China Food Deliveries

[liuzhou]

Having cooked meals and ingredients etc delivered to your office or home is hugely popular here in China. The biggest supplier is Meituan and you see dozens of their electric scooters dashing around every day. There isn't much you can't buy (anything from a raw egg to flock of live ostriches) and delivery is usually within 30 minutes.

 

I have eaten from this source before but today was my first time to order for myself. This issue is due to my being confined to bed in a hospital with a more than usually dysfunctional kitchen.

 

Anyway, here is my introductory dish.

 

 

 

Spicy cumin beef fried rice with a vegetable soup from heaven The broth was indescribable. These dishes are from Lanzhou in NW China.

 

Those who know the China Food Myths topic will note the lack of egg in the fried rice

 

Cost me 26 cents US /  22 pence UK. This includes a huge welcome discount. The regular price is about 12 times that.

Edited September 15, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Having cooked meals and ingredients etc delivered to your office or home is hugely popular here in China. The biggest supplier is Meituan and you see dozens of their electric scooters dashing around every day. There isn't much you can't buy (anything from a raw egg to flock of live ostriches) and delivery is usually within 30 minutes.

 

I have eaten from this source before but today was my first time to order for myself. This issue is due to my being confined to bed in a hospital with a more than usually dysfunctional kitchen.

 

Anyway, here is my introductory dish.

 

 

 

Spicy cumin beef fried rice with a vegetable soup from heaven The broth was indescribable. These dishes are from Lanzhou in NW China.

 

Those who know the China Food Myths topic will note the lack of egg in the fried rice

 

Cost me 26 cents US /  22 pence UK. This includes a huge welcome discount. The regular price is about 12 times that.

Was the vegetable soup good?  I can't tell if there's sarcasm there or not...

[liuzhou]

12 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Was the vegetable soup good?  I can't tell if there's sarcasm there or not...

 

Not a drop of sarcasm. It really was excellent. Deeply flavoured and perfectly seasoned. Chicken based but with a good ham in there, I'm sure. Vegetables were perfectly tender without being overdone. 

 

Vegetable soup but certainly not vegetarian soup.

Edited September 15, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Having cooked meals and ingredients etc delivered to your office or home is hugely popular here in China.

Can you say something about the logistics of this when you are in a hospital bed? Is it delivered directly to you in your room? Are there no Covid restrictions? Or is it delivered to a nursing station and then to you? Thanks. 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

Can you say something about the logistics of this when you are in a hospital bed? Is it delivered directly to you in your room? Are there no Covid restrictions? Or is it delivered to a nursing station and then to you? Thanks. 

 

Good question. There are very strict COVID restrictions (although having a very high-ranking in the city's medical hierarchy friend has allowed a couple of my visitors in who wouldn't have been otherwise). Food deliveries are dropped at a specific station somewhere and each relevant ward notified. Someone (a nursing assistant) collects my dinner from there and brings it to my bedside.

[Anna N]

14 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Good question.

Thanks very much. I now know more about the logistics of food delivery in a hospital in mainland China than I do in Oakville, Ontario, Canada!  My hospital has a huge food court with multiple different offerings but I never ever figured out how to get it moved from there to my room. Nor did I ever discover how to get a pizza delivered from outside the hospital and this was even before Covid factored into the equation. 

[liuzhou]

48 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Thanks very much. I now know more about the logistics of food delivery in a hospital in mainland China than I do in Oakville, Ontario, Canada!  My hospital has a huge food court with multiple different offerings but I never ever figured out how to get it moved from there to my room. Nor did I ever discover how to get a pizza delivered from outside the hospital and this was even before Covid factored into the equation. 

 

I'd never thought about it either, until the last couple of days. Now I'm thinking about ordering a whole roasted camel to see how they cope.

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Not a drop of sarcasm. It really was excellent. Deeply flavoured and perfectly seasoned. Chicken based but with a good ham in there, I'm sure. Vegetables were perfectly tender without being overdone. 

 

Vegetable soup but certainly not vegetarian soup.

Glad to hear it.  I'm happy to see you get something satisfying while you're recovering.

[liuzhou]

宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng) with rice. This is what you may call Kung-po Chicken but no one in China does. On the side, a couple of century eggs in chilli sauce.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

 

Good that you can get proper stuff delivered now - hope it helps with your recovery. I haven’t seen so much fresh peppers in gōng bǎo jī dīng - it that a “regional” deviation ?

Edited September 17, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Good that you can get proper stuff delivered now - hope it helps with your recovery. I haven’t seen so much fresh peppers in gōng bǎo jī dīng - it that a “regional” deviation ?

 

I suspect what you are seeing as pepper is actually carrot and I've certainly seen that in Sichuan.

[Duvel]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

I suspect what you are seeing as pepper is actually carrot and I've certainly seen that in Sichuan.

Green carrot 😜 ?!

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Green carrot 😜 ?!

 

aahh! There is a little green pepper in there. That wouldn't be traditional, no. However, I know the restaurant and it is Sichuan owned. I won't go so far as to call it a "regional" variation outside the region that is that restaurant! 😂 

[farcego]

Sorry to hear you are in a hospital, hope you are free to go the sooner.

I have very limited experience with hospital meals, but it is nice that even with the current restrictions at place, you are allowed to get delivered food from outside. Certainly not when my father "served" some months almost 30 years ago (they wouldn't actually let me in as I was allegedly too young, if we didn't knew some nurses there - my mother best friend)

 

I am not sure if they will let you get some ostriches delivered to your room, it would be funny (and funky) 

Edited September 17, 2022 by farcego
forgot the 0 of 30 (log)

[liuzhou]

鱼香肉丝 (yú xiāng ròu sī) fish fragrant pork slivers. The name refers to the sauce being more commonly served with fish. There is no fish in my lunch.

 

 

I always think this is a great example of  the principle of cutting all the ingredients to be fried to the same shape and size. 

 

Pork, carrot, fresh black woodear fungus, green chilli slivers. Served with rice.

 

I'll replace the image when I get back to civilisation.

Edited September 18, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

牛肉肉夹馍 Beef Rou Jia Mo. one of two.

 

 

 

Not bad but could have done with some chilli heat. 

 

[liuzhou]

Lunch. Squid with red and green hot peppers, Chinese celery, garlic, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine.

 

 

Best yet (although mine is better.)

Edited September 20, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

and next

 

Hunan Chilli Chicken. This came with an unannounced chicken thigh on the side. And rice. Pretty good.

 

 

[FlashJack]

Get well soon. Better in one's own kitchen.

[liuzhou]

Lunch was a bit of a screw-up; mostly my fault. First of all I must have pressed the wrong button on the app and accidentally ordered 12 bottles of mineral water rather than my lunch of choice.

 

Once I realised, I sought to correct this but my lunch of choice wasn't the chef's choice and it wasn't available. I was  beginning to panic, then remembered there is an OK restaurant right next to the main hospital entrance. 

 

Like an idiot, I ordered a pizza. From a Chinese restaurant in China (conveniently situated next to a hospital. Here is the app listing

 

 and here is what turned up.

 

 

It was as bad as it looks. At least I had enough water to wash it away.

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[blue_dolphin]

17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

It was as bad as it looks. At least I had enough water to wash it away.

Wow - you must have been starving, first to order pizza and then to eat what arrived!

What's that brown condiment swirled on top? 
 

[SusieQ]

54 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Like an idiot, I ordered a pizza.

I think you were maybe a little desperate. 🤣

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

What's that brown condiment swirled on top? 
 

 

It's a sort of BBQ sauce. With Chinese characteristics.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, SusieQ said:

I think you were maybe a little desperate. 🤣

 

I was a little worried. Many of the places involved stop lunch deliveries at 2 pm which was looming.

[liuzhou]

This was a somewhat unusual but good lunch.

 

 

Herbed roast potatoes Chinese style.

 

 

Black truffle and wild shiitake soup. Damned good

 

 

South African navel orange.