Fish head curry, the way Hunan does it

Note: Due to blogger mishap, photos of this fine meal have gone missing. Close your eyes while you read this post and imagine the dishes!

V continued the onslaught of delicious food in Shanghai. This time the place was Gu Yi, a Hunanese restaurant.

The clear and standout highlight of the meal was the chopped chilli covered fish head. An enormous fish head, of a red snapper perhaps, had been steamed and then covered with an inch thick layer of chopped green chillies, then braised. It was amazingly delicious, quite spicy, and we picked apart the poor fish head to pieces. Anything edible was eaten. The neck flesh, the cheek flesh, even the lip flesh. Most fun of all, and new to me, was the fish eye. I got one of them, popped it in my mouth, and bit down. Pop! It was like a giant piece of salmon roe, though less intense. Both odd and scrumptious at the same time. Just remember to spit out the retina (I think it was the retina...).

Also good were the cumin-scented pork ribs. Though having a reputed off night, they were tasty and easy to eat. The flesh jumped off the bone. I would love to have these when they're one.

Less successful were the dishes Max and I (mainly me) picked. One was squid and bamboo shoot stir fry. The dish was very monocolor and very underflavored. Nothing tasted particularly good. The second dish was bitter melon braised in sauce. I was hoping the sauce (which contained ingredients lost to history) would mitigate the bitterness of the melon. Not the case. We tried to like it, but we couldn't.

I dearly wish I had a photo of the chopped chilli fish head. What an amazing dish, definitely up there on the list for the trip so far.