Food
大家好！For this month's episode of adventures in China, we have set out to explore new Chinese dishes, comparing different places' food and having a taste of particularly goofy snacks.
Firstly we set out to try dishes in the first canteen 第一食堂，both floors of the second canteen and Mr He's canteens.
The first floor of the second canteen is good for breakfast food, having great wraps, sausages and buns; but if you are in a mood for something a bit more cozy, bao zi and a further selection of wraps are available on the second floor.
The second floor and MrHe's canteen are our go to for a delicious and convenient lunch after class, as it is close to our 教楼 (teaching building) They offer various types of noodles, dumplings, rice pots and if you are feeling less brave, chicken burgers or curry.
The first canteen has many different options, as it gives us the opportunity to try a little bit of all of China's flavours in the form of buffets.
Our personal favourite is the night market near west gate, with cheap and ever-changing options to choose from. Crispy tofu, honey chicken and stuffed bread are a few of the selection. The bustling atmosphere and friendly stall-workers make it a treat to visit, along with the nearby karaoke bar and pool to make a fool of ourselves at.
As well as the stands in the night market, there are a lot of affordable restaurants around campus, outside of west and South Gate (西门 and 南门). These vary from hot pot places, with endless choice of food, to restaurants with long lists of available dishes. The fun of trying new places, besides tasting different foods, is experiencing several ways of ordering: from the typical choosing a dish, to writing on the menu with a marker, or simply adding it from a conveyer belt to your pot.
Our favourite restaurant is one outside of 西门 (West gate) which makes THE BEST honey stir fried aubergines and fried shrimps. The best way to experience Chinese food, is always to order a variety of dishes and share them with the table accompanied by rice. Food always tastes better in company! A few of the restaurants we have visited have had a rotating area in the centre of the table called a lazy-Susan. These make it even easier to share lots of great dishes, and avoid the ones that maybe aren’t so to your taste.
If you get further from campus there are some Sichuan restaurants that serve very spicy and exciting dishes with an abundance of the famous Sichuan pepper. As tasty as it is, it is a tad embarrassing when you work through an entire box of their tissues and start another while proclaiming “Its not that spicy!” Hmm… sure.
In terms of snackage, China has an obsession with really quite mingin cheese sweeties, bakes and drinks. Fancy some cheese flavour yoghurt? Cheese and honey crisps? Chewy cheesy sweeties? Nope! Maybe some cheesy bubble tea.
They also have some quite tasty snacks, but in all honesty most of them are bought from the imported-goods shop.
Till next time!
-Mati and Leah