Last Day in Sichuan

Jing takes me to a place for some Sichuan food and it was eye-opening. I guess I kind of was not getting the real Sichuan experience while there.

This beef soup didn’t avoid the fat, it embraces it. Thin fatty strips of beef just dissolved as I slurped it down, and those chillies brought the heat. Delicious!

 

I’m devouring this spicy Chicken and Peanut dish. It is insanely good and the spices are hitting me. I feel something almost electric on my tongue. I’ve never tasted anything like it. It’s Sichuan Peppercorn. Ever since, this meal I have sought out this amazing flavor.

I ask what this dish is. Kung Pao? The dish I see on every American-Chinese menu, but never ordered? Mind blown. Of course very few restaurants in the US get it right, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to find that authentic flavor.

These ribs were both moist and dry, savory and spicy, hot and electric!  Simply Complex and amazing!

 

Tibetan Street Shopping

We head to a Tibetan street so I can spend some of my last Yuan. The shops are small but beautiful and the people are very friendly.

 

 

 

Most of my beads and charms are from this guy here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more…

We head to a shopping mall…. multiple stories packed with small shops, many of which are independent. I like Chinese malls–so much to explore.

Around Chunxi Street.

 

 

I’m introduced to Hot Pot, which I wasn’t a huge fan of at the time.
Basically there is a bowl of hot soup made fresh and kept warm at your table.  Our soup is split in two, one spicy (which is normal) and one tame (for the white guy).

Then you go into a room and pick our skewers of raw meat, fish and veggies. Jing did not take me into this room as I would probably be grossed out by the assortment. She picked some tame things based on my requirements (Beef, Chicken, Pork, Vegetables).

Shown here is some chicken and some potato-like lotus root (my favorite). The “beef” turned out to be beef stomach.
On the bottom right are the bins to throw in the wooden skewers. One for meat, one for veggies.
Why? That’s how you are billed… at the end the clerk comes and counts the skewers.

You toss the skewers into the soup and allow them to cook. When done, pull them out and into your personal bowl of soup. Eat. Drink beer (I had to – I could not eat a lot of this stuff)…

…and when all done, you have a huge vat of soup flavored by everything cooked in it. Traditionally you down a bowl or two of this ultra-tasty broth to top off the meal.

It turns out this place did Hot Pot a little different than any other place I visited. Most places will just have menus to order from. The stick thing is something I have seen at other places but never did again. Usually you just get a plate of sliced items you pick up with chopsticks and drop in. Sticks sound a bit more sanitary.