Adventure Dining in China

We recently had the great pleasure of spending several weeks in China where we went to pick up our granddaughter. While there, we visited three regions. First was the capital city of Beijing. Next was the old imperial capital of Nanjing and the third was the tropical old city of Canton now called Guangzhou. Each of these cities gave us a new dining adventure.

Traveling with my wife and I were our daughter, son-in-law and seven year old grandson. When we travel, we seek out the restaurants that the locals would tend to use and steer clear of the tourist places. When in China just walking into one of these restaurants was an adventure for the five of us.

First, none of us spoke any Chinese beyond, ni hao or hello. Second, we look foreign. My son-in law is more than six four and I am quite stocky. My wife and daughter don't belie their Eastern European heritage. My grandson at seven years of age was almost as tall as some Chinese adults. Add that to his blonde hair and he became an instant attraction.

During our entire trip we only ate at two restaurants on recommendations and were taken out by Chinese friends once. The rest of our meals we chose where to dine. With the exception of one restaurant we avoided those which had English menus. We also avoided all places listed in the guide books. Where we ate were the places the families in China would go to eat. We searched these out during our walks and cab rides. When we would see something which looked interesting we would try and remember where it was and return. Quite often we found restaurants within a few blocks walking distance of our hotel.

How did we choose? The windows had to be clean. There had to be tables inside with plenty of good lighting both inside and outside. There could be nobody standing in front trying to coax you to come inside. The more red lanterns hanging outside the better. Although, this did bring us to a plumbing store once. Finally, the place needs to be crowded and loud.

Aside from the plumbing supply store we only failed twice with our choice of restaurants and both of those were non-Chinese. Good advice is to avoid Cajun in Canton and Pizza in Nanjing. Our only other real disappointment came when we visited the DongHuaMen Market, in Beijing. This market was featured on the Travel Channel's Bizarre Food Show. Far from being bizarre this market was more like a visit to a state fair and the deep-fried Twinkle booth. This was also the only time any of us got sick from the food.

The most fun were the places with no English on the menus. I carried a "Learn Chinese in 15 Minutes" book which had a list of the foods in English and Chinese. We ordered by going down the list and through hand and head gestures found out what they offered and we would like to eat. Then I showed them a phrase which said: "not too spicy" in Chinese.

My grandson would take over the drink ordering by leading the waitresses by hand to the coolers and pointing to what we wanted. We quickly learned the word for beer on the first day and had that with each meal. The beers were served in these giant bottles and poured into tiny glasses. One bottle was more than enough for two of us. This is the national drink, next to tea and almost every table had a bottle or two of the "Pi jiu." We learned that the alcohol content was very low, 1% to 3% on average so that might account for the big bottles. We also used the beer to sterilize the chop sticks if they were not wrapped.

The midday meal was our big meal which is traditional in Beijing and then we had a lite late supper. Most of the time we stuck to the traditional foods but we did stray a few times and tried some of the local favorites. We sampled bar-b-que donkey which was very good; shrimp with their heads still on, too much work; fish heads, and cheeks, not enough meat; and a bowl of unidentifiable chicken parts with a taste that will not be described here.

At a restaurant recommended to us by our day guide to The Great Wall we were handed a menu with close to 30 pages of food items, with many pictures and an attempt at English descriptions. We put together a list of dishes which did not sound too frightening and I added Ox Penis Soup. When in Rome do as the Roman's do or try eating as the Chinese eat. On this menu was dog, eels, fish heads, camel feet, and other penises besides the ox. The Chinese appear to eat everything but the table legs. Besides the ox penis which tasted like a gelatinous paste and was not a favorite of ours our meal that night consisted of a wonderful dish of sweet sour beef ribs, broccoli, a candied sweet corn, a pork dish and noodles. What surprised us at almost every meal is that we were not served rice. Here in Northern China noodles were supreme along with dumplings as we traveled further south rice was more available but we had to ask for it.

We ordered Peking Duck one day and maybe it was the restaurant but the duck was not very good. The best part was a bowl filled with parts, bones, and skin, breaded and fried, it had little meat but loads of flavor. We found that the Chinese ate the cuts of meat we would throw away and threw away the cuts we would eat. A lean piece of meat is not to their liking but a piece with an inch of fat attached is a delicacy. Any meat attached to a bone is not to be thrown out but saved and prepared. The entire animal is consumed.

With our duck we were served a platter of the breast meat sliced; the gizzards and innards in a soup; the bones and skin breaded and fried. I also would not be surprised if the feet and some other extras were not thrown in somewhere. The only parts I could not identify were the feathers.

Aside from the high rate of smoking related heart disease this country has a low rate of cardio vascular disease and I can only attribute that to the small quantities they eat at each meal. We Americans gorge ourselves while they eat several small meals. They also eat slower. A meal in China is a big affair. Each table in the restaurants was large and full of people having a good time. The noise level in these restaurants would never be tolerated in this county. We did our best to add to the entertainment in each place we ate. With just a very few exceptions we were greeted with smiles and laughter as we did our ordering and fumbled with the chop sticks.

The street vendors offered a whole new type of food for us. First there was the food on a stick. They would put just about anything on a stick and fry or grill it. Then there were the candied fruits which consisted of strawberries, melons, crab apples, oranges, and other fruits we never identified. We also ate fried bread made in an ancient wok by a woman who could have told us the history of Beijing for the past 90 years. Our favorite were hot pockets found in the Beijing Hutong and sold as a breakfast food. They contained vegetables and meat and could be eaten as you commuted to work. And you thought McDonald's invented the breakfast sandwich.

When we did not eat breakfast in the hotel, we sought out the dumpling shops. The first was not far from our hotel in Beijing and was part of a chain of dumpling shops. You walk in and pay the cashier for the number of dumplings you want and get a receipt which you take to the cooks who then give you your dumplings. Since we had this little problem of a language barrier, we never knew what kind of dumpling we ordered. Being the only Anglos in the place we were also the morning's entertainment and I am certain we never disappointed the locals. The dumplings were great and we all had a fun time stabbing them with our chop sticks.

One day in Nanjing we chose a restaurant we saw from a cab ride. It had plenty of pretty lights out front and sparkling clean windows so it fit our criteria? True to the other Nanjing restaurants none of the menu was in English. They did have a few pictures and some of them did not disgust us. My grandson got the drinks for us and we went to work on the food. One of the pictures showed a bridge of meat so we ordered it and it turned out to be exactly that. A bridge of ribs about twenty inches long and ten inches high was delivered to our table. The meat just peeled off of the bone with our chop sticks and melted in our mouths. After we had peeled off all the meat from the top, the waitress took away the bones and returned about ten minutes later with the remainder meat removed, seasoned and deep fried, we were all in glutton heaven.

Our waitress that night was more than attentive to our needs and worked very hard to make our dining experience a happy one. Despite the language problem she was able to assist us in ordering and then in how to eat the many dishes which arrived. I seriously think the kitchen added to our order. We felt we had to do something in return for her kindness.

Tipping is not the custom in China and they will refuse a tip if you try and give them one. We carried a supply of Milwaukee, our hometown, postcards which the people loved to get as gifts and we would give these to the waitresses in lieu of a tip. This night the waitress was so attentive and helpful I could not resist tipping her. I first handed her the tip and she refused but smiled so I then stuck it into her apron pocket and she thanked me. I later learned that I may have doubled her weekly salary with that tip but offended her at the same time. We also passed out postcards to all of the staff and kitchen help. These they gladly accepted showing each other their pictures.

By time we had arrived in Guangzhou we thought of ourselves as seasoned Chinese diners. However, Guangzhou offered a new problem for us. I had been using a Mandarin Chinese book and here they spoke Cantonese. We would show the list of food items and get to the end with no recognition by the wait staff. Our solution was to start using restaurants with pictures in the menus.

Guangzhou is on the Pearl River just a few miles up from Hong Kong. Its location brought us more variety of fish than we had in Beijing and Nanjing. I tried to work in a fish dish at each meal. We found it hard to find dumplings but now rice was being served. We also had a larger variety of greens and fruits. The meals were spicy so we had to emphasize our wish for bland cooking.

My favorite meals in Guangzhou were in the Qing Ping market. You may remember the bird flu which was running rampant? Well it was here, in Qing Ping that the first recorded case of it jumped from bird to a human. Aside from that fame this market offered anything you wanted or ever thought of eating on a stick. I ate things with squiggly legs to whole fish all on a stick and fried right in front of me. The sauces were spectacular and I could not resist going back for more.

Before we left for China, I asked my doctor about eating in China and his advice was to play it safe with eating in places which looked clean. Don't drink the water and try and avoid raw meats, fish, and vegetables. He then went on to say that a case of the runs would not be the worse thing to happen but missing an opportunity I would regret forever would be. That was good advice. We had great food while in China. But not only did we have great food we met many great people and learned so much about China which we would have missed if we were afraid to eat in those restaurants or food stalls. We had a supply of Ci-pro, prescribed by the doctor and some OTC anti-acids but only had to use to use to use them once.

Be an adventure diner when you travel. Stray off the beaten path and away from the tried and tired restaurants you can find in your own hometown. You'll have good stories to tell, meet interesting people, and have a more enjoyable travel experience.