Dog Don't Eat

Dog Don't Eat

21st March 2011, Lunch.

After having spent the morning, and the early part of the afternoon, walking among sheds at an industrial estate, a good lunch was needed. I wanted to eat what Chinese eat for lunch on a Monday afternoon. We drove to downtown Tainjin and reached what I am told is national icon serving food of the Hunan province. Dog Don't Eat is an impressive looking place. Surrounded by modern development, the place still lives up to the stereo-typical idea of a Chinese food joint. A small entrance (relatively, the place is 5 stories big), gold and red, and the un-missable slanted roof. The name apparently comes from a person called Dog (obviously lost in translation), who was not liked very much by the Chinese. Or something to that effect.

Normally I would jump at the menu and would want to order at least 2 things from each page. But no! I am unlikely to pick the stuff a local would pick. So the ordering was outsourced.

We started with some boiled soya pods, peanuts and some other bean. Boiled in really salty water. After I had piled up the peeled pods my host tells me that this other bean doesn't need to be peeled. Tells me after I have spent 10 minutes doing exactly that. The empty pods taste nice too. All this peeling was accompanied by a green salad tossed in what seemed like some peanut oil, soya sauce and sesame seeds. Good stuff. All with a steady stream of green tea.

To start

This was followed by a kind of thick soup made from a small variety of rice (I am told). I think it may have been wheat though. Was served at room temperature and was bland. Could do with lashings of Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli sauce. Only joking.The soya sauce tasted different to any I have had before. My host tells me that north of Tainjin the soya sauce gets saltier, gets sweeter when you go south and is sour in Tainjin. It tasted like soya sauce with vinegar mixed in it. And I learnt that it is acceptable to sip soya sauce out of the little dish. I drank a little too much and felt a little sick during the drive back to work.

Cereal Soup and a pretty superb Soya Sauce

Then came the steamed dumplings. Not exactly dumplings actually. These things were called Pow Zzah in these parts. Pronounced that way. Very difficult for me to spell a word that to me is more sound than word. The casings were fluffy. Made from fine wheat flour and were fermented, I think. Couldn't confirm that - tried but the language barrier again.

Pow - Zzah!

Little Parcels of Goodness