We were taken out to dinner by one of our Chinese partners the first evening we arrived. This was a small restaurant on the second storey of some nondescript restaurant in one of those can-never-find-by-yourself small villages (蔡家堡, or Cai Family...erm what's a pu?) about 40 mins from civilization as we knew it. If someone had wanted to murder us and leave us there among the salt farms, it would have been highly possible that we could have vanished forever.
We were late for dinner thanks to a late arrival at the airport, a crazy driver who was also too stingy to pay the higher tolls and took the longer route, and the same crazy driver who had no idea how to drive in a convoy. The gracious host was already waiting for us at the dinner table and by the time we got there absolutely knackered. What a sight for sore eyes! (the items on the table...not our host)
Huge live prawns caught from the sea
Farmed prawns, but farmed in salt water
This weird creature is called P P 虾, or P P prawn
Looks like a praying mantis. Tasted all right though...like a normal prawn
The steamed crab was good....very tasty firm flesh.
Standard Chinese appetizer of jellyfish with cucumber marinated in vinegar, garlic and sesame oil
My crab and prawn. Both were huge!
Some weird omelette. This was very salty.
Green pepper with top shell
Fish balls cooked in broth
Silverfish omelette
Not sure what flat fish this was, but it was pretty good
Shot of the table Part 1
Shot of the table Part 2
As if the food wasn't enough, 2 more plates of dumplings (饺子）came along
And a bowl of porridge consisting of some green beans and meal
Then the dough and corn fritters came
This was what was left over by the time we were done (thanks to the over-enthusiastic policeman who over-ordered).
Eeee! Why is the weird omelette grey?! You sure it wasn't brain omelette...
ReplyDeleteI think the PP prawns are mantis shrimps. We see them when diving. They are usually bright blue with a colourful tail (thus named Peacock Mantis) or bright orange. They pack a mean punch! Apparently they can crack the lenses on divers' masks. One of them punched my friend's metal stick and you could hear the "ping!" underwater.
I think bright blue sounds a bit scary...but I guess even flower crabs are blue when alive. I have no idea why the omelette was grey, but thinking about it again, maybe it was some yucky stuff you find in the shell of a crab or the head of a prawn...you never know, in these places!
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