Seeing as this is my last week in
China, I have made it a priority to go out and eat with my friends as
much as possible. Not only is this to enjoy all the food I will miss,
but also as a sort of festivity with my friends for being so helpful
and hospitable. One of the restaurants I got to go to in order to
complete my goal was one from the Shaanxi province. This province is
famous for its noodles and vinegar, and after eating here I can see
why. All vinegar in China is incredible, but the one served at this
place is impeccable. And seeing as I’ve become such a fan of
noodles, I can also say that the ones specified to be from this
region stand out from the rest.
The first plate of food we got was
something that was called Four Bowls. It is basically four little
bowls filled with different foods from the region. The four bowls
included pork belly, tofu, meatballs, and millet. The pork belly was
incredible. I usually shy away from pork belly because I find the
amount of fat to be too overwhelming, but this one was cooked so
properly, that it tasted like butter. The tofu was great as well,
along with the meatballs. The millet was served in some sort of
citrusy thick sauce, which led me to not like it as much.
The next plate of food was two small
pieces of braised pork shank in Chinese spices. It was a bit dry and
could have been braised for a couple of more hours, but the flavors
were there. Eating it alone though got old a bit quickly though.
The star of the meal was the noodles.
You basically get a plate of whatever noodles you want, garnished
with vegetables like carrots and bean sprouts. Then you head over to
a sauce bar and dress your noodles however you want. They have
eggplant based sauces, meat sauces, and vinegar sauces. I got hand
sliced noodles with a mix of pork sauce and vinegar. I used to think
that hand pulled noodles were my favorite, but after trying the
texture of hand sliced I may change my mind.
This meal was incredible and I am glad
I got to try food from a different region. Although my time in China
is coming to an end, I will definitely remember all the great meals I
had with friends.