Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Wuxi

First official stop on the tour was this town called Wuxi which was a vacation spot for loads of emperors, poets and the like. Apologies but on the tour we were getting whisked into restaurants and they weren’t explaining that much - dishes were just thrown on the table automatically. Don't worry though, if you do any tours that encompass Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai you're more than likely going to the same restaurants I'm writing about. Any who, I’ve been noticing the surrounding areas around Shanghai love sugar in their food which is OK at times, but gets old after a while.

Our Menu
Egg custard in sweet sauce with tiny fish

This was pretty intensely fishy which I’m not that big a fan of. The egg was nice and soft, but the sauce was pretty sweet which offset the fishiness of the egg dish. My wife loved this, but I could only eat one spoonful due to the fishiness.

Steamed whole fish *
Local fish which was also relatively fishy, but this time not that intense. Prepared the way I’ve seen thousands of time – steamed, soy, thin slices of ginger, scallions, and chili

Xiao Long Bao *
Local Wuxi version of xiao long bao where the internal meat filling was doused in a very sweet soy concoction. The skin was a little rough but it was still fun to eat. It's like dessert and entree wrapped into one.

Spare Ribs in sweet sauce *
Another dish where it was pretty damn sweet – almost like a sweet soy and peanut sauce? Meat was not very tender either, but it was fun to eat with white rice.

Cabbage with tofu skin **
This was an incredibly tasty dish and it seems like they love tofu skin in this region. Different from the ones I’ve had in the states as these are way more flavorful –a combo of rich flavor (maybe oil) and salt.

Water Spinach Soup
Flavorless soup broth with fresh spinach.

Snow Beer ---
This beer is uber cheap and famous in the region for being very light – less than 2.5% alcohol. Basically slightly more flavorful than water, an attribute that I’m not looking to in a beer. On the bright side, since it’s local this beer is less than the cost of a bottle of water. Almost every beer in this region tastes like slightly malty water.

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

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