Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Suzhou

This city reminded me of Taipei with loads of stores and restaurants to checkout and some nice shopping areas. The town has tons of gardens and temples which are jam packed with tour groups. The nice thing is there are a lot of rivers that run through the town evoking a feel like Venice which Marco Polo commented on when he visited there. Any who, the food here reminded me of the American Chinese food they serve in the states. I assume this restaurant was catering to the tourists, but maybe they really do like overly sweet food with sauce colors you won’t find in nature.

Our Menu
Pork with Fried Wonton Skins **
No idea if this is what people would really eat, but it was hella fun. Flavorful fun sweet sauce with pork and crispy wonton skins. Great with the white rice - writing this now makes me want to eat some. This wasn’t the normal sweet stuff you get back in the states but the sauce was more meaty with some sweet running through it.

Fried Chicken Strips *
This had to have catered to the tourists here which was 90% Japanese. Crispy and flavorful coating, but the meat was a bit on the dry side.

Fried Fish with Ungodly Orange Sauce ---
WTF in a bad way. Fish had absolutely no flavor and drenching in the gross neon bright orange sauce didn’t help. Immediately I was thinking combine the fried chicken strips with the sauce and you have sweet and sour chicken. Now the question is did this sauce really originate from this area or were they catering to the tourists.

Tomato and Egg Soup *
Decent soup flavor but a wee bit on the salty side. I’ve had much better - usually more tomato flavor and some richness. This was pretty watery.

Sauteed Shanghai Tips (?)*
Sauteed vegetables that were cooked nicely and covered in a chicken broth style thing - quite similar to how they do most of the dishes over in China.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

1 comment:

Athos said...

"Fried Fish with Ungodly Orange Sauce - Now the question is did this sauce really originate from this area or were they catering to the tourists."

Wo chi yu. And yep, it was in that nuclear orange sauce. The dish I had was called something like "squirrel climbing tree" and it was in a very NON-touristy part of China. I was probably the only round eye for miles and miles. This is one of those dishes that I won't ever forget and want to have again before I die, both because of taste and presentation. WTF in a supreme way. The chef at the restaurant and the restaurant owner I was with both highly recommended this dish, and I was so thankful they did. The fish was turned inside out, had the meat shapped to resemble the pinecone of a fur tree. The fish was delicately cooked with hot oil poured on it while holding it from the head, and then eventually frying it quickly. This gave a terrific crispiness to it. (It may have been lightly coated in spiced flour forst.) The head and fins were manipulated to resemble a squirrel. Pine nuts, and the orange sauce were added for finishing touches. The sauce was sweet and flavorful and used to dip the meat in, but quite honestly, it wasn't needed. I loved that dish. And besides that one, the orange sauce would appear from time to time. Like you, I was quite surprised. Anyway, here is a picture of that dish:

http://item.slide.com/r/1/63/i/35F2jqag7z9WH7cpviKKPM7svhdVvsLi/