Top Chef 4 - Tepid season finally over

I started watching Top Chef on Bravo since last season and got hooked on ever since. The drama among the cheftestants, the appearance of guest judges (usually celeb chefs) are very entertaining. When technically strong Hung won the whole thing last year, I was pretty excited about an AZN brotha representin'.

So I watched this season religiously and cannot say I got the same satisfaction as last year. There were little dramas, cursing fest, blowups here and there, but all seems quite staged. No major characters stands out and has a personality that hooks you to come back and see what outrageous thing he/she will say this week! Dale has the talent to take the path of Hung to repeat as a 2nd AZN Top Chef, but he fizzled out during restaurant war in the hands of the perpetually pissed off Lisa. It was Richard Blais's season to lose, and he did just that. Choking on the final episode and lost out to Top Chef Stephanie, who also won fan favorite chef. I am sure she will do well in her Chicago restaurant as with Harold's Perilla.

Overall, I find season 4 lackluster but still entertaining enough for me to tune in. Rumor has it season 5 will be based in NYC. This will be awesome! Hopefully during the next year or so, I will bump into some taping of the show! Just need to watch out a motorcade of Toyota 4X4's parked in front.

Tenya - Japanese place in Shanghai

So I was in Shanghai for 11 days visiting my parents. Most of the meals were Shanghainese food which I missed very much. The heavy sauce, sweet flavor and the various cold dishes were very satisfactory.

One of the more memorable meals, however, was at a cool Japanese restaurant called Tenya. My friend PL brought Connie and I there. It was a place that specialize in Tuna and Snow crabs. I heard it was run by Japanese tuna importers. When I called for direction, the manager, who is Japanese, speaks decent albeit accented Chinese. Later I found out he speaks English too. The set menu is of fantastic value. For RMB250, you start with different types of toro sashimi and steamed king crab legs After this, you enjoy a hotpot with more tuna, some smaller crab legs, and loads of fresh vegetables. Towards the end of the hotpot portion of the meal, you can get udon or congee dump into the soup. After ALL that, you get a mini size, but filling bowl of negitoro-don. (chopped toro with scallion over sushi rice). Lastly, you get a scoop of coffee ice cream with coffee chips. We also got the RMB200 plate of mixed toro sushi to share. It takes you from Maguro, to medium Toro, then to fatty Toro. It was an amazing meal and I highly recommend it to all my friends who frequent Shanghai.

8 out of 10 in my book. I am sure they have a similar one in NYC and I am determined to find it.