Best Food In China

Location

If I say “ancient Greece”, what comes to mind? Loads of stuff, probably. Aristotle, Socrates, the birth of democracy, the birth of civilization. Archimedes, Pythagoras, school maths, cold sweats – stay on track now. How about the Parthenon, Mt. Olympus; Homer, Troy, the Olympics. How about the Acropolis? How about Zeus? What a race! Slaves, paedophiles. Ok, ok, that’s enough.

Now how about I say “modern Greece” – what comes to mind? Err… Kebabs, surely. Feta cheese. Smashing plates, perhaps…

Greece, what went wrong?!

To be fair this is probably just an embarrassing display of my own ignorance. I admit that the closest I’ve ever been to Greece is Cyprus, and that is actually quite a distance away. But is this not the 21st century? Greece, where is you globalisation? Shanghai is crying out for moussaka, and you can only muster four restaurants! And the first of those was created by a German!

Yes, that’s right, it was a German who first flew the Greek flag in Shanghai’s culinary Olympic parade. The restaurant he founded, Acropolis, opened its doors in 2001. Therein I believe we can find an explanation for the apparent historical descent of Greece before the eyes of the world, from the country that brought us the Iliad and Euclidean geometry to the country that produces certain hard-to-find brands of olive oil.

Acropolis restaurant, in contrast to the monumental ostentation of its namesake, is humbly located on Wuxing Lu. And why not? Wuxing Lu is a nice street. On a weekday evening like the one that I sauntered along there, it’s quiet and the canopy of trees that makes tunnels of the French concession streets lets you pretend to yourself that the sky beyond has stars in it. I could almost have been on holiday when I strolled into Acropolis – I already felt relaxed and unhurried, and when I saw these walls covered in kitsch photos of white roofs and blue sea I felt the last strains of Shanghai wash out of me.

My impression of Acropolis is paper tablecloths. I don’t know if it actually has them or not – it could be the napkins I’m thinking of – but does it matter? I’m talking paper tablecloths in a positive way, like sand between your toes and mild sunburn, an essential ingredient of a Mediterranean holiday. Feel that knobbly pattern of the paper tablecloth under your forearm, feel the overhanging V flap tickling your thigh in the breeze. You sitting are on a terrace overlooking the moonlit sea.

And I am sitting in Shanghai Acropolis eating warm pita bread with olive tapenade, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice with a faintly earthy flavour. But it is not a matter of great worry to me, this slight taint. It is juice from a real orange I am drinking, and real oranges grow from real soil. My Dad used to tell me some enthusiasts taste soil as a hobby, anyway. I don’t know if he was just making that up. (Why would he make that up?)

Next come some deep fried calamari in a light batter, the saltiness of which helps me overcome any doubts I might have had about finishing my orange juice, but is thankfully more Mediterranean than it is Dead Sea. The calamari are well cooked, with a light and crispy batter and the tzatziki dip adds a refreshing tang to this simple dish.

This was followed by a Greek feta salad with, surprisingly, Australian-produced feta cheese. Apparently the Greek feta is very difficult to find here. So we have another example of foreign globalisation on behalf of the Greeks. The Australian cheese lacks the crumbly texture of the genuine article, but still pulls its weight in a recommendable, reasonably-priced salad (18 RMB).

‘Dolmathokia yialantzi’ is not something I expect you to understand unless you are Greek, although I fear I may have lost all of my modern Greek readers early on in this article. I can inform those of you who are still reading that this is a dish of grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables, resulting tight little packages that are very satisfying to cut and chew.

The main courses are really where I feel Acropolis comes into its own, though. The eggplant moussaka is a substantial dish, the sweetish lamb and beef sauce heavily draped with melted cheese. In contrast, spanakopita is a beautifully light filo pastry envelope filled with chicken and spinach in a cream sauce. There is a refreshing flavour to the sauce too – this time coming from rosemary. This dish was a real highlight, perhaps equaled only by the tender lamb kebabs which followed, four on a plate plus fries – a rare find for 78 RMB.

We finished with sweet rolls of baklava and whipped cream – another thing that I won’t miss when I next visit Acropolis. And I am sure I will return, drawn back by what it is that sets Acropolis apart from other restaurants I have visited in Shanghai: its authenticity. I don’t want to claim that everything is perfect. I will admit that our calamari came served on a plastic plate, with nil presentation. But, these rough edges are what makes the place real. Acropolis may be owned by a German, but you will get a flavour of Greece in there.

Maybe that’s what sets modern Greece apart. It has not packed itself up in boxes to sit in neat rows on supermarket shelves. It does not set itself up under a plastic sign on foreign high streets. You, and I, will probably have to go there if we want to know what it’s really like. Or we could just go to Acropolis in Shanghai – not a place of packaged perfection, but a real place at least. And maybe that’s sometimes better.

- by Duncan Rickelton

To know more food lovers, please visit Bestfoodinchina community on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/BestFoodinChina/25524727150

photos: 

photos: 

photos: 

photos: 

photos: