fun with food

This has been a good week for food experimentation so far. I tried some crazy stuff at a barbeque place, made plans to eat dog with a student and found out where I can eat brains! Now I just need to find someone to go with me...

I'm definitely discovering that barbeque places are the best for finding interesting and crazy foods. I went to one in dong bei for lunch yesterday with a Chinese friend. Dong bei (which literally means east north) refers to the area of town across the river that seems to be a more low income area. Dong bei is where the the Long Hua Temple and the traditional restaurant where I ate donkey are located.

At Chinese barbeque places, the majority of the food you order comes on small skewers and is grilled. Since the skewers are small, you order a lot of different ones for a full meal. The restaurant yesterday was tiny, not really clean and lacking in the little things (hot peppers to put on your food, napkins, quick service, etc.) but as far as main dishes go, it had a great selection. They had the standard meats: chicken beef, lamb, different kinds of seafood, etc. Also the standards extras, tofu wrapped greens, bacon wrapped mushrooms, plain mushrooms, plain tofu, etc.

They also had pigeon, which I ate, heart and all, and pig tails, which I saved for next time. I discovered at the traditional dong bei restaurant that if you only order experimental food, you'll likely end up with nothing you really want to eat. My Chinese friend was grossed out that I ate the pigeon's heart, but he's pretty western Chinese.

pigtails

pigeon

pigeon heart