Food Blog: Part One

I knew the second my first bite of authentic Chinese cuisine touched my lips that I was going to need to save my food blog for the end of the trip. I needed to spend the two months we had really figuring out my favorite foods to share with you guys, because I love food and I think it’s been a very important part of this trip.

I’ve decided to divide my holy findings into two posts: food I ate during the travel portion of the trip (this post!), and food I ate in Hangzhou.

I did not take nearly enough photos of food during this trip as I should have!

Steamed Scallion Bun

Our hotel breakfast buffets were my first real experience of Chinese food where I could simply try what I thought looked good. On our first morning in Hong Kong, having eaten nothing since landing, I opened a steaming basket to reveal scallion buns; rice buns in a sort of layered, spiral roll, with pieces of scallion sprinkled throughout. A safe choice for the first morning, but seriously really delicious. So soft, warm, and with a very soft spring-oniony flavor.

Spicy Fried Vermicelli Noodles w/Shrimp

I can’t remember whether we ate these in Hong Kong or Guangxi, but they were incredible. Like stir fried noodles you might get in the US (except not really), they featured very skinny rice noodles fried with egg, onion, peas, scallions, shrimp, and most importantly, Sichuan pepper. I personally believe Sichuan pepper is the perfect pepper, and when it’s not making your tongue go numb, it’s delicious.

Kumquat Juice

I had never (that I know of) eaten a kumquat or seen a kumquat when we arrived in Yangshuo in Guangxi and saw the welcome banner which said “Welcome to Yangshuo: the Original Kumquat Capital of China”. This is quite a boast, but it wasn’t until I drank a full glass of kumquat juice with breakfast that I realized what a highly underrated fruit the kumquat is! It’s like a really tiny orange that’s pretty difficult and pulpy to eat on it’s own, but when it’s in juice form it tastes like if a mango and an orange had a tiny sweet baby. Really good!

Hong Kong Style Egg Waffles

In Yangshuo there were numerous stands called “Mango, Mango!” which sold dessert products. One night, I decided to try one, and I chose a Mango Oreo Egg Waffle. What I received was a circular waffle with sphere’s punched into it, instead of the traditional squares we might see in the US. It was placed upright in a cardboard container and filled with Mango ice cream, chocolate sauce, and Oreo crumble. I had seen tons of Chinese tourists eating them and initially thought they were a Western dish, but I did some research and it turns out they actually originated in Hong Kong. I’ve tried them with lots of different fillings, but so far the mango one was definitely the best.

Spicy Eggplant Stir-Fry

We ate eggplant in various forms over the course of our trip, but my favorite was definitely the variety that we ate in Yunnan. Known for it’s spicy food, Yunnan boasted not only fresh vegetables, but tons of unique dishes that these Southern provinces are known nationally for. The eggplant was amazing, and every time we had it we grabbed pieces with our chopsticks to mix up with rice until there was none left.

Fresh Spiral-Cut Pineapple

Midway through a seven hour drive in the mountains of Kunming, our guide, Jack, stopped us at a gas station with an open air fruit market across the street. Eager for something fresh, I purchased a small pineapple which I watched the man cut into intricate spirals for me. It was bar-none the greatest, freshest pineapple (possibly just greatest fruit) I have ever eaten. It wasn’t sour at all, just really sweet. The stem was hacked into a stub, which I held like a handle as I ate the fruit like it was a kebab. This isn’t the proper way to eat them, but I didn’t realize this until I was eating a full-sized one at the train station in Xi’an, whenI noticed a large group of fellow travelers looking completely dumbfounded. Picture included.

Dali Barbecue

Our tour guide Nancy took us to a special do-it-yourself barbecue in Dali. It was so smokey and delicious! We were sat outside around a fire pit with a grate on top, and we were given a large tray of meat and veggies. The method was simple: place the desired barbecue item (for instance, zucchini) on the grill. Watch it roast, flip it until it’s evenly cooked. Then, dip the perfectly seared morsel into what Nancy called “Chinese Barbecue Sauce”, which she told me contained “soy sauce, spring onion, Sichuan pepper, garlic, and other spices”. It was amazing, and I plan to attempt to recreate it somehow on my grill at home.

Steamed Duck Dumplings

Okay, so I might be including these just because they were tiny yellow dumplings shaped like ducks, but they were good! The duck inside was really yummy.

Peking Duck at Liqun in Beijing

For the hour long wait it took us to get into this tiny back-alley restaurant, the famed duck dish was absolutely worth it. The meal was perfectly cooked duck, which you put into a tiny flour tortilla thing, put cucumber and sauce on, and then ate like a roll-up sandwich. The flavors together were really incredible, and the restaurant was filled with people clamoring to have a taste of this famous dish.

I thought the food I was eating was good before I got to Hangzhou, but little did I know, I was about to embark on a three week ~foodsperience~. You can look forward to that in my next post!

Peace & Love,
Hannah