If you’re like me, one of the things you love most about living abroad is when people come to visit.  It’s a little taste of home without the hassle or expense of actually going there.  Plus, I love Shanghai, so I also love to show it off to friends and family who come to see me.

But here’s what I discovered after a recent visit by my parents: Shanghai is not Beijing.  In Beijing, you’ll never run out of historic, cultural, touristy things to do.  In Shanghai, well, not so much.  The things that I enjoy on a regular basis in Shanghai don’t really cut it when my parents come and want to experience “China.”  So here are some ideas of what to do with your parents if they visit that try to blend the old and new of China while still showing off the personality of Shanghai.

Yu Gardens

Beautiful, traditional Chinese gardens.  It’s a great place to wander around, take pictures, and people watch.  My best advice: make a day of it and head to the gardens early to beat the crowds, see the gardens, and then have a walk around the bazaar.  Take your parents to eat some traditional xiaolongbao at the famous Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (the takeaway queue is intimidating, but you’ll have better luck if you just go inside and sit down).

After lunch, have a walk around the old town area.  There’s the Chenxiangge Nunnery as well as the Temple of the Town God, both near Yu Gardens and worth a quick visit.  Fangbang Zhong Lu is a great street to wander along as it’s got lots of souvenir shopping as well as nice shops, tea houses and restaurants if you need a break.  Also on Fangbang Zhong Lu is the Shiliupu Fabric Market if your parents want to have any clothes made before returning home.  It’s a good idea to hit the fabric market early in your Shanghai visit, in case the clothes you order don’t get done on time or need more than one fitting.

Do NOT go to Yu Gardens at the weekend, unless your goal is to show your parents just how many people live in Shanghai.

Downstairs is David Laris' new restaurant, and I felt compelled to go check it out because he's Australian. They're all about "smart and sustainable living", with wall made of recycled boat planks, and eco-friendly furniture, etc. The ambience is very Melbourne-style, and I felt like I wasn't in China. It was raining so unfortunately we couldn't sit outside in their lovely bamboo-surrounded patio, but at least we were cool, comfortable and dry indoors and the large floor-to-ceiling glass panels letting in natural light made us still feel like we were outdoors. The menu is limited, but all the dishes looked interesting. We were surprised that the prices were pretty reasonable. However, we soon realised why - the portions are tiny. I would say they're appetizer size, no where near filling enough to be a normal meal. A bit disappointing, as the food was excellent. If the portions were double the size, this place would easily have scored a full 5 star rating.

Beautiful and luxe, the semi-hidden (it's on the 2nd floor after stepping through a nondescript entrance and tiny steep staircase - watch your head!), El Coctel is owned by the famous Willy of El Willy restaurant. It's actually relatively empty early in the evening, until about 10 or 11PM when it really fills up (remember to make a reservation or the bouncer at the door will simply refuse you entry).The staff are absolutely top-notch. Fluent in English, polite, extremely attentive, and prompt. One of the best service experiences I've had in Shanghai. I love the eclectic mix of plush couches and ottomans though it was curious they had some sort of Buddhist(?) offering in the middle of the room against the wall.

We were delighted that they served us complimentary filtered water, not boiled tap water, upon us being seated. We were also treated to a little bowl of fluffy popped corn that was slightly salted and slightly sweet. Very tasty and lovely to nibble on with our cocktails.

I was surprised with how authentic La Creperie was. OK, it's not a very valid statement for me to make, since I've never actually lived in Brittany, France (where the cafe owner hails from). But I say this because the food was totally different in taste and ingredients to anything else I've eaten in my life.

It's primarily a crepe place, serving up a staggering selection of savory and sweet crepes. The cafe is cosy and bustling with diners, and is modelled after the seaside and lighthouse - which is what Brittany is like, I presume. Sometimes, themed cafes are pretty tacky, but La Creperie definitely isn't. It's a laid back, casual cafe that makes for a fabulous weekend brunch. Our waitress spoke fluent English and all the staff were very attentive and polite, with food coming out quickly from the open kitchen.

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I've heard SO much about Azul Viva's "fantastic brunch" so we finally managed to make our way there on a rainy Sunday. I've been there twice before but for their tapas dinner, which was generally pretty good. I like their crisp yet relaxed ambience and the polite, English-speaking staff, and was keen to see what they were like during the day for brunch.I'm really glad we booked, because they were a full house! I suppose it's the expat brunch haven in Shanghai ;) At 130元 for 2-courses or 150元 for 3-courses, they're also touted to be fantastic value. So, is that true? Well, yes and no.

I would say first of all that the ingredients are not super-high quality, expensive ingredients, like our flat-out impressive brunch at Cristal. However, Azul's brunch set is cheaper (though only very slightly) so you could argue it's fair. Also, I wouldn't say they're extremely filling - rather, yes, you'll be sufficiently full if you order all the carb meals, but only semi-full if you don't.

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The traditional and old fashioned Dulce de Leche (Caramel Sauce) has been in the pantries of almost every home in Argentina for ages as a somehow well kept secret. Recently or just a few years back the secret got out to the world and big retailers like Haagen Dazs Ice Cream, Yoplait Yogurt or Starbucks Coffee decided to include in the list of products they offer to the public this sticky, sweet, caramelized milk-and sugar sauce as a new flavor for their products. The curious thing is that even cosmetics retailers have felt for the Dulce de Leche fever and even OPI has a nail polish tone in ‘Dulce de Leche’.

The story goes that ‘Dulce de Leche’ may have been invented by Napoleon’s soldiers burning milk and sugar while in the field, or by a housekeeper who forgot the milk on the stove.  Whatever the origin, the flavor is legendary. In fact nobody is sure where it comes from, Argentineans claimed that WE invented it but Mexicans have it too (although they call it ‘Cajeta’).

I've been to Cristal only once before, and clearly they have massively improved this time round in terms of service and quality of food. It's more of a "nice-dining" restaurant. As in, it's not as exorbitantly priced as fine-dining, but certainly not a cheap cafe. It sits nicely in between and is actually really close to where we live, but we hadn't yet found an occasion to go again. Located on the 4th floor of a shopping mall at Nanjing West station, it's easy to miss and relatively unknown unless you've heard about the restaurant and are specifically going there for a meal. What a hidden treasure :) Last weekend 8 of us decided to try out Cristal's Brunch set menu, which at 178 RMB (3-course) or 198 RMB (4-course) turned out to be ONE AMAZING DEAL that had all of us surprised and delighted. The quality of the ingredients was superb, the presentation was fine-dining style, the service was polite and attentive, and the menu actually underplayed the variety and quantity of food that we would be served. It was flat-out impressive and all of us were raving about the value of the brunch. I am most definitely going back and recommending visitors to go there for a relaxed, sunlit weekend brunch.

It was Julia's birthday and we decided to celebrate it with a small dinner in Anna Maya, since she is vegetarian. I've been keen to try Anna Maya out after she told me she loved it - they are (obviously) vegetarian, but also do a lot of vegan, and also macrobiotic food. To be frank, except for another Aussie girl friend's birthday last year (which we celebrated in a vegetarian restaurant in Singapore), I've never been to a vegetarian place before. In fact, I don't even eat vegetarian meals. So it was with great novelty to me to go to Anna Maya. It's a little cozy cafe that looks like a living room, with wood antique furniture, lamps, and just a few tables squeezed in. It's very chill, and has a definite bohemian, laid back vibe. Their food is all about whole foods, and all unprocessed, with the daily menu simply scribbled on a sheet of brown paper.

Being a vegetarian in Shanghai can be very trying at times!  All vegetarians out there have surely been through the same things as me when trying to order food!

MEDoes this have meat?WAITERNoMEWhat’s in it then?WAITERMushrooms, Pork and some other green vegetables.MEBut I asked if it had meat and you said no!WAITERPork is not a meat it is a vegetable and it is only a little bit!MEAya!

So I thought I would do a list of some of the vegetarian restaurants around town.  I love going to vegetarian restaurants, because for once I don’t need to call ahead to see if they can give me anything without meat and I have more than the one-token meatless dish on the menu to choose from!  Also, I don’t end up walking out of the restaurant after paying the same price as everyone else still starving, while they are all complaining about being full!

The interior of Mythos is such a delight - all in white and Grecian blues, and split into a multi-level restaurant complete with fireplace and a roof-top dining area. It's modelled to be classically Aegean and you could say it's kitschy, but I find it quite adorable. The staff are polite and attentive and the tables are spaced well-apart so you're not interrupted by other loud diners. I like how our seats are large white lounges, so you can curl up whilst you eat. You can see a wonderful all-round view of the Mythos here.The food was good but not outstanding. We weren't reeling with gastronomic delight or anything, but the food was decent and it's a fantastic place to chill out with friends. We had a double date there with friends and it's the perfect place to lounge back on the sofas and have a natter. Other time we took Mom and Dad to Mythos. It was a stunnigly sunny day and instead of cosying up on the plush lounges indoors at night, we went up to the rooftop and ate under the blue sky. It's pretty amazing up there. Views spanning the Huangpu river and across to the huge buildings of the Bund, and just soaking in the sunshine after an incredibly long winter in Shanghai.

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A few friends have been telling me to check out La Strada for months, but we never had a chance to go because it's a little out of our usual hangout areas and we kept getting side-tracked. Boy, am I glad we finally found ourselves there! Owned by Craig Willis (of Mr Willis restaurant above La Strada), the restaurant is casual and bustling with diners when we arrive for dinner. We're lucky to score a corner table by the window despite not making a reservation, and happily settle down to peruse the menu with a glass of wine in hand. The menu is not huge, but since it's our first time, we were happy with the selections available. We are particularly impressed with our pizza, whose base is thin and crispy and isn't at all soggy (so many thin crust pizzas in Shanghai fall prey to the soggy factor). The ingredients are fairly generous though I wish they'd put the ingredients on the outer edge of the pizza too so I'm not left with a large piece of plain crust at the end. The spicy salami and mushrooms are fabulous on the pizza and we merrily devour it.

We all think eating fruit means just buying fruit, cutting it up and popping it into our mouths.  It's not that easy. It's important to know how and when to eat fruit.What's the correct way to eat fruit?

It means not eating fruit after a meal! Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach!Eating fruit like that plays a major role in detoxifying your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Fruit is the most important food!

Let's say you eat two slices of bread, then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it's prevented from doing so. In the meantime, the whole meal rots and ferments, and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.Eat your fruit on an empty stomach or before your meal!  You've heard people complain: Every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc. This will not happen if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach.

There are several places every newcomer to Shanghai has to know. One of this places is Avocado lady's shop (also known as Arugula lady and Basil lady). I got to know about Ms Jiang Qin from the first issue of Time Out Shanghai and since then grocery shopping has never been the same again. Her shop at 274 Wulumuqi Rd is one of the only places in the city to buy cheap, fresh avocados (10 RMB), a rare find. Her store looks like nothing special from the outside, but the good import foods at incredibly low prices have made this woman famous.

Ms Jiang is a real entrepreneur and a smart cookie because she knows her laowai market very well. She has all those products that the other vegetable sellers don’t, such as fresh arugula, basil, frisée, blocks of parmesan, and balls of fresh mozzarella for only 17 RMB.

Gokohai serves Japanese style hot-pot, better known as shabu shabu. Although hot pot season is coming to an end as the weather warms up, Gokohai’s focus on mixed vegetables, wheat-flour noodles and puréed radish and carrot toppings makes this restaurant a fresher alternative. If you call ahead, you can reserve a small Japanese style tatami room, or walk in for a table. Each seat has an individual pot, so you don’t have to fish around your friend for the thinly sliced meat or figure out how to cook something separately for a vegetarian.

For those who think of hot pot as being just giant piles of meat, the menu has well selected pre-set kamaboko (ground fish cake), konnyaku (a grey jelly which is a popular Japanese diet food), vegetables, mushrooms and pressed tofu platters. We also ordered a bowl of prawns (12 RMB), but to be honest we should have ordered one bowl per person. The meat slices were very lean and it wasn’t necessary to scrape any fatty water off the top of the pot during the meal.

Shanghai Tang is a brand with stores in various locations around the world. They sell beautiful silk and cashmere clothing, supple leather bags, and artistic enamel jewellery. All for an exorbitant price because it's catered for the foreign market (though it's made for about 1/50th the price here in China). I know their prices are absurd, but I still love their products and especially the store's interior - all luxe in bold fuschias, lime greens and bright blues, matched with black. Recently, they opened their new restaurant in Shanghai and we finally made a trip there on a double-date with some friends. Located on the 2nd floor and accessed by elevator, you step out and you're immediately taken into a world of luxe. Black glossy walls with back-lit colourful features, glass windows shrouded with black and lime green curtains, lacquered black table and chairs and a stunning explosion of colourful tableware. The colours are intense and look fantastic against the black. It's all very nouveau-Chinese and you either think its tacky, or appreciate it. I love it!

As a nutrionist and founder of Eat Well Shanghai, one complaint I hear from many new foreigners living in Shanghai is constipation.  Seems when you get your residence permit, your digestive system comes to a screeching halt.   Constipation is complicated and can have many root causes, including emotional stress (hello, moving to Shanghai, China?!?), lack of fiber in the diet (white rice anyone?) and not enough water (what is in that bing shui exactly?).  Coupled with a frequent lack of exercise from getting escorted from one place to another in the back of a GL8 or a taxi, and you have a recipe for a serious backup.

For mild constipation, adding more fiber to your diet is really important.  In Western countries, grocery store shelves are often lined with high-fiber products such as whole-grain pasta, whole-wheat bread and bran cereals, not to mention health food stores tauting everything from raw bran to wheat germ to psyllium.  So, I went on a little dig around Shanghai to find my top high-fiber items that may help keep you moving and feeling good.

Sitting at home with a head cold, looking at the clock and thinking about what to make for dinner, I thought about the beautiful cookbooks my sister-in-law gave to me while visiting my husband's family in France for CNY. Mind you, I did not have any intention of whipping up a french dinner in a moment's notice, but I did want to share one of my favorite, and easiest, french recipes that I turn to when short on ideas. It sounds more difficult than it really is, but make it once and you are sure to return to it. I am not that loyal to recipes for I am not good at following them and the measurements drive me crazy, but this one, I can do (even though I still made up my own quantities).

I also thought of doing something along the lines of “Julie and Julia”, cooking up one recipe per month (not per day!) in one of those books. I will think more on that...it will fine-tune my recipe-following abilities; never mind my french!

Tonight's dinner menu:

Carbonnade (the Flemish kind) served over pasta or rice

Low-fat strawberry muffins

Helmed by Brian Tan, a Malaysian, the upscale HoF is a sweet tooth paradise. I like to call it a "dessert bar", because it's a fascinating blend of sweet treats, cocktails and wines. Dark and chic, HoF gets really packed in the evenings, especially after dinner when people roll in for desserts and a cocktail or ten. I've had a love affair with HoF ever since my first bite of their luscious orange chocolate cake with caramel and sea salt - I think this was mid-year when they first opened. A dense, moist chocolate cake ("it's kinda like a brownie, no?" said my girl friend) with a thick drape of caramel on top, and interestingly, sprinkled with a few shavings of fresh sea salt. "To off-set the sweetness and it goes with the caramel", Brian says as he sprinkles it on with a flair. This particular dessert is the best cake I've had in Shanghai. Rich yet fluffy, I simply cannot resist this gem!

Lynn Modern Shanghai Cuisine (whew, what a mouthful!) is a chic restaurant boasting a fabulous location in the middle of the ritzy part of Jingan. The Art Deco decor boasts a modern interior, dark wood tables, and charming private rooms for large groups. We were here specifically for the all-you-can-eat dim sum brunch, though were quite disappointed when we found out that it was now 88元 (up from 78元). Still, the clean and neat restaurant and delicious food made up for it. The dishes were all excellent. You'd expect sub-par quality for all-you-can-eat, but the quality was fantastic. Most of the dishes were delicious, with only a few 'misses'. In particular, I adored the smoked egg, which sounded plain on the menu but we immediately fell in love upon first bite - it's basically a soft-boiled egg, the yolk all creamy and slightly runny. Another winner was the dan dan noodles, slippery smooth noodles resting in a delicious creamy spicy soup. The egg tarts, deep-fried red bean pancake and black sesame sticky rice balls for dessert were also stunners. 

Two cafes, both conveniently located in the French Concession, both promising nirvana for the Shanghai chocoholic looking for something a bit more nuanced than Kedi Dove bars.  But which one follows through?Whisk: I know Death by Chocolate sounds hackneyed, but I still think Whisk should rename their Chocolate Therapy, because I pretty much keeled over halfway through.  It's the frosting that does it - imagine super-rich semi-mousse-textured candy bars sandwiched between layers of cake.  I've heard good things about the other desserts as well (if orgasmic sighs=good).  That said, this is dessert by blunt instrument: nothing wrong with the ingredients, but nothing particularly inspired in how they're combined.  Brownie, chocolate cake, tiramisu....you've had all this before.  Which is not to say you won't have it again.