Changbaishan Canyon – Fusong County – Jilin Province – PRC – September 2018

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Changbaishan, Fusong County, Jilin Province, Ma po dofu, PRC China, Yu xiang qiezi

Good food and a walk whilst in north east China 

A couple of years ago, after my friend Jon and I climbed Mount Changbai in Jilin Province we took a bus down the mountain and there was an entrance to a forest and even though we were rather tired once we saw the beautiful red, orange and yellow coloured leaves, we decided to take a walk.

Luckily for us, it was only a forty-minute route along a boardwalk so a lot easier than climbing up and down the 1000 plus steps of the mountain. The well-made boardwalk followed the canyon rim through the forest affording us the opportunity to see the beautiful autumn colours and large rock formations.After our walk we hopped back into our transport and returned to our hotel.  After a quick break, we walked down a lovely set of wooden stairs lit with fairy lights to an area near our hotel where we had previously seen a few restaurants.The interior of the restaurant interior was ‘interesting’ with its fake plants and coloured flags on the ceiling and floral chair furnishings but it was clean; the food was fresh and most importantly it was really good.  Jon enjoyed a local beer and I stuck to soda water as Chinese wine is definitely not to my liking!  We enjoyed a few vegetable dishes including my favourite eggplant dish (Yu xiang qie ze) as well as a fresh chilli tofu dish (ma po do fu), a plate of mushrooms and noodles and a couple of meat dishes for Jon.
Inexpensive meal; great day; very tired – time to go to bed!

 

 

 

 

Dumpling House – Dickson – Canberra – ACT – Australia – 2010 – 2017

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Chinese food, Dickson Dumpling House, Dumplings, Eggplant, Yu xiang qiezi

My absolute favourite Chinese restaurant

There is a small Chinese restaurant in Canberra (Dickson Dumpling House) about a thirty minute walk from my home that I absolutely love!  I eat there at least once a fortnight and always take visitors there as for me it reminds me so much of the food in Beijing especially the dumplings; vegetable for me and pork for my friends who also order the xiao long bao (Shanghai dumplings containing soup).

Every friend I have taken there loves the authentic Chinese dishes and always asks to reserve a table when they return to visit me; I am actually going there this Sunday night with a friend who is visiting from Cambodia. We usually also order the chive pancakes to start with – a little bit oily but delicious with Chinese vinegar.

The dried green bean dish with chilli is fabulous as, I am told, is the kung pao chicken which is regularly ordered by my friends.

The decor is basic but the service is great.  I have made friends with one of the waiters [Peter] and I practice my Chinese with him and develops his English with me – he is pretty good anyway as he goes to uni here in Canberra.  He recently returned to his home town in Sichaun Province and brought me back some lovely tea.   A very sweet young man who has now invited me and my friend Jon to his home for eggplant as he says he makes it really well and knows I order it always..looking forward to that!

So on the subject of my most favourite dish –  yu xiang qiezi (fish fragrant eggplant).  Ordered every single visit without fail but without the pork on the top and without the fish sauce.  Even my brother has changed his mind about eggplant now because of this dish.

And there are desserts but it’s rare that we order them…but last time my Goddaughter and her partner came to visit we did…very big dishes and oh so sweet!!

So there you have it…my most favourite Chinese restaurant – no MSG either!!

Yat Bun Tong Dumpling Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – April 2016

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ACT, canberra, Chinese restaurant, Dumplings, Peking Duck, Yu xiang qiezi

Dinner at Canberra’s newest dumpling restaurant

This week, friends and I went to try out Canberra’s newest Chinese/dumpling restaurant.  I also invited the friend who came to China with me as I wanted him to see if these dumplings and the eggplant dish tasted anything like what we ate in China.

The restaurant was fully booked and bustling inside with both Chinese and Australians – always a good sign to see Chinese at a Chinese restaurant – shows me it has good food.  We sat down and ordered some wine before ordering our dishes; vegetable dumplings (boiled), my favourite eggplant dish (yuxiang qiezi), my other favourite bean curd dish (deep fried bean curd with spicy peppery salt), shallot pancakes and Peking duck.  Everything came out very quickly and looked extremely appetising.  Service was very good and I got to practice my Chinese skills.

The dumplings looked better than the ones I usually buy at a local dumpling restaurant near my home but in my opinion they were not as delicious.

The shallot pancakes were really good and my friends said the Peking duck was delicious.

 We enjoyed the evening very much and spoke about our recent travels to China including some amusing stories that my other friends could relate to having lived in Beijing for two years.

And my friend Jon did say the dumplings were good and the eggplant tasted like the dishes he had in China…it’s a restaurant I shall return to.