Around the world, one dish at a time.
You can’t walk down Pinjiang Lu, the pretty canalside street that’s Suzhou’s tourist central, without stopping at a store selling these gorgeous dumplings. And, with prices starting from a mere 2 kuai (20p) a pop, they’re outstanding candidates for food for a quid. Who couldn’t …
When it comes to food, I like to think I’m a fairly Catholic eater. Innards of all sorts hold no fear for me, though I have yet to visit a penis restaurant. I’ve braved insects, including, yes, grubs (which appear in our local Chinese supermarket …
As an obsessional fan of theme restaurants, the concept of visiting a robot restaurant was, well, frankly irresistible. Particularly when followed by an afternoon of ice sculptures, which are, of course, what Harbin, China, is most famous for. Though for these kids the robots were …
Chinese toffee apples, in all their myriad persuasions, are one of my favourite Chinese street sweeties, and add colour to any hutong as they sit threaded on their long, slender sticks. Whether sold from a bicycle, a cart or a street stall, they’re pretty much …
It’s hard to imagine that an everyday ingredient in the spice rack could once have been worth almost its weight in gold. Yet cloves, just like peppercorns, were more valuable than silver back in their day. And these little dried flower buds, native to the …
It’s a truism, but worth repeating, that until you’ve been to China, you haven’t experienced Chinese food. Tender, juicy Beijing duck bears no relationship to the dried out critters served in the West; chopped pineapple and weird battery things do not feature ANYWHERE; and there’s …