A “NU” KIND OF EXPERIENCE

Have you ever seen memes online of “Asians Taking Pictures of Asians Taking Pictures of Food“? I used to laugh at the sillyness of it all but 2 weeks ago, i was that Asian being pictured taking pictures of food. What happened? I attended my first Social Media Influencer Foodie event. Restaurants invite food bloggers, instagrammers, online influencers, etc to taste their specialties and spread the word.

I normally take pictures of delicious looking food that I order and my husband knows the drill: don’t touch the food until Kym has taken a picture of it in a few angles with the perfect lighting. But this foodie event? This was several notches up from what I was used to.

HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY FIRST TASTING EVENT: 

1) This is obvious but it’s key to sit by a place with the best natural lighting.

2) Be patient and wait your turn. Each person takes a turn at taking pictures of each dish as it comes out. I was advised that it’s normal to eat cold food by the time everyone is finished taking pictures. But, this means that the restaurant is really good if the food is still delicious when cold.

3) You can’t be shy if you’re going to attend one of these tasting events. You will get funny looks and you may become a meme.

4) Go ahead, stand up on your chair for that perfect “from the top” shot. See Point #3.

5) Teamwork is key! Work together to get that perfect “i’m scooping the soup out of the bowl” shot or the “i just happen to be perfectly picking up this piece of meat with my chopsticks” shot.

6) Staging is key! Wipe off that out of place drip of sauce. Yes, you’ll need to turn that spoon just a tad. Move that plate an inch closer to the centre. Perfect.

7) It’s not considered disrespectful for everyone to be on their phones throughout the event. They’re not ignoring you, in fact they’re probably just giving you more exposure online by tagging you on their latest post.

OK! On to the actual review of the food. Nu Chinese Bistro is a Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond, BC. We were spoiled with an array of dishes from appetizers to meat dishes to seafood and dessert. Thanks, Nu!

Yes, i shamelessly stood on top of a chair for this shot. The place is clean and very modern. Everywhere around the restaurant, i found this character which i later found out means “tasty”. We were soon to find out if it was true.
This was one of the first few dishes that came out. I was told by a fellow taster who is from Shanghai that traditionally, this is supposed to be served upside down but they serve it like this so that it looks nicer. I enjoyed the crispy bun but it got soggy real fast as there was a soupy surprise inside.
This one surprised me. I’m not a duck person. Duck is probably the second last thing i would order on a menu… last is lamb. BUT, guys, this was my favorite out of all the dishes! The skin was crispy and the meat was full of flavor.
“Perfect chopstick shot” Exhibit A. I enjoyed all the seafood except the fish dish. I found it to have too fishy of an aftertaste. The shrimp dish was my favorite – sweet with a little kick of spice!
When you walk in to the restaurant, you’ll see a glass window where you can watch someone stuff, wrap, and tie these by hand. Inside is a generous serving of sticky rice and meat. Delicious but it was overshadowed by all the other dishes.
This was a first for me. In my notes, i simply put “too winey”. To the wine lover, this is probably a dream dessert but I don’t drink wine! It was an interesting experience though. The bowl contained rice, rice balls, egg, and goji berries.
After helping each other take the perfect pictures, exchanging social media handles, and enjoying cold food together – you feel a little bit closer to the people who were strangers just an hour ago.[This post was originally published on Kym’s blog, kymela. You can read the original post here.]