Dish of the Day: Frog @ Dong Da Shi

Shanghai: Frog @ Dong Da Shi

Every few days our team will scour Shanghai's dining scene for scrumptious dishes that'll fill your belly without emptying your savings. Not to discriminate, we'll search everywhere from bicycle carts to chic venues with twenty-course tasting menus, knowing that any spot could have the next Dish of the Day.

There's nothing like a bubbling pot of amphibians to take the edge off a long work day, which is why every week we hit up Dong Da Shi (董大师金牌稻香蛙), a Sichuan chain serving up everything froggy from frog stew to frog skewers (38RMB per jin).

But what you really need to get is the hotpot, (38RMB per jin of frog, not including other ingredients), because, let's face it, there's something satisfyingly primal about yanking a whole amphibian out of a vat of red murk, flopping it onto your plate, and picking it apart. And since the frogs are bullfrog-spring frog hybrids, they're quite small, allowing you to 'glurp' them down until the pile of bones on your plate invokes an amphibian mass grave.

And no, frog doesn't taste "jest lak chickin." Rather, as former food editor Eric Hu noted, frog meat combines the textures and flavors of both chicken and fish in that it flakes off the bone like bass, yet retains the suppleness of poultry.

But we'll let you be the judge. Frog season is in full swing now, so hurry on down to Dong Dao Shi and get eating. And if you have a frog in your throat (sorry), wash it down with a pitcher of their home-made calamondindrink.

Dong Da Shi - 92 Yanqing Lu, near Huating Lu (延庆路92号, 近华亭路). Tel: (0)21-5404-0388.

Click here for the complete list of locations.

Last time on Dish of the Day: Baozi @ any street vendor

See a complete list of our Dish of the Day series here.

Have a recommendation for Dish of the Day? Let Shanghaiist's food editor Benjamin Cost know atfood@shanghaiist.com!