Joni heads back, Art Industrial Park

October 9, 2011China 2011art industrial park, Chengdu, food, ice cream, jing, joni, nightlife, noodles, shopping, tibetan food Gallery

Here’s a candid shot of me stocking up on drinks. I also picked up some buckwheat tea that I liked.

Beef Noodles

Craving some beef noodles, we stopped into a chain devoted to it. Expensive by Chinese standards, the food was good, but still not as great as the beef noodles I had in a small family joint during my first few days.

These spicy Sichuan noodles will melt your face off.

I had tamer noodles, a lot of juicy beef in a very flavorful broth. The noodles are pretty hearty too.

The dessert… Imagine a mound a very soft, fine snow (not shaved ice, snow) covered in sweet and chunky pineapple syrup (not pictured), red bean syrup and sweet pea syrup. Garnished with some mangos, durian and some unknown fruits.

Joni went to town on it.

Tibetan Food

For dinner, I meet up with Jing for a traditional Tibetan meal.

On the second floor of a Tibetan-style building, the environment of this restaurant was very relaxed. We sat next to a table of monks, and near the window, so I could have a nice view of the activity on the street below.

Tibetan tea.

Yak… not sure with part… a lot of hacked up bones. Yak is very similar to beef, but leaner and less flavorful. This yak is steamed with salt.

A traditional stuffed bread… very similar to pot pie.

Inside we have ground yak, onions and corn. I enjoyed this though it was a bit bland.

Flash fried potatoes

Art Industrial Park

Then we headed to some new music/art-themed commerce park. It used to be a factory district complete with a rail station. It’s now a shopping and restaurant area, decorated with colorful lights and modern art.

restaurants, and more. Art is scattered about the places and the old factory structures have been dramatically lit. It’s dark. It’s creepy in places. It’s very surreal in others. But at the same time it feels very safe.

We find an Italian Gelato shop (a popular Italian franchise) and try it. It’s the real deal. Jing has never had it before. It’s very expensive compared to other ice cream options in China.