Best Grocery Store in Shanghai

My hotel ended up being about one block away from one of my co-workers, so he was able to show me a lot of local spots for dumplings or laundry. But none of it compares to the day he showed me the "best grocery store in Shanghai" it was "very famous". He was sure that I would like it. He said this chain was all over China and every major Chinese city had several. This grocery nervana was just 3 blocks away from my hotel. He walked me over to show me this gem.

Pronounced Waal-Martu

Beijing is famous for a cheap quick lunch of noodles called Zhajiangmian "Fried Sauce Noodles"

After touring around the forbidden city all morning we were looking for a quick lunch. We took a cab who told us he would take us to a great place for Beijing noodles. After I got done talking about how cabbies always know the best places for food and I had never been steered wrong.


Well... I was wrong. I think the cabbie just wanted us to get out of his cab asap. These noodles were tough, had no flavor, were all around just horribly disappointing. The rest of the food we got at this place was also pretty horrible. We ordered cumin lamb, which definitely had plenty of whole cumin seed, however it was definitely not lamb.

This is a very tasty dish, with ground pork and vegetables quickly sautéed with some fresh vegetables and a dark soy vinegar sauce. However this incarnation of it was... not.

worst noodles ever.

The main lesson learned in China is, if you are at a restaurant that insists that you pay upon ordering, go somewhere else, it's probably going to be poorly prepared and you might not be getting what you order. Almost every other restaurant you pay at the end of the meal. There might be some exceptions to this rule but I was 0/2. The other restaurant also pulled a lamb/pork swap as well.

-NOM