Beijing
Hebei Province, China
Where do you even begin in Beijing, it is so incredibly huge and dense. It only dawned on me when I went to the hill just north of the Forbidden city and got to see the entirety of the city. This also made finding food nearly impossible, however I was persistent and eventually found something worthy of the blog. Beijing used to be called Peking which gave me an idea.
Peking Duck! Yes, of course, why didn’t I think of this earlier. You can of course try the scorpions and Tarantulas and everything else at the Wangfujing market but to go full traditional, I felt Peking Duck was the way go to. The real question is, where to get it… Everywhere! Okay who serves the best. I found a local shop that was excellent.
Welcome to the Peking Chamber. You want English, not a chance. You’re going to have to ask beforehand for someone to write in mandarin what you need. This is what you need, Peking Duck. Someone will come to your table, and cut up the duck in front of you, cut small pieces and create a dome of duck on a plate. Small wraps and a brown sauce. Little bit of duck, and sauce, fold on both sides, then top and bottom to form a small square pocket. Insert into face and relish the ducks juices mixed with the sauce to form a lovely squishy taste. Repeat until resources are depleted.
Beijing to Peking at the two
北京要两个人
Changsha
Hunan, China
I was only in China’s most up and coming city for a short period so I was resorted to getting a snack instead of a meal on the street, which completely works for my blog. Just to be clear, Steamed Nesting Duck is the most traditional dish in Changsha according to a number of internet sources but its more of a sit down dish. I also missed out on the Non-Egg Yolk with mushrooms however I did stumble upon a well know dish known only as Stinky Tofu.
Boy is it stinky. It truly smells horrible. Starting at Wuyi St and walking south on Taiping st. about half of the way down the street you will see a restaurant/Hole in the wall on the right called Baise Jingping (at least that is the only English on the sign). Here you will find a large crowd getting fresh stinky Tofu and you can also get scallion pancakes which are delicious. The Stinky Tofu is, well, Stinky, but also like swallowing fire. I got it with spice on top and it was great but I wasn’t able to taste anything till the next day because of the spice. It was also incredibly hot temperature wise but I was super hungry so I ate it immediately.
So, brave the elements, and come and visit this up and coming city and try not to burn your entire mouth off whilst having this stinky treat.
Scalding hot at the two
烫伤两个人
Guangzhou
Guangdong Province, China
Welcome to Canton! I equate Cantoneese to Catalan. A strong surviving language surrounded by a much larger Language. Guangzhou though would be more of a business district city than it would be an older city. Canton Tower lives here along with lots of newer buildings. I ran into the same issue I ran into in Toronto here. There is a food that is wonderful but it is primarily served in the morning or afternoon.
The thing to do in Guangzhou is to have Yum Cha. Yum Cha is more like afternoon tea, but instead of finger sandwiches its all dim sum all the time. I had these fantastic rice rolls doused in a mix of peanut sauce and soy sauce. They are delicious and make a great breakfast or lunch snack. However they don’t really appear at night. Dim Sum is the thing to get in Cantoneese areas which is like tapas so lots of little things to eat. I wanted to try the Lou Hu Dou which is snake and wild cat but didn’t get the opportunity, too many things to see!
If you do want to hit up an absolute gem of a Yum Cha special please go to Aming Guilin Rice Noodles Franchise Store at the corner of Guangfu and Xihua rd. You can sit outside if you like and eat some delicious Dim Sum. A good place to start!
Dim some more at the two
在两个人身上黯淡一些
Hong Kong
Guangdong Province , China
This city is alive. Hong Kong is incredibly dense. Anything at any time can be obtained; the only thing you have to do is wade through the sea of people. Hong Kong lights up the night with its neon signs in the shadow of Victoria’s Peak. I found an absolute gem in Hong Kong that I think you’re going to love.
In another city where anything is possible, I hunted down the fairly elusive Sweet and Sour Pork. This Canton dish, done right, is amazing and way better than anything that is take out. As soon as you put sweet and sour pork in a container the steam kills the breading, making it soft and squishy. Not here though! Bring your google translate if you don’t speak Cantonese because there are no English words for blocks at this spot.
Mui Kee Cookfood Stall is on the fourth floor in a small mall. You enter on Carnavon Road just south of Granville road. Order the sweet and sour pork, its delicious and cooked exquisitely. If you want a second dish, grab the peppered beef but the Sweet and Sour Pork is done the best here. It is a purely local spot so don’t expect to see any tourists at all and I recommend you have someone write down the names of the food before you go so there isn’t any confusion. Enjoy!
BUT WAIT, there’s more. After more research and recon I have stumbled upon the Hong Kong Special. This is unique to Hong Kong and a perfect merger of the English and Chinese foods. I present to you the BAKED Boa Bun. In essence, it’s a pork boa bun insides with a baked almost buttermilk biscuit outside. It is one of the greatest inventions ever. I must have eaten 4 of them and they are not small. You can get them at one place only, Tim Ho Wan. Hong Kong Island near the docks in a mall below the airline check in station. Sweet and savory just for you.
Sweet but not sour at the two
甜, 但唔酸在兩個
Jaipur
Rajasthan, India
Jaipur reminded me of Krakow. It’s a walled city and has a lot of things going for it. It is the most approachable city that I went to in India and has a center to it. All the stores in the city have numbers on them. They used to be highly sought after to have a numbered shop, now people are still there but quite a few of them are closed. There is one thing here that I found that got my seal of approval, food wise.
I asked around and of course as a large city, its hard to narrow it down. However, in Jaipur they do this yogurt/milky cream drink think that’s think enough to be considered food. This drink is called a Lassi. It has milk, water, sugar and sometimes fruit in it.
Where to get this interesting concoction, you may ask yourself? Well the source of course. The original spot called Lassiwala here near the corner of MI road and Arvind Marg. There are 3 next to each other and I believe the owners are all related but the one on the left is the original. It comes in a ceramic cup and you can have a cream top put on it. Its delicious! Have one for me please.
Cream of the crop at the 2
2 में फसल की क्रीम
Taipei
Taiwan
Taipei is incredible. A fusion of refined Japanese culture and the rawness of China, Taiwan offers the best of both worlds. Everything from Taipei 101, Qinxing Mountain, Shifen, Jiufen and plenty more spots highlight the diversity of the Northern Part of Taiwan. This is also reflected in the food. Finding just one thing to eat that was unique to Taipei was nearly impossible.
I mean where do you even begin? Taiwaneese sausage, Xiao Long Bao, Beef Noodle, Brasied Pork Rice, Gua Bao, Pineapple cake, steamed spring roll, Pigs blood rice pudding, shaved ice, I mean the list goes on and on. However I did it, I found the thing you need to have. Its for really really late night people. It’s the Taiwanese breakfast – Yes you get an entire meal.
Taiwanese Breakfast consists of a few things. Number 1, the Oyster Omelet. Gonna need to grab some You Tiao, number 2 and then Shao Bing at number 3. Breakfast of Champions has nothing on this, this will keep you going for hours! Lets start with the Oyster Omelet, it is nothing shy of amazing, the sauce they throw on top is delicious. The You Tiao is like a donut unraveled or a churro. It's a big ole long stick of fried bread. Then to top it all off you have the Shao Bing which is a little wheat cake cut into cubes. Look if you’re hungry after this, nothing will ever satisfy you. It’s a lot of flavors and a lot of food. You can wash it all down with some soybean milk if you like.
Where to get all of this in one place, you boldly ask? Tiantianli Restaurant. It can get super busy so you want to get there at open or late, they are open till 10:30! If you want the best, this is it. That Taiwanese breakfast is just waiting there for you! So go get some!
Getting it going at the two
在兩點開始
wulingyuan, outside of zhangjiajie
Hunan Province, China
Wulingyuan is the home of China’s first National Park. People may remember it from Avatar. It has some of the craziest sandstone cliffs in the world. The national park is much easier to get to now than it was 10 years ago and I highly recommend the experience. Food wise though, I failed a bit. Wulingyuan is a pretty new town because of the interest of the Park so there isn’t much that’s been there for more than 10 years.
According to a number of sites and people I spoke to, Zhangjiajie has Hot and Spicy Chicken. I wasn’t able to find it locally in Wulingyuan, mostly because I was exhausted after my hiking all day and the language barrier was a bit too much to handle on top of that. I had local food here none the less but it was more of a Pho. Maybe next time I go to Wulingyuan, I’ll be more prepared!
Hiking it up to the two
把它伸到两个地方
xi'an
Shanxi, Province
The old capital. Pronounced See-ahn is excellent. People, including myself, get so focused on the Terracotta Warriors (which is way outside the city), forget sometimes that Xi’an has loads to offer. Not only does it have loads to offer in the city, like biking the city wall, The Muslim Quarter, and the Pagoda, it has a ton of culinary stuff to eat. Narrowing it down was hard so I got it down to three things with one that takes the cake in my mind.
The most traditional dish is Paomo. Paomo is served everywhere but there is a unique way to eat it. You will be given two harder circles of bread which you need to tear up into little pieces and put into a small bowl. Then this white cloudy stew is poured onto it and then you eat it by spooning it into your mouth.
It is good, but I would like to direct your attention to what they call a meet burger or roujiamo. This is coupled well with Liangpi (cold noodles). So yes you get two for the price of one on this post, almost. The best Roujiamo is in the muslim quarter. Walk north from the Drum Tower and Bell Tower in the muslim quarter and before you hit Yangshi St there is a stand that sells Roujiamo and only Roujiamo, on the left. Get it spicey or not, it is delicious. The picture is of the spot. Next door on the right is where I go the Paomo and it was great. The noodles though, I only got to have at the airport the next day as I arrived to the Muslim quarter quite late and things were starting to shut down. Roujiamo is amazing and it is perfect with the noodles so next time I’m there, I’ll hunt down the noodles for you!
Lets Meat next time at the two.
下次在两个人吃肉