Food for thought

Before I came to China, everyone was going on and on about "watch out for the recycled drain oil!", "look for holes in the egg shells", "make sure the char siew bao doesn't taste like cardboard!" etc etc... but now that I am actually here, it is proving a bit hard to be asking to go into the kitchen everytime I dine at a restaurant.  And the questionnaire went out of the window (or onto the street) when one of my first proper Chinese meals was at a roadside stall, in a small alley which Ming Ming had to share that someone had peed in before when they last ate there.  A very brave friend, Grace, had salmon sashmi there, laid out nicely on a bowl of ice. I had so many questions that needed answering before she could put that first piece into her mouth - is that really salmon? Is the colouring on normal salmon so even usually? Is the ice from water that was taken straight from the tap? Have they EVER changed the ice??!! I am glad to report that she is perfectly fine and that meal turned out to be uber shiok cos it was cold and the soup was hot (eliminating question#3 from above) - and no, I didn't have any "salmon sashimi".

So in the past few months, there have been some good meals - some cheap, some expensive and some experimental. But three in the recent couple of weeks are freshest in my memory (get the pun? geddit?!). First up is the Art Salon in Shanghai with 3 other girlfriends. Quaint and filled with antiques and paintings, the place actually had a sign that said "Please speak softly and respect the ambience". Needless to say, the 4 of us had to be shushed at least twice.  The place did Chinese dishes that were served on dainty painted porcelain plates and we sat right by the window by the street. 

Greeted by old lights and memorabilia from days gone by

Exquisite tableware

Then the other night, Grace invited some of us over to her place to taste some beer-soaked roast chicken. Sounds ok right? Wait till you see the picture.

Drunken chicks

Yep, these are two whole chickens with beer cans stuffed up their butts. I had to ask the cook if she had difficulty stuffing the cans up and the answer was no (amazing!). Anyway, if anyone is interested to know, the recipe states that the beer can should be half emptied before the stuffing. The cans should also be poked with holes so that beer evaporates and is absorbed by the chicken.  The end result? Very soft buttery chicken but not much of a beer taste la. 

And the last meal is my favourite because I have been craving for it since forever. It is mala xiang guo or hot spicy pot. Had to have it when I was in Beijing last week. 

From left to right: Polka, pot and me. And no, we didn't finish the pot, not even half.

Funnily, I don't feel like I have to detox much cos my erm, digestive system has been working better since I got to China. It is probably the funky oil or fake eggs (or maybe the papery char siew bao I had the other day... hmmm) working their way through my system quicker.  Yay to "natural" laxatives!

xoxo,

Tracy

包子协会 - yep, that's what we will look like if
we keep eating the way we do now!