Location: Sichuan Province, China, in the vicinity of Leshan (2-3 hours)
Luocheng Teahouse town famous for its boathouse architecture
The ancient town of Luocheng is a gem for those looking for traditional teahouse culture. Luocheng is renowned for its boat architecture: the two sides of its main street narrow down at both ends and widen gradually towards the middle, thus creating the oval shape of a boat.
Luocheng Teahouse Town
Straddling the street and forming, as it were, the prow to complete the boat- like appearance of the town, stands a beautifully restored theatre. It is covered in traditional grey tiles and flamboyantly decorated with historic scenes and smiling Buddhas.
Tea drinkers in Luocheng
However, the absolute highlight of Luocheng is the swell of teahouses lining the main street, sheltered by the overhanging wooden porticos of the buildings. Overlooking this sea of bamboo tables and chairs, occupied by querulous old men in faded Mao jackets, arguing over heated games of cards or Mah-jong, while smoking small stubby pipes carved out of roots, visitors can truly imagine themselves in a time warp.
Teahouse Luocheng
Joining the regulars over a cup of tea, you can really get an impression of what village life must have been like in the old days. The whole place still oozes authenticity and atmosphere; two elements that are often lacking in many of China’s more popular historical places. In fact, with the exception of the stray backpacker, you are unlikely to meet many fellow-travellers while exploring the streets of this sleepy town. Luocheng is as yet firmly off the tour group circuit.
Shaoxing 绍兴 in Beijing北京 / 风骚浙人 (Fēngsāo Zhērén Restaurant)
Update: tHIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED AND DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE
Shaoxing 绍兴 in Beijing
Shaoxing 绍兴 in Beijing: Located in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, the 风骚浙人 fēngsāo zhērén, or sometimes known as Zhejiang Ren Zai Beijing (The Zhejiang People in Beijing Restaurant, 浙江人在北京) is a rather special eatery. From the outside, you’d never guess that the modest façade conceals an ancient courtyard and some of the best Chinese food in Beijing.
The Place
Enter through a rather non-descript doorway and find yourself in a traditional Qing dynasty courtyard house with simple, but tasteful, dining rooms and a tree-shaded patio. As the weather was perfect, we chose to eat in the atmospheric patio. The clientele seemed to be well-heeled locals who were expecting nothing but the best.
The Service
The waiter was attentive and friendly without being overbearing. He took pride in suggesting the best dishes, but without being pushy.
The Cuisine
The restaurant’s cuisine comes from Shanghai and the province of Zhejiang, a coastal province just south of Shanghai, and a further emphasis is placed on Zhejiang’s Hangzhou and Shaoxing绍兴 regions. That means great fish, crab, smelly tofu and the best yellow wine, or Shaoxing Huang jiu 绍兴黄酒.
Heijing Ancient Salt Capital: Imagine being the only guests in a Ming dynasty courtyard mansion in which little has changed since the days of its previous owners, several generations of a wealthy salt merchant’s family, the last unfortunate member of which – Wu Weiyang – was executed by the communists in 1949…
Wu Family in happier days in the Wujia Courtyard
the world’s most delicious and expensive mushrooms
Imagine strolling back to this mansion after dining on some of the world’s most delicious and expensive mushrooms in an atmospheric open-air restaurant where Chinese day-trippers squat down under the shady trees for the serious task of selecting and cleaning their own choice of ‘edible fungus’… Imagine being woken from your siesta by local residents singing traditional opera and performing folk dances to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of their neighbours…
Wu Family Courtyard Hotel
China’s ancient salt capital
This is exactly what it was like when we visited Heijing / Black Well Town, one of China’s ancient salt capitals. A mere 100 kilometres away from Yunnan’s booming capital Kunming, Heijing nevertheless belongs to another time and place: its streets are narrow, cobble-stoned and festooned with red lanterns; donkey carts are still the most popular means of transport and there isn’t a single souvenir shop to be found.
Funky Wuhan 武汉好玩儿: We first visited Wuhan on a grey, wet December day in 1990. Yet, despite the weather, the city’s colonial architecture, lively streets and abundant markets left quite a favourable impression. Unfortunately, at the time we were far too obsessed with our search (unsuccessful) for Chinese-price boat tickets to Chongqing, to have a proper look around.
However, from our chance meeting with two American teachers who were absolutely desperate for any Westerners to communicate with in English, we gathered that it was hardly a cultural hot spot.
Funky Wuhan 武汉好玩儿
Second Time Around
This time, on our second visit, we noticed many changes: the city had become huge and, in parts, totally modern. Just like Chongqing. Yet, while we hadn’t really liked revisiting Chongqing, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Wuhan. This was mostly thanks to the attractive, central Hankou area which has preserved quite a lot of its old buildings, can be easily navigated on foot and offers many nice places to stay, eat and drink.
Jamie Oliver in China: Jamie Oliver has a tendency to crop up on T.V when you least expect it. Even putting in an appearance while I was walking down a street in Kunming, YunnanProvince. Having caused a scandal in Spain by adding chorizo to paella. What plans does he have to adulterate Chinese cuisine and infuriate the purists? Only time will tell!
Lao Fangzi Restaurant 一颗印 Kunming: By 6.00 o’clock the restaurant is packed and queues are beginning to line up in the waiting area. A palpable sense of expectation hovers in the air as customers mull over the huge menu, occasionally lifting their heads to glance at their fellow diners and nodding in approval as a dish is selected.
The noise level begins to rise as beer bottles are opened
The waiters stand around patiently, sometimes suggesting dishes to speed the indecisive along. As orders are taken to the kitchen, the carriers -whose job it is only to carry food to the tables on large trays – begin scurrying backwards and forwards between kitchen and dining area, delivering large plates of unfamiliar, yet delicious looking food.
A veritable army of waiting staff in traditional uniforms then take the dishes from the trays and serve them to the suitably impressed diners. The noise level begins to rise as beer bottles are opened, or Chinese rice wine is tossed down gulping throats to the shouts of Ganbei/ Cheers!
This is Lao Fangzi in central Kunming where food doesn’t come much better and the ambience puts the icing on the cake. One of the few – maybe the last- remaining genuine old houses in central Kunming, Lao Fangzi (the Old House) is one of the city’s best dining spots. How it has escaped the guide books is a mystery.
The 150-year-old building is an old grey stone, two- storey court- yard residence of the type known locally as ‘stamp houses’, due to their square shape. Once, this type of building was the embodiment of much of the vernacular architecture of central Kunming. Today, Lao Fangzi stands alone under the shadow of towering neon- lit skyscrapers, surrounded by the broken and dilapidated remains of old Kunming; an eloquent symbol of what could have been preserved if speculation and reckless urban planning hadn’t been allowed to prevail over conservation and restoration.
Alive and Flipping:The Dalian Seafood Restaurant, Beijing. It was only a Wednesday night, but the place was heaving. The smartly-uniformed waitress told us we were 4th on the waiting list. My friend David, who has been working in Beijing for several years, said that it was worth the wait and that, anyway, tables moved fast here. He was right on both counts; 10 minutes later we were assigned a table and told to go and choose our meal from the magnificent displays and amazing fish tanks.
The Dalian Seafood Restaurant in the Chaoyang district, almost directly opposite the huge Landao Shopping Centre, must be one of the great restaurants of Beijing. It has certainly made it onto our list of favourites. If you are a lover of fresh seafood and fish, as we are, then this has to be one of the best bargains in Beijing. Everything looks and smells as if it has just been plucked straight from the sea. Strangely enough it is actually a Muslim run enterprise but alcohol flows freely.
The restaurant’s centre-piece is a rectangular area of fish tanks, filled with all kinds of fish and sea creatures. In front of the fish tanks, there are countless trays of (live) prawns, squid, scallops, crabs, clams, razor fish and other unnameable creatures, just lying around, waiting to be chosen, gobbled up and washed down with a cold beer.
Seafood in Xining: Daxin Jie. Imagine pigging out on prawns, clams, razor fish and other weird and wonderful critters lying around in buckets in Xining, the capital of remote and landlocked Qinghai province. Well, that is exactly what thousands of Xining’s residents do every night. Xining may seem an unlikely place to enjoy a delicious fresh seafood meal, but Daxin Jie in the city centre is home to a host of restaurants, specialising in Wenzhou style seafood.
Seafood in Xining: Daxin Jie
Seafood in Xining: Daxin Jie
Wenzhou arrives in Xining
Wenzhou, in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, is renowned for its fabulous fresh seafood and fish. In Madrid where we live, about 90% of the Chinese come from Wenzhou and nearby Qingtian. Over the years, many of these homesick immigrants have abandoned the typical spring roll and fried rice restaurants, adapted to the local Spanish taste, and inaugurated some amazingly authentic Wenzhou style restaurants instead, catering for the burgeoning Chinese community. So it was with a sense of recognition, but a large degree of incredulity as well, that we saw that nearly half the restaurants in Daxin Jie announced themselves as Wenzhou Haixian Fandian 温州海鲜饭店 (Wenzhou Seafood Restaurant).
The Wenzhou style of cooking places emphasis on the taste of the product, rather than on using a lot of spice, which is why it is sometimes a little bland for the taste buds of the residents of Western China. If you are like them, just ask the waiter to add a bit of la 辣 (hot spice).
huge water tanks
With China’s increasingly improved transport links, refrigeration technology and the use of huge water tanks, residents of far-flung places like Xining can now enjoy recently caught or farmed seafood and fish on their plates, as fresh as it would be in Wenzhou. If Wenzhou style is not for you, Daxin Jie is also home to a few Shandong style seafood restaurants that do a roaring trade in spicy squid kebabs. Other restaurants feed hungry customers with Shaguo, an iron soup bowl filled with a wide choice of ingredients.
Prices are reasonable. 100 Yuan will get a decent meal for 2 or 3 with beer.
Shaoxing绍兴: City of Wine黄酒 and Chou Doufu 臭豆腐 (Stinky Doufu)
Foot Rowers on Shaoxing’s East Lake
Shaoxing: City of Wine and Stinky Doufu is a food lovers paradice if you love these two products.
Shaoxing Wine
The smell of the wine hung heavy in the bar and impregnated the old wooden tables, chairs, floor and beams. Old and young took large gulps and slurped the wine from ceramic bowls. Mah-jong blocks crashed on the table, and chopsticks raced with each other to pick up the last piece of stinky tofu. The owner smiled and exposed his blackened teeth as more bowls of wine were ordered and new customers came in, immediately replacing the departing ones. Welcome to Shaoxing and it’s wine.
Shaoxing: City of Wine and Stinky Doufu: The wine
With a tradition that goes back more than two thousand years, Shaoxing wine continues to be a popular drink enjoyed by millions of Chinese. For the uninitiated it is undoubtedly an acquired taste, but it has nothing to do with other Chinese beverages, such as rice wine, which have more in common with rocket fuel than wine as we know it.
In general, the wine produced in Shaoxing is like a medium sherry, resembling the Oloroso wines from the Jerez region of Spain. However, Shaoxing wine, unlike Oloroso, isn’t made from grapes, but from high quality polished glutinous rice and high grade wheat. The water is provided by the clear and pure waters of the nearby Jianhu lake.
Shaoxing wine is popularly known throughout China as Huangjiu 黄酒, or Yellow Wine. There are several different varieties of Shaoxing wine that take on different shades of colour, ranging from the light yellow that gives the original Shaoxing wine its name, to a dark, almost reddish brown variety.
Types of Shaoxing Wine
Of the many types of Shaoxing wine, the Xiangxue (Fragrant Snow) variety is the most highly appreciated. One particular brand of Xiangxue, Ju Yue Longshan, is served at state banquets. Moreover, some Shaoxing wines have become famous outside China. In fact, a Shaoxing wine was awarded a gold medal at a wine and liquor contest held in Madrid in 1985.
When stored over years, Shaoxing wine becomes more fragrant, more appreciated and more expensive. A Shaoxing wine, when it has been bottled for 30 years, is said to have reached its zenith. Though one type, Huadiao jiu, is sometimes bottled for up to 50 years.
Shaoxing wines can be drunk either cooled or warmed, and tend to have an alcohol content of around 16%. The more expensive types are often served slightly warmed and brought to the table in exotic looking metal wine pewters.
Shaoxing: City of Wine and Stinky Doufu: The Food
Apart from being a popular drink, Shaoxing wine plays an important part in Chinese Cuisine; it is used in all the cooking schools, and adds a special touch to many dishes. Fish, prawns, seafood and chicken especially benefit from its presence. ‘Drunken prawns’, a dish in which prawns are either marinated or boiled in Shaoxing wine, together with ginger and star anise, is absolutely delicious. Before the ready availability of Chinese products in supermarkets in the West, many Chinese cookery books used to recommend the use of Sherry to replace Shaoxing wine.
Shaoxing: City of Wine and Stinky Doufu: The bars
One of the great pleasures of visiting the attractive city of Shaoxing, is to drop into one of the traditional local bars and try a few of the different types of wine. The cheaper wine is usually sold by the bowlful, although in some places you can also buy the wine in a type of pitcher.
Shaoxing: City of Wine and Stinky DoufuStinky Tofu (Chou Doufu 臭豆腐
Opposite the former residence of the writer Lu Xun, there is an absolutely fantastic old bar where you can merrily drink Shaoxing wine and snack on the Chinese variant of ‘tapas’. The ordering system in this bar is typical of traditional Chinese tea houses and eateries: you first go to a counter and check out what they have, the dishes are usually displayed, then you go to another counter and purchase tickets for the dishes you want, and finally return to the food counter, hand over the tickets and take the food to your table. The most popular dish to accompany Shaoxing wine is ‘Chou Dofu 臭豆腐’ which translates as ‘Stinky tofu’. Smoked duck, fried shrimps and fried chestnuts coated in honey are also popular accompanying dishes.
I have just found this rather nice video about Shaoxing, its wine and smelly tofu, on Youtube. They film it in the same restaurant we describe in our 2001 visit. However, it seems that the place has been somewhat sanitised since we were there. But it is great to see that the wooden benches and tables are still there.
The Video is in Chinese with English Subtitles. Click below and enjoy it..
Qiezi Bing 茄子饼: Yum, what a smell! Just a few doors down from our regular hotel in Beijing’s Shatan Houjie in the heart of the hutongs near the Forbidden City, there is a Chinese style bakery. Business is always brisk. Sesame cakes, flat onion pancakes, and freshly made noodles are snatched from the serving tray as soon as they are done, whisked away by the impatient customers queuing outside.
Beijing has some great street food
Beijing has some great street food, but for me nothing can beat a Qiezi bing 茄子饼, or aubergine pancake. The pancakes are simple, round flour cakes stuffed with beautifully cooked aubergine. The flavour of the aubergine and its gravy seeps into the dough of the pancake, culminating in a texture that is slightly crisp on the outside and soft and mushy inside. Apart from aubergine, there are many other, tasty fillings, such as white cabbage (baicai白菜), leeks with egg (jiecai jidan芥菜鸡蛋), or pork (zhurou猪肉).
Qiezi Bing 茄子饼
I usually have Qiezi bing for breakfast, nipping out of our little hotel to pick up about 6 of them, while Margie prepares the instant coffee in the room. The pancakes usually cost 5 mao each, though they may try and charge you a whole Yuan (an outrageous 12 cents…), if they think they can get away with it. Now they Cost a yuan for real.
The Hutongs
The best places to look out for these bakeries, and other street food-stalls, are the hutongs. Though sadly, due to so much recent demolition, there are fewer and fewer of these traditional eateries around. Fortunately, ‘our’ Shatan Houjie still has an excellent selection and is therefore a great place to get you started.
