An American (foodie) in China

[ulterior epicure]

I'm travelling through China, and to the best of my abilities, will be posting pictures of my eating experiences. Roughly, my trip starts in Beijing, then to Xian, then to Shanghai and surrounding villages.

To get things started, I need someone who can read Chinese to translate the this and this for me - my first proper meal. The pictures are all posted on my flickr account here.

Will report back soon! Thanks!

u.e.

[robert40]

u.e.

I may not be able to translate but if I can tag along as your side kick one of these days I'm pretty good at parking the car.

Great photos as always!

[docsconz]

Excellent photos as always, but my mouse finger is starting to develop repetetive use syndrome from having to click over to your Flick'r account all the time

I am jealous. This should be a great trip. It appears that you have started out well culinarily. I look forward to reading all about it!

[ulterior epicure]

Thanks doc. Honestly, I would have posted my photos late last night around midnight, jet-lagged and cross-eyed, BUT, I keep having problems uploading photos into eGullet - that's the honest truth... if you could catch the administrators-that-be's ears, a more efficient photo upload system would be appreciated. For some reason, bulk uploading for me doesn't work for me - and thought of uploading one-by-one... well, it' sometimes just not feasible.

u.e.

[Fengyi]

I, unlike you, have been totally useless at posting about my more recent trip to china (though I have managed to put some images on e-Gullet) - I am so impressed with your speed and dedication!!!

I take it, from your pictures, that you are in Beijing at the moment and I am not sure when you are going to Xi'an -but I have a recommendation for great fun in Xi'an (beyond the usual muslim area)..... it's called Jiefang (i.e. liberation) Jiaozi zhuang (or may be guan, or fang or...). Some of the best jiaozi (particuarly the skins) I've ever had. The steamed ones are lovely too. It's just off Jiefang Lu and everyone knows about it (I just asked someone on the street). I can get the exact address if you need it. It came recommended by two Xi'anites that I know and was well worth it (we had dinner for 8 people for 120RMB! Makes Beijing looks like rip=off central! )

Anyhow, your card says Nan3lai2shun4 and it means that it is a restaurant specialising in dishes from the South of China. You can go to Donglaishun places and they will have stuff like Shandong food. Beilaishun restaurants will have mongolian hotpot and things like that.

It's in the Xuanwu district (to the West of the Forbidden city). and it's number 12 on Nanlaiyuan street.

The menu is:

1. Zhenzhu fish (pearl fish)

2. Mineral Water

3. Vegetarian 'shao' (roasted) four treasures

4. Dry-fried beans

5. "Oil-abundant" gailan (sorry - bad translation......but I tried!)

6. Hot and sour soup

7. a half-portion of roasted lamb/mutton leg

8. Jasmine tea

It's a bit strange that it's a Nanlaishun and kosher - there's much more Muslim food from the west and North.

If you do like Kosher food - go to Kaorouji (touristy I know but fun). book a table on the second floor overlooking the lake. eat the stir-fired lamb/mutton with the sesame shao bing. Yum! Do not be talked into ordering camel. Not yum!

Then walk it all off with a stroll southward by the bars of Houhai - and, if you're like me, stop off at one, drink several beers, smoke an apple or strawberry hookah while overlooking the lake and then end the evening by walking down to Lotus lane main entrance and getting a massage from the illegal operators (be careful to get the areas that you want to pay for cause they'll start on your legs, arms, etc.. without saying the additional price!), and watch the ballroom/country/line-dancing for a bit.

My idea of bliss!

Have a great time

[liuzhou]

Rather than being called Nanlai because it serves southern food (that would be a different lai (来)), the restaurant is quite simply named after the street it lies on - nanlaiyuan street.

Roast Lamb / Mutton leg is not southern.

[ulterior epicure]

Rather than being called Nanlai because it serves southern food (that would be a different lai (来)), the restaurant is quite simply named after the street it lies on - nanlaiyuan street.

Oh, duh!

Roast Lamb  / Mutton leg is not southern.

Yeah, that confused me too! Again, the reason we went was because it was close and a friend recommended it for a good lamb hot pot - and that, as we found out after sitting down, was out of season. Oh well, I've got more food pics to upload from today - but I've got to go edit them.

u.e.

[Fengyi]

Rather than being called Nanlai because it serves southern food (that would be a different lai (来)), the restaurant is quite simply named after the street it lies on - nanlaiyuan street.

Roast Lamb  / Mutton leg is not southern.

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Sorry if I'm being really silly, but doesn't the name card say 南来顺? and the address is Nanlaiyuan street 南莱园街？

EDIT: eek! it suddenly struck me that the second character is 菜 cai4!! I was squinting at the character so long and hard my eyes went cross-ways!!!

I did think that the first lai2 was indeed different and had no 'cao 艹' radical -and [Direction] 来顺 is such a common expression in restaurant names anyway.

EDIT: so my first definition was complete rubbish and the name of the street is just South Vegetable Garden Road.

I've just googled it for you, in fact....and Nanlaishun 南来顺 *is* the name of a Halal restaurant on the street. and the description is here:

Nan Lai Shun Restaurant

It dates back to 1937 when a Mr. Shi Kunsheng opened it (in another location evidently -probably demolished in a hutong demolition)

I know lamb/mutton is not a Southern dish - but I reckon they have it on the menu to please people (you know how much lamb is loved in the North! ) or the 'south' might just indicate barely 'south'!!!

They do serve jielan (gailan) though - which is such a southern vegetable! And hot and sour soup is from Sichuan......

Heck! who can figure out the mind of Beijing restaurant owners, though?!?!

Sometimes the restaurant definitions all seem a bit 乱七八糟 (i.e. at sixes and sevens) to me!

EDIT: The article goes on to describe the cuisine - and it does appear to be 'Muslim' (in as much as that's a unified cuisine....!!). I wonder why Mr Shi called it that.....?!?

Edited August 10, 2006 by Fengyi (log)

[hzrt8w]

The vegetable dishes are really good deal! RMB 15.00 = US $2.00, and RMB 28.00 = US $3.50 for the mix veges. Looks great!

I cannot imagine what those visitors who paid US $100.00 per person for dinner in China would be having...

[Carrie Solomon]

I too am an american foodie, and recently back from china. My favorite restaurant in Shanghai is called Xian yue hien, it is situated in a retired communist party compound overlooking a little pond.

address: 849 huashan lu

tel: 6251 1166

The restaurant is open to the public and serves a great of dim sum. The chinese menu has many more choices than the english. I suggest a dim sum with turnip, it will turn your head, and just about everything else that is dimsum. the turnip soup is delicious as well.

as far as chic well known restos.... the whompoa club is beautiful, and that is about it. the food is a bit too fusion gone awry. the restaurant and club and all that is associated with the Face are very nice. good thai beef salad. the california is fun. quite expaty though.

i will make another posting soon about beijing.

[ulterior epicure]

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Sorry about the pictures, I guess you'll all just have to wait until I get back to the U.S. and edit them... until then, for those who want to venture onto my flickr account, you'll be able to see the slow up-feed... unedited and uncommented on... just food and (very inadequate) labels.

Last night, had wonderful roasted Peking Duck - a highlight. I was really looking forward to a let down. Instead, I was rewarded with a great roasted duck experience - one not to have been outdone by any others I've had elsewhere.

I'm in Xi'an now. I just had the most (over) filling dumpling feast for dinner (a local specialty). The cuisine of this area is heavily in the dough family - pastas, dumplings, and buns. I had over twenty different dumplings - all gorgeously hand-made in shapes resembling the filling: chicken, fish, and even a sweet one shaped like a walnut shell, dark from buckwheat and filled with a rough WALNUT marzapan!! Others included fillings like tomato paste, seafood, pumpkin, pork and lotus root. There were ones made with wood-ear mushroom, and even rabbit!!

I think tomorrow, I'll be venturing for some la mien - or "pulled noodles" - hand stretched and separated into noodles. I've seen it performed many times, and even tasted it. The dough products here have a bit of chewy sass, I think due to the type of wheat flour used, and excessive kneading.

Very very tired! Will update tomorrow. Off to see the teracotta soldiers and the tomb of the first emperor!

u.e.

Edited August 12, 2006 by ulterior epicure (log)

[docsconz]

How did you come to choose the places you are dining at?

[ulterior epicure]

Hi docsconz.

I've been choosing restaurants from local recommendations (usually with good effects), and a couple out of convenience - since I am doing quite a bit of sightseeing and these cities here seem to be built on a scale I've never encountered (read: ginormous!!), I sometimes end up eating near where I'm touring - this often yields not-so-good results for an American who's clothes and manner alone scream "herd me into the nearest tourist spot where there's nothing authentic!" However, I have been methodically, as best as I can, try as many different local items as possible - although friends I'm with insist on getting something somewhat familiar everytime - like sweet & sour something or kung pao something... Nevermind them, I stick to the stuff I can't get at home.

But, I think I shall have more time at the end of my trip to do some studied eating near and around Shanghai.

u.e.

[Kent Wang]

although friends I'm with insist on getting something somewhat familiar everytime - like sweet & sour something or kung pao something...    Nevermind them, I stick to the stuff I can't get at home.

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OK, it's your friends that are ordering the kung pao chicken. I was about to reprimand you for that.

[Pan]

Hi docsconz.

I've been choosing restaurants from local recommendations (usually with good effects)[...]

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Who are you asking locally?

[Fengyi]

If you're in Xi'an at the moment, do try and eat some Biang2biang2mian4. It is not only delicious but is written in one of the coolest characters that I have ever seen!!!

I guess it's easiest to explain by quoting an e-mail sent to me by a Xi'an friend before I went there for my most recent trip:

About BiangBiang Mian, take a look at the following Chinese links.You will see what the noodle looks like and how the word spells. Also give you some idea what you will have to try in Xi'an!!

http://www.byonline.net/new/article_sh.asp?id=5462

I actually found its record in wikipedia in English too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biang_Biang_Noodles

About Fen3Zheng1Rou4(steamed pork slices with glutinous rice flour), I can't find a very nice pic on the internet. The following one is the best. http://www.nd.edu/~jsu/chinese/foods/fenzhengrou.jpg

[end quote]

I hope you can access the Wikipedia site in China - though it's probably blocked...

I do hope you get to try one of these! I know how hard it is to get to good restaurants sometimes (I had a disagreement with the doorman of the 5 star hotel I was staying at in Xi'an when I said I was going to the Jiefang Jiaozi place. He said it wasn't good enough and recommended instead a 'safe for foreigners' restaurant. Urgh! He was really really insistant about it! But boy! was I glad I went!). I must say, I myself have always been disappointed by any suggestions made by a hotel in China. I find cab drivers a much better source

Good luck with the food around the Terracotta Soldiers area - in my experience it's pretty awful! I had a good Roujiamo there once in 1997, but then the vendor tried to charge me 30RMB for it!!!!! Ooooh we had a fight!

But that was before they gussied up the place and shoed off the vendors. Now it's just boringly bad food.....

Edited August 13, 2006 by Fengyi (log)

[ulterior epicure]

If you're in Xi'an at the moment, do try and eat some Biang2biang2mian4. It is not only delicious but is written in one of the coolest characters that I have ever seen!!!

Didn't get to try any Biang Biang Mian - I don't think... I did get to try a dish called dao shui mien - or "knife shredded noodles." They looked exactly like the picture you linked here. Wide strips of thin torn pasta - flour based. They were pretty good indeed - but my version came in a soup instead of cooked, or served cold? I can't tell from the picture.

About Fen3Zheng1Rou4(steamed pork slices with glutinous rice flour), I can't find a very nice pic on the internet. The following one is the best. http://www.nd.edu/~jsu/chinese/foods/fenzhengrou.jpg

Yes, I've had fen zheng rou before - I them. I didn't know they were from the Xi'an area. I didn't get to try any though on this trip - so far...

...I must say, I myself have always been disappointed by any suggestions made by a hotel in China. I find cab drivers a much better source 

I can echo that.

Good luck with the food around the Terracotta Soldiers area - in my experience it's pretty awful! I had a good Roujiamo there once in 1997, but then the vendor tried to charge me 30RMB for it!!!!! Ooooh we had a fight!

As with me. My meal near the Emperor Qin's tomb was the worst - by far.

I'll be in Suzhou and Shanghai in the next few days. I'm sorry I can't be posting pictures due to time constraints. I hope to get to try some snake (although it's particular to Canton and Guangzhou in the South) and some good seafood before I leave...

I'm also finding I like the soups here in the (technically) South of China better than the North. The northern soups, from what I sampled, seemed like an afterthought, or what the Chinese here call "pot-rinsing soup." That's really what it tastes like...

u.e.

[Pan]

Get some Wuxi Spareribs when you're in Suzhou or Shanghai. I had some in Wuxi, but Suzhou is not far downriver/down the road from there. My caveat is that I've been to Suzhou only once, in 1987, so I couldn't recommend any particular place for you. I do recall that the city is known for its sweets. In those days, there was a particular pedestrian street that was full of sweet shops. I spent most of a morning walking the street and stopping in one shop after another. The sweets I had were a little strange (I found the spices they used a little unusual tasting), but certainly not bad to try once.

[ulterior epicure]

Thanks Michael for your suggestions.

Today, I had a lazy start after staying up WAY too late last night - partly due to parting company with good friends and a rather sumptuous dinner at Jean Georges Shanghai. More on that later.

Today, I found myself with close local family friends who took me to a "Western-style" shopping complex. It was overwhelming(ly large). We ended up having a rather long mid-day feast at "Zen" - a Cantonese Dim Sum house (although you can order other things). We stuffed ourselves on shrimp dumplings, turnip cakes, Chinese broccoli, shao long bao (famous Shanghai soup dumplings), pig tripe soup, jelly fish, chicken feet, rice noodle-wrapped Chinese sausages, rice noodle-wrapped shrimp, and pork ribs. We finished the meal off with some bitter Chinese herb jelly (not shien tsao bing, this one was 100 x's more bitter) laced with a bit of honey and an egg-nog-type sauce. The effect of mixing all the elements together tasted strangely of burnt sugar caramel.

I just got back from a rather exciting meal in Suzhou at Nankai Restaurant. My hostess ordered more food than we could possibly manage... but strangely, our party of eight made an impressive go at the food:

Cold dishes included a pumpkin stewed with Chinese red dates (slightly sweet); cilantro with tofu gan in a sesame oil dressing; tofu gan on skewers, cucumbers (strange, but they were really great - crispy and fresh); and ko sui gee (literally "drool chicken") - cold chicken dressed in a spicy chile dressing topped with crushed peanuts and cilantro. Then we had a cold barley and Chinese green bean (not the haricots verts type) soup.

The gluttony continued with crispy pig's thigh - think suckling pig crispy skin and a nice layer of fat clinging to smoked ham hock. Then there were these tiny shrimp from Tai Lake - freshwater babies that you could suck the heads off of and then the succulent meat - not to mention the abundant cluster of roe. We had a curious sorghum bun that was concaved - almost like a mushroom cap, in which you filled with a stuffing of diced grean beans (the haricot verts type) and minced pork. One of my favorite dishes was heaping bed of nappa cabbage braised in chicken stock and topped with slices of salty ham. Then there was tofu gan "noodles" in a chicken broth served with mushrooms and baby bok choy. The clear winner of the evening was a platter of pungent "stinky tofu - think blue cheese and very ripe Lindberger meets tofu - OHMYGOSH, I've been dreaming of this dish ever since I last had it in Asia over a decade ago!!

A big pot of chicken soup was full of wood-ear mushroom and thin young bamboo shoots. Then there was a dish called tsai fan - a dish of glistening rice that had been wok stir-fried with tiny bits of Chinese bok choy.

The last dish before dessert was a steamed fish from Tai Lake (I'll have to report back on the name). The meat was so soft and tender - made even more wonderful by a bath of scallion and ginger soy-sauce dressed with a touch of sesame oil. YUM!

The dessert (other than the ubiquitous watermelon), was called jiow niang tong yuan. Jiow niang is white rice tha thas been fermented until the starch has fermented in a very sweet liquor-type substance. The rice kernels all but collapse due to the amount of starch that leaches out. You're left with this amazing rice-liquor porridge. It's extremely fragrant. This dessert was a warm version, where the rice liquor porridge is thickened with cornstarch and simmered with small marbel-sized glutinous rice balls (thick little pearl-sized mochi balls). OHMYGOSH... TO. DIE. FOR.

More later.

u.e.

[jo-mel]

Get some Wuxi Spareribs when you're in Suzhou or Shanghai. I had some in Wuxi, but Suzhou is not far downriver/down the road from there. My caveat is that I've been to Suzhou only once, in 1987, so I couldn't recommend any particular place for you. I do recall that the city is known for its sweets. In those days, there was a particular pedestrian street that was full of sweet shops. I spent most of a morning walking the street and stopping in one shop after another. The sweets I had were a little strange (I found the spices they used a little unusual tasting), but certainly not bad to try once.

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YES! on the WuXi ribs! (無錫 排 骨) So succulent! I had some once from a train platform. Mostly knuckle bone, but the flavor on those little hidden pieces of meat were unforgettable. whenever I see them on a menu I HAVE to have them!

[jo-mel]

About the Fen Zheng Rou --- Why isn't this wonderful dish seen more on Chinese menus, in the West. So simple, so tasty!

[docsconz]

U.E. It sounds like your dining has really been on the upswing of late. I am very much looking forward to seeing your photos whenever you can get them up here. Some of those dishes sound really enticing. I would love to take a really good culinary trip to China with people who know where to go and what to eat.

[jokhm]

Hey pass the word on when you arrive in Shanghai or if you do, I'll likely still be around to send you to a place or two.

And yes... Fen zheng rou, when good, is fantastic.

Are you heading through Hangzhou? I'd recommend that, food-wise as well! Though whether in shanghai or hangzhou I would always push for the LaoYaBao at a place like ZhangShengJi. Anyway, best of luck in the food search.

[jokhm]

and yes... a culinary trip to China is truly something of mythic proportions as far as touring china is concerned. I think so many tourists are bummed when they come here and are served the hotel waiguo-slop. I think the Chinese are too when they travel through the country! But for us whiteys, traveling here to EAT is still such a difficult and yet potentially amazing thing. I've been fantasizing the idea of setting up a food tour across china. I get off on taking all my friends/family passing through the country on food-hops that leave them all dizzy by the end and in complete disbelief; both in the quantity that they consumed and in the shock of how great and diverse the food is.

People I work with back in north America have a good connection through me on the daily life in China, yet they still ask tons of questions like "so whats food like there?" "describe the main thing that chinese all eat". With questions like that you're in for a hell of a surprise, and with the right people leading the way - a good surprise.

Anyway, keep it all up. I get off on the idea of food discovery. And when people ask you what chinese people eat, tell them some spagetthi (LaMian) in tomato and meat sauce. I'll be signing up participants on a first come first serve basis for all food and tea tours. Good luck.

[ulterior epicure]

About the Fen Zheng Rou --- Why isn't this wonderful dish seen more on Chinese menus, in the West.  So simple, so tasty!

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Very good question, indeed! From what I know of how to make it, fen zheng rou does seem like an extremely easy dish - my only question is: how do you break/grind up the rice kernels? Does glutinous rice come sold in broken bits for this purpose, or is it a diy kinda thing?

When I was growing up, a very good friend's grandma used to make this for her (and I got to try ), and I saw her make it once... but had no idea at the time what was going on.

As far as Wuxi ribs go - are they sort of like the small pork ribs that are served in Cantonese dim sum houses? The tiny knuckle-sized ones that are impossibly (fatty) succulent?

u.e.

Edited August 17, 2006 by ulterior epicure (log)