, and minced pork, and other ingredients, then frying them with sauce and sugar to make chili sauce. After cooking the noodles, pouring this chili sauce over them results in an authentic specialty chili sauce noodle dish.
The taste is not as spicy as one might expect, with a predominant emphasis on freshness and richness. For those who enjoy meat, dishes such as pork chops and chicken legs are also available here. It’s evident that my journey to Sheshan is a foodie’s journey. Cuisine is not influenced by weather or seasons and is one of the easiest ways to bring joy! In such a beautiful place as Sheshan, accompanied by so many delectable dishes, I believe everyone is now eager to embark on a spontaneous health and wellness journey in the name of gastronomy!

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