鱼米之乡 // home of fish and rice
is a phrase referring to the plentiful ressources available in this region. The Yangtse River provides delicacies from water and soil. Like in any other part of China, food plays an important role in daily life. Nevertheless, my Christmas Eve Dinner feast is a meager bowl of instant noodles – hotel dinner life.
Christmas Eve Dinner
Does not matter though, because the next few days, I truly feast. Barely taking a break between meals and snacking myself through foodie heaven, I myself am surprised that I don’t weigh a hundred kilos! Welcome to holiday season =)
home cooked fish
An honorary mention to 耿福兴 // Geng Fu Xin restaurant. A 老字号 // Lao Zi Hao (literally old character) is a shop or restaurant that has survived the whims of time – a place with tradition, so to speak. The mentioned restaurant definitely qualifies. Business has improved since its appearance on the Chinese foodie show A Bite of China. The promoted item is their shrimp egg noodle dish although their signature should have been the soup dumplings. Their other stuff is just okay.
Besides, 芜湖 // Wuhu also claims to have the best soup dumplings…having eaten myself through many of those, I highly recommend trying some. Gen Fu Xin’s are okay, although 口福 // Kou Fu has cheaper and not necessarily less tasty ones to offer. But this battle about soup dumplings (see San Francisco and Taipei) is not over because Shanghai is coming up next! Brace yourself!
the shrimp egg noodle soup has gained popularity since it was mentioned in the famous TV show 舌尖上的中国 // A bite of China
烧卖 // shao mai or siu mai, dumplings filled with sticky rice and meat, this is a different style of shaomai than the Cantonese style which is smaller and contains no sticky rice but shrimp or pork
Street food is essential, street food is life, street food can buy instant happiness. Walking around, an abundance of food opportunities lie ahead. First useful tip: anything coming out of a barrel-oven shown below should be quite good. The Mainland Chinese equivalent of a Taiwanese Peppered Pork Bun is a flat savory or sweet pancake called 烧饼 // Shao Bing – my personal favorite. The dough is stuck to the sides of the oven, some vendors remove it with tongs, some with their bare hands!
these barrels are often used to bake or roast things inside. The buns or pancakes are my favorite, but roasted sweet potatoes are also a nice treat.
Stinky tofu – another classic. Everybody should try at least once. If you don’t like it, more stinky tofu for me!
a crowd divider – stinky tofu is either hated or loved. This is the white version, the less stinky one
black stinky tofu, fried
Home of rice and fish but also home of the roasted duck, there are vendors everywhere across town. Taxi drivers or local blogs are your best bet to finding the most delicious duck, and sometimes the little cart just next door is the most satisfying bite of all.
December 24th 2016 – January 2nd 2017