Banquet Food Throughout Northeast China

As you can see, I am not done posting about food I've eaten in China! I think eating was my full-time job!

I attended many banquets throughout Northeast China, and could only steal a few shots from each. Some dishes were really awesome, others, not so much. I will refrain from long commentary and just categorize the dishes to give you an idea of the spectrum.

Delicious:

Steamed Egg Custard with Clams

BBQ Pork-Northeast China take on a Cantonese Star Dish

Sauteed Clams-the server actually plucked off the clam meat out of the shells one, by, one in front of us!

Simple Steamed Fish

Candied Fried Yams with Confetti Sprinkles! Nice use of the very American Betty Crocker-like sprinkles!

Fried and Steamed Sweet Buns with Condensed Milk as a Dip-Absolutely addictive! Unfortunately, I only had it once

Delicious But Appeared All Too Frequently:

Pot of Braised Potatotes, Pork Ribs, Clear Potato Noodles, and Corn Bread-It was awesome the first two times...then I grew tired of having meat & potatoes for every meal

MaLa (Tongue-Numbingly-Spicy) Sauteed Cabbage-Tasty but is the only vegetable dish at most restaurants in Northeast China (NE China is a very meat & potatoes kind of place)

Sauteed Spicy Eggplant-the best way to cook eggplant! But I had it for every meal!

And Of Course the Inescapable Dumplings-I was, afterall, in Northeast China, the home of dumplings

Dishes I Simply Didn't Care For (Very Few):

Spicy Jellyfish and Cabbage Salad (I like jellyfish salads, but the sauce they use in Northeast China just ruins this common Chinese banquet appetizer)

Spicy Cucumber Salad-I'm not fond of the vinaigrette

Most Memorable, Which I Would Like to Make Forgettable:

What I Call, "Papaya Surprise!"-A Sea Cucumber/Slug Floating in a Delicious Clear Broth in a Steamed Papaya-I give them props for creatively substituting the slimey dark brown papaya seeds with the slimey gigantic sea cucumber. Kudos! However, creativity, excellent broth, nor anything else, can ever make sea cucumbers taste delicious.

Soy Sauce Braised Whole Fish with Dried Bean Curd, Tofu Skin, Fried Tofu, and Eggs-Delicious and homey, but knowing that the 2 fish came out of polluted waters scared me. I had visions of walking out of the banquet all radioactive.

Indian Restaurant in Shenyang

Ah...the globalization of Indian cuisine!

A friend, who introduced me to this restaurant, said that the Chinese owners learned to cook Indian food from their Indian friend. That's extremely sweet of the friend to teach them how to cook such an extensive repertoire of Indian cuisine!

I saved my second visit to the restaurant for my very last lunch and dinner (leftovers from lunch) in Shenyang. I love how you can tell the food is made with care. I love breathing in the aroma from all the spices in the tikka masala, and even better, I love scooping up the sauce with the garlic naan.

Vegetable Rice Pilaf

Garlic Naan; Chicken Tikka Masala

So, why would I choose to have Indian food for my last meal in Shenyang? Well, why not? The city is rapidly changing and developing into a major metropolis. It is attracting international business and will sooner or later become an international city. An Indian restaurant may be unusual now, but other cuisines will surely populate the city in the near future. I just hope that Northeast Chinese cuisine will continue to find its place in other parts of the world as it makes room for others in China.

原味齋 (Yuan Wei Zhai): Beijing Duck in Shenyang

BJ took me out to another famous restaurant in Shenyang for another one of my last meals, and this time, we steered clear of the Korean restaurant with the infamous business practice and opted for Beijing duck.

Yuan Wei Zhai

I have to thank BJ for taking me to two fantastic meals in Shenyang. If he hadn't invited me out, I probably would've eaten ramen noodles by myself to avoid the deserted, unfriendly streets of China's 5-day long national holiday (60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC).

Beijing Duck, Crepes, and Duck Bone Broth

The Duck was meaty and not overcooked and tough, which is surprising considering how often it's done wrong and how we're not in a city known for culinary feats.

Beijing Duck; Duck Bone Broth

We ordered a bunch of other dishes, the highlight being my pick, again! The tea pork ribs were "finger lickin' good." I think I ate more than the boys that day. Oops, oh well. I'm not about to fake being Ms. Dainty when good food is on the table.

Stir-fried Celery, Lotus, and Snow Peas

Fried Rice; Fried Chive and Egg Dumplings

Eggplant Slices Stuffed with Ground Shrimp; Tea Pork Ribs

百帝圜 (Bai Di Yuan) Korean Restaurant in Shenyang's Koreatown

Bai Di Yuan; Banchan Dishes-Kimchee, Spinach, Nappa Cabbage, Soy Eggs, Basket of Raw Veggies

My friend, BJ, said that the food here is pretty good. However, we encountered ridiculously horrendous service the evening he introduced me to this restaurant.

Exhibit A:

Galbi

The galbi, beef short ribs, came in a teensy weensy portion on what the waitress called "their bigger plate" in an attempt to explain away the unreasonable portion. Ok, well, how about the big-ass bones hiding underneath the 2 tiny slivers of beef and the slices of pumpkin underneath the bones? The couple at the table next to us enjoyed a huge plate of galbi with tiny bones and even had leftovers to spare! We were in an alternate universe, where the customers are always wrong. The manager didn't even apologize! He just said that we just happened to get a "different cut" of the galbi...the part with all the bones?!?!?!?! WTF.

I got over it by thoroughly enjoying our other dishes as BJ humorously continued his galbi battle. It turned out to be an enjoyable evening because of the good company I was in. I could care less about the bad service considering I would likely never come back. But my good friend has great reasons for his continuing fight against bad business practice. He'll be in the city for a longer period, and thus the shadow cast by this restaurant will hang over him that many more days...months... Sorry, BJ!

I ordered the pumpkin soup, fried pumpkin coated in salted egg yolk powder, and seafood pancake. I took great pride in my picks because these dishes rocked! The fried pumpkin was crispy on the outside, and hot, soft, and sweet on the inside. The egg yolk powder was ingenious! It was like magic dust that gave the pumpkin a slight savory flavor. Perfect.

Pumpkin Soup; Fried Pumpkin Coated with Salted Egg Yolk Powder

Seafood Pancake; Grilled Mackerel

Rice Steamed with Ginseng Roots and Beans; Broth for the Rice

Shenyang Dumpling Party

Bridget hosted a dumpling-making party where we made everything from the wrappers to the filling. We made a pork and cabbage filling and a shrimp and chives filling for the Chinese dumplings, and Sung made fried Korean dumplings with egg, chives, and potato noodle filling.

I dump things together when making dumpling filling and never measure any of the ingredients, so I didn't take any notes at this dumpling session. Dumplings can be an exploration of what tantalizes your own taste buds. There shouldn't be too many rules attached to food you can make your own. Dumpling fillings can be almost anything, so I recommend experimenting with various meats and vegetables. One of my favorites is pork and shrimp filling. The ingredients I add to almost all meat fillings are minced ginger, chopped scallions, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

The dough, on the other hand needs to be done just right. I, unfortunately, have the habit of not taking recipe notes, so I will ask the studious Bridget for the flour and water measurements.

Chopping Chives; Ready to Mix Cabbage, Scallions, and Pork

Cutting Clear Noodles; Scrambled Eggs, Chives, and Shrimp

Making the Wrapper Dough

Prepping the Dough


Rolling Out the Wrappers

Wrapping Dumplings

Practicing My Flower Wrapping Skills (but should really be for baozi)

Ready to Eat!


Korean Dumplings Frying; Sung Posing Next to His Dumplings


Korean Fried Dumplings