Duo Luo Jie Visit #2

Barbecued eggplant with spices, spices, spices and chives

Barbecued green beans, blocking access to delicious eggplant.

Barbecued cucumbers, and snails in a styrofoam box

Barbecued octopus (thank you Heyman)

Tofu, bell peppers, and golden mushrooms, also blocking access to delicious eggplant

Chicken

Restaurant Near Yali

More delicious Changsha food on the Lazy Susan. My favorite from this restaurant is the eggplant that comes out sizzling in foil on a hot plate.

The Appetizers:

Cold soybeans

My dish overfloweth with vermicelli

The Main Dishes

Beef with the typical Changsha additions (pepper and pepper..)

This picture does the eggplant dish no justice.

Soups are boring (because you can't see anything), but I'll put this mushroom soup up for variety's sake

Chicken with ginger and soy sauce

Tofu skins and a LOT of cilantro

The "Mai Dan" flower. Many restaurants put a flower on your table to indicate that you've paid the bill.

I'm also going to start posting reviews on this blog on the side. My favorite (and only review) is: "It's a sin to post the photos there. So tempting." - Helen Gao, DC '10, student at Yale University.

Hunan Wildfire: A Yale-China Changsha feast

String beans with pepper and garlic

Juicy eggplant with slices of hot pepper

Stir-fried (?) cabbage, also with slices of hot pepper (noticing any patterns here..?)

Tofu with bell peppers

Spicy slices of chicken in ...spicy sauce

Roasted duck in a duck basket

Soup pre-boil, with sweet carrots, spices, and other greens

Crab

Corn juice

As promised, here is my first post! Many have commented that our Changsha blog does not feature enough Changsha food. In reply, we give you Duo4luo4 Jie1 堕落街，Changsha's busiest street-food spot. It stretches from the side of Hunan University (Hu2da4 湖大) along the shore of the Xiangjiang River, noisily resisting the imminent demolition allegedly awaiting it.

The street is full of stalls arranged with everything imaginable on a stick. Typically, you point at what you want, a man puts your selection on a tray, and then you sit and wait for him to to bring your finished food, grilled and caked with Changsha's spicy sauce, la4jiao1 辣椒.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of the different foods because of my technical difficulties, but we have a video! For this post, a video luckily seems more appropriate. Covered with the spicy marinade, all those lotus roots, eggplants, chicken wings, oysters, baby octopi, pieces of beef, cartilage, and tofu, cucumbers, scallions, and other offerings can begin to taste and almost look the same by the end of the night. The street's atmosphere sets its food apart (quite literally due to the roaming stench and hint of stinky tofu).

More posts to come soon! Please add comments and correct me if I have made a mistake.

Hugh

Shanghai Post 1 - Din Tai Fung

Hugh's camera is currently broken, which is why I've been posting so far. He is also currently out in the desert somewhere, in Inner Mongolia. But a Hugh authored post is coming soon, I promise! I am spending the week in Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou. Here is Shanghai Food Post #1 (special edition since it is not Hunan!) - none other than the famous Din Tai Fung, located in Xin Tian Di, which is a district of restaurants, shops, cafes, bars with cobblestone streets. It's very pretty but extremely fake looking.

Anyway, Din Tai Fung, which originally started in Taiwan, is famous for its delicious dumplings, including xiaolongbao, which is a juicy pork dumpling Shanghai is very famous for. It is a little on the pricy side but worth every bite! Eating xiaolongbao is tricky because you have to make sure none of the juice falls out, and you also want to make sure you don't burn your tongue.

Xiaolongbao - yes, that is steam

Dan dan mian - spicy Sichuan noodles

Pork dumplings

Veggie dumplings

Shao mai (open-face steamed dumplings) - dumplings steamed with rice in soy sauce and vegetables

For dessert, a well-known dessert chain called Honeymoon Desserts, which offers Chinese style desserts with mango, sago (really small clear chewy balls often in desserts and drinks), coconut variations.

Mango with sago

Mango, coconut, and red bean (and Peter's arm..)

Bullfrog

Another Changsha delicacy that cannot go ignored is bullfrog (niuwa, which is literally bull and frog). Yes, yes, I agree, it sounds disgusting, because bullfrogs are disgusting. I also refused when I first heard of these dish, and so I told everyone not to tell me what it was so I could judge the dish objectively. It is surprisingly good, as it tastes just like chicken, but it's a bit disappointing at times because bullfrog doesn't have much meat on it. Bullfrog is also prepared in a pot of somesort, and put on top of a burner in front of you at restaurants. 

Bullfrog sizzling away

And some accompanying top dishes of the night..

Hugh's favorite dish of the night: pickled cucumber with slices of pork.

My favorite dish of the night, and one of my favorite Hunan dishes so far: fat green beans sizzled with pepper, spices and what I believe is pork as well.

Nightfood

Nightfood after an exciting Thursday night at Cafe Mescale, one of our favorite bars in Changsha (the owners are good friends with Heyman and Evan): crawfish extravaganza! 

Little do they know...

They usually come in a bowl of spicy delicious Hunan sauce, although non-spicy alternatives are also available. At this place, gloves were given, but proven ineffective. Eating procedure: rip off the tail, eat the tail meat, then suck on brains. Mmmm