Lunch or Dinner at a Local Restaurant - Take Two

May 12, 2014

After our exciting morning at the Terra Cotta Army museum, we had our usual lunch in a local restaurant. These meals are all so similar, and I don't generally take food pictures, so it's hard to report a lot about them.  All are served on the traditional lazy susan, and usually start with soup that is served by the waiter or waitress.  Then dish after dish of meats, veggies, and rice are placed on the lazy susan, which we whirl around willy-nilly, serving ourselves and talking about what we like and don't like.  Dessert is almost always watermelon, which cleanses the palate without adding too much fullness.  Most of these meals are quite similar and nothing to write home about.

There were a couple of notable meals of this type, but sadly I don't remember exactly when and where they took place.  To be honest, we never knew the name of the restaurant where we ate;  we just filed in wherever Jack's Bus took us.  One meal was more seafood-based, so of course, I liked that a lot.  My favorite item there was the whole prawns which were very lightly coated and deep-fried.  At first we all tried to remove the shell from the shrimp without getting everything all over our hands (did I mention that the dinner napkins at a local restaurant are all the small cocktail size?).  I looked at David and he looked at me, and we both agreed that these are supposed to be eaten whole:  shell, head and all.  Once we tried that, our portion was much larger, as no one else at our table was willing.  Some did try the shells, but the heads were just to much for most. Too bad!  Your loss!  Crunchy, savory, and oh so tasty, these may be the best things I ate at a local restaurant.

Another memorable local meal with the dumpling meal, where everything was a dumpling, all served in bamboo steamers.   These were delicious, and I loved trying the different but simple sauces that were served alongside.  Some of the dumplings were shaped to resemble their filling:  chicken-filled dumplings looked like little chickens, and duck-filled dumplings looked like little ducks.  I did take a photo with my phone, so hopefully I can get that posted here.  I'm not sure, but this may be the same meal where we were first introduced to Chinese Firewater, a 68-proof clear alcohol that is surprisingly tasty.  Funny that soft drinks are so often limited to one glass per person, but the firewater was unlimited.  No worries;  it would be impossible to drink much of that!