“I really want to try snake,” said Marina. “I’ve heard that it’s very good.”
Last night, a group of eight of us went to dinner. The core group was my Chinese class (Marko, Marina, Ade, Michelle and me) but I invited a coworker and one of her friends and Ade brought her husband as well. The original plan was to go to a restaurant in Pudong that Marina had found where the specialty was snake. Our intent was to get a fairly large group together because the minimum order was two kilograms and we weren’t sure if the taste would be to our liking. Plans changed and we wound up going to Yunnan Lu – one of the famous food streets in Shanghai.
The live fish, chickens and snakes were outside on the sidewalk in front of each restaurant and hawkers tried to encourage us to choose their restaurant. We didn’t see any other foreigners on this street and after checking out each shop we finally chose one. There were two snakes in the basket and between the 8 of us managed enough Chinese to select one. The handler got it out of its cage and right in front of us clipped the head off with a pair of scissors. The head landed at my feet. It was quite an event. Then we picked some live shrimp from another tank and after much deliberation headed upstairs.
There was no English menu, no pictures in this place. We ordered lots of food – the obligatory Kung Pao chicken, Hangzhou style beef and peppers, fish smelling eggplant (much better than the name), fresh spinach, broccoli, spicy tofu, the shrimp we had selected and a huge bowl of rice. At the end of the meal we then had a cold salad that was snake skin and then finally the snake. It was deep fried and coated in some kind of spice. Not bad really – not sure how something deep fried is good for your skin, but overall a very satisfying meal.
We split the bill and after paying had 35 RMB left over. We decided that we’ll save the money for the next time we get together to try something new. We’re not sure what to try next.
Question: What food do you really want to try or what food should I try while I’m here?
I can’t believe that I’ll have been here six months on Thursday. To use one of the idioms that I teach – “Time flies!” Hope to hear from you all soon.
Last night, a group of eight of us went to dinner. The core group was my Chinese class (Marko, Marina, Ade, Michelle and me) but I invited a coworker and one of her friends and Ade brought her husband as well. The original plan was to go to a restaurant in Pudong that Marina had found where the specialty was snake. Our intent was to get a fairly large group together because the minimum order was two kilograms and we weren’t sure if the taste would be to our liking. Plans changed and we wound up going to Yunnan Lu – one of the famous food streets in Shanghai.
The live fish, chickens and snakes were outside on the sidewalk in front of each restaurant and hawkers tried to encourage us to choose their restaurant. We didn’t see any other foreigners on this street and after checking out each shop we finally chose one. There were two snakes in the basket and between the 8 of us managed enough Chinese to select one. The handler got it out of its cage and right in front of us clipped the head off with a pair of scissors. The head landed at my feet. It was quite an event. Then we picked some live shrimp from another tank and after much deliberation headed upstairs.
There was no English menu, no pictures in this place. We ordered lots of food – the obligatory Kung Pao chicken, Hangzhou style beef and peppers, fish smelling eggplant (much better than the name), fresh spinach, broccoli, spicy tofu, the shrimp we had selected and a huge bowl of rice. At the end of the meal we then had a cold salad that was snake skin and then finally the snake. It was deep fried and coated in some kind of spice. Not bad really – not sure how something deep fried is good for your skin, but overall a very satisfying meal.
We split the bill and after paying had 35 RMB left over. We decided that we’ll save the money for the next time we get together to try something new. We’re not sure what to try next.
Question: What food do you really want to try or what food should I try while I’m here?
I can’t believe that I’ll have been here six months on Thursday. To use one of the idioms that I teach – “Time flies!” Hope to hear from you all soon.
5 comments:
i love the picture!!! :D
in response to the question, i think you're doing a pretty good job trying out different things. i always like to try different fruits and desserts wherever I am. I can't think of anything i'd really like to try that I haven't yet. Ive never had horse, though, and I've heard theres parts of Japan that have horse sushi as a specialty. hm.
Horse? Hmm. Ate horsemeat in France in 67-68. Probably still sold there. Was not remarkable enough to have formed a vivid impression in the memory banks. Seems like it was very sooth grained and lean.
ANGERS II
Horse is sometimes substituted for fatty tuna in sushi. David misses you.
Alec
Ha ha ha! Funny that everyone's talking about horse. When I was visiting a friend in France he was trying to explain to me why he is a vegetarian. He took me to the local meat market in Clermont-Ferrand and showed me the case that had the sheep's brains in it. I was beginning to understand.
Later that week we went over to his aunt & uncle's house in a town I can't remember. They were passing around appetizers. My friend was enjoying making me try everything and not telling me what it was until after I swallowed. He took particular delight in telling me the sausage-looking thing he just made me eat was horse. Apparently people there liked to serve horse as an appetizer to show off their money. I wasn't too impressed and didn't take from that plate the next time it came around.
I'm not much of an adventurous eater, but I do like to try fruits that I have never seen before.
I can't believe it's been 6 months either! When are you coming home???
I've never seen horse served as sushi (never looked either) but I have eaten horse sashimi. It was served semi-frozen and supposed to be dipped in soy suace, at least at the place I was. I didn't think it was bad at all. Jealous you got to try some snake.
Post a Comment