During the time I was in China, I celebrated a few things: Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, and my birthday. Part of that day was, of course, dinner! We went to one of the best places in Xi’an, one of the old capital cities of China. This is located towards the center of China where we drove about 10 hours from Tianjin. I saw the site where my host’s restaurant used to be, and it was sad that I couldn’t experience it first hand. Instead, he took me to a restaurant that he likes a lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of the place. His friends and family also joined in the celebration dinner. Among his friends were some he called his little brothers. Among the three were an executive chef, head chef, and manager of a kitchen at other restaurants now but all used to work for him once upon a time. So with these four in the room, you know this place was about to dish up some good eats.
First of all, when you walk in, the place looked more like a hotel with the gargantuan lobby with a receptionist desk, marble floors, spiral stairs, and more. Sorry readers, no pictures of the place itself, only the food. I was lead upstairs to our private dining room. I’ve been to these high end places where you sit in your dining room. You have your personal wait staff. The food is delivered to them through a small opening equipped with a door. The cabinets are stocked with drinks, but for specialty drinks, they order them and retrieve them through the slot. This one had a flat panel TV on the wall. I guess in case the conversation goes badly?
I learned some dining traditions of the Chinese culture, and it was in full effect this day, so I will share some with you. First of all, this was a surprise birthday dinner. The dinner wasn’t a surprise, but that I was the special guest of honor, is what threw me off. They asked me to sit at the “head” of the table. Since the table is round with the lazy susan in the middle, they showed me which seat to sit in. This was the seat facing the door so when people walk in, they look directly at you. Generally, the wait staff will place the food on the lazy susan and spin it until it gets in front of the guest. Everyone waits for you to take from the dish and put onto your plate, and then that dish is fair game for everyone else. When people toast to you, you should drink with them. If they do the whole shot, then you do the same. If just a sip, then reciprocate. Another tradition is to humble yourself when someone wants to “kam pei” (cheers/salud) with you. When they hold their glass up, you put your glass lower than their glass and touch the top part of your glass to the bottom part of their glass. Kind of like saying that you are putting them higher than you.
Okay, now that I dropped some culture on your asses, get down to the food. The food… what can I say? The first thing you notice is the presentation. They started placing the dishes in front of me. I wanted to dig in, but they asked me to hold off for now. Huh? Well, umm… okay then. So I just drank. Had some hot tea, but I prefer cold water. Cold water in China… yeah. I go through this whole routine almost every time. I asked them for it “wo yao bing shuai” (I want ice water). First, they look at me like I have three heads. Next, someone else at my table has to confirm what I asked for but say it with the proper tones, etc. Finally, they go in the back, and after a while, they bring me a bottled water. In a very fancy way. Many times it’s delivered in a mini-champagne bucket on ice with tongs and a glass. Yeah, I can accept that. Sometimes the water is already cold, so I open it and drink from the bottle. After their whole presentation… heh heh. So I have my ice water. Guess ice water is not common. Next, someone comes around and pours a steaming hot liquid in glasses. I give them my glass, and now I have this black liquid that’s quite hot. I give it a taste, and I started laughing. Apparently, Xi’an is known for heating up their drinks. And my drink? Boiling hot Coca-Cola. Next thing you know, the lights went out, the main doors to our private dining room open, and there is a large bouquet of flowers and a birthday cake with sparkly candles. Yes, for me. They made me get up, they turned the lights on, and I gave my speech in the little Chinese I know, and then the rest via translator. Now then, we get to eat!
Food
I can’t remember all the food, and I didn’t get pictures of everything. It was a little annoying for me to take pictures of every dish while everyone waited for me to eat from it, so they can as well. Though the chefs did appreciate that I had an appreciation for food. This lead them to order more and better things. Sometimes they explained to me what they were ordering and why. For example, they ordered a dish, like dessert, that had peaches. If you look at traditional pictures from China meaning “long life,” it’s usually with an old man with a long beard holding a peach. The dish with peaches they ordered for me was to say long life, since it was my birthday. Few things I noticed about dessert in China is 1.) it’s not really good, 2.) it’s not common to have it like USA, and 3.) they eat it WITH the meal. This time, the birthday cake was quite good. Still strange to me, and I’m very open-minded, to eat it with the meal. One moment you’re eating turtle heads, next thing you have cake. Just doesn’t jive together, so I pushed it aside and waited till I finished the salt before the sugar.
Presentation of the food was very well done as you can see in the pictures. Some come in steaming bamboo pots, others arranged nicely on a dish, there were dishes that were still cooking, and some shaped into different animals and objects. Very creative.
The flavors generally matched the presentation. Some of the dishes were top notch, full of flavor, and you wanted to keep it for yourself and not let anyone else touch it. There were others, like the turtle heads, that were interesting. Good taste, actually. But with all the dishes that were served that evening, there were some that were pretty, but not pretty good. What I really enjoyed was the pork belly: juicy, fatty, and tasty. I enjoyed the traditional Xi'an food, like the lamb legs. It was coated with a delicious spice, but it numbs your tongue, so you need to wait a little bit for it to wear off in order to really taste the food. It would be difficult to state what I ate and then describe, so please check out the slideshow, and read the captions like a short narration. Remember to click on the slideshow to slow down the pictures and to click on the actual picture to view it full screen.
Enjoy
No comments:
Post a Comment