Last Days in Chengdu: Awesome Beef and Street Food

Jing and I meet up for lunch at the food court in her shop’s mall.

A light pork soup.

A favorite of mine: fried pork and scallions. Very delicious.

This dish has to be one of the best I have had in china. I had it once last year and it was great, but this time it was perfect.
This corn is slightly breaded with salted egg yolks and corn starch, then fried until crispy. A bit of sugar is added to balance the salt out. It is an amazing snack food and I think it could become extremely popular in the US as a festival food or at ball games. A cup of these and a spoon would rock.

One night we met up with some of Jing’s friends and had a huge hotpot meal.  This time the style was a bit more modern. Prime cuts of beef were the staple and each of us had a large bowl of fresh veggies to cook too. I had some tofu, but it was a bit fishy (bacteria harvested from fish is used to make certain types of tofu). I definitely enjoyed the veggies.
I wussed out and got the mild broth again.

Chengdu Beef

For lunch one day we went to a well-known restaurant renowned for its beef. Sichuan was a part of the silk road, so it is no surprise food elements like this Mediterranean couscous makes it into dishes like this beef pasta.

A cold dish of thin, fatty slabs of beef covered in nuts and spices.

Beef fried in chili oil and vegetables. Very hot!

Even hotter. Beef flashed fried with peppers and onions in Sichuan pepper and chili oil. So hot it made my eyes water.

Korean BBQ

My first introduction to Korean-style barbecue was in China. Sat at a table with a huge exhaust hood over it, and the lighting was horrible for photography. So here are just a few photos of the many meats we ate. My favorite was actually the grilled slices of lotus root. Warm and crispy.
The meats were great, but they were all slim cuts, not very filling.
It was also very awkward to have the waitress come to the table over and over bringing new meats and grilling them on the burner right between the two of us.

The hot coals were delivered as we sat down.

When meats are done grilling, they are moved you the end of the grill and new raw meat is added to the center. Potential for cross contamination here, but oh well.

Just like with hotpot, I had a dish of flavored sauce to dip the BBQ in.

Jinli Street

The next night we headed to Jinli Street, which I have been to many times before. Now I get to explore some shops and things I didn’t get to last time.

 

Traditional Chinese puppets

 

 

The calligrapher isn’t in, so Stephanie plays around with his stuff.

This artist paints the inside of small glass jars.

All the arti si painted in the inside of the glass with a curved brush. I don’t know why I didn’t buy one of these.

 

 

Last meal in Chengdu

I have some time before I need to head to the airport, so Jing and I grab some traditional foods at Kuan and Zhai alley.

I love dumplings… and these were delicious!!

This was actually one of the first things I ate in china, but didn’t photograph it then because I was walking and looking around while eating. These must be the “mall pretzels” of china, in which they are irresistibly tasty , easy to eat, and readily available. Its a circle of crispy fried dough. I little dense in the center. I can’t really explain the taste… this one was vegetarian, but it tasted meaty. The first one I had on the street, was stuffed with meat.

Tofu with noodles, smothered in veggies, beans and nuts.

The drink: a rice soup… served at room temp… that is sweet and a has a nice fermented kick. I liked this.

These two snacks are like waffle pockets folded in half. One has strawberry jelly in it (not impressed as it was straight from a western jam bottle) and the other had some meat in it.

Pig intestines with sweet potato noodles.

 

After a few days of the calligrapher being busy or gone, I pay to have my Dad’s name painted.

It’s difficult to tell if something is very old, fake antique, or a few years old and worn away from millions of butts.