Last night I had dinner with a fellow teacher and her teenaged sister. We went to a family restaurant in her neighborhood, where we had skewers of spicy garlic chicken (heat level 1 for me, as, in China, I'm not sure what "spicy" means yet), potstickers and a "choose your own ingredient dish that is made to order on a grill in the kitchen out back. We chose needle fish, quail egg, lotus root, potato and tiny white mushrooms that come in a clump. It's tossed with fried rice sticks, crunchy rice (maybe cooked rice spread flat and crisped in oil, then cut into pieces) with a garnish of peanuts, green onion and cilantro. All washed down with tart sweet plum juice. Cost me 100 yuan (about $US 16) to treat everyone. The restaurant's decor is a small room wallpapered with yellow and red signs handwritten by previous diners, who ate the spicy chicken at the most extreme level and survived. The comments are nearly all in Chinese, with a smattering of obscenities written in English.
All a bit greasy but quite delicious. The owner gave me a discount card, eat 3 more times, and I get a free dish on my 4th visit.
As if I'd ever be able to find this place again, without a guide!
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