China street food

What we are used to seeing in Chinese restaurants in Russia and in Europe is considered an “imperial” meal. That is, all dishes familiar to us, such as pork in sweet and sour sauce, chicken kung pao, carp in sweet and sour sauce, Peking duck and others, were served on the table at the imperial court. In ancient times, cooking was strictly regulated by laws: for example, the emperor could eat both beef and pork with mutton, and ministers - only mutton. The street cuisine of China is more for commoners. Let's see what you can try on the streets in various cities of the Middle Kingdom in our time.

Street "restaurants" begin to work in the morning. The menu consists of Chinese noodles with broth and flavors in the form of chicken, meat, mushrooms and vegetables. Tasty and satisfying.

During the day, street kitchen can be found in crowded places. These squids, for example, are fried in the zoo in Kunming, and it’s very inexpensive.

After a snack, you can play.

But the dawn of street food begins with the sunset. Passing here in the daytime, we could not even imagine what would happen here in the evening.

This photo was taken the very next morning at the same place. All employees of the "restaurant" clean oysters right on the pavement. Here is their treatment with a delicious, in our terms, product :)

And then the evening comes. Skewers of pork, lamb, chicken, squid and sausages are in great demand. All this is not only grilled, but also sprinkled abundantly with chili peppers. Warning with gestures to put less pepper, otherwise you can’t eat.

Squid for this trip, I ate an enormous amount :).

We did not try saury. Most likely tasty, but I don’t eat fish at all.

Chicken legs also do not cause much appetite, although they are very popular among the Chinese. In any store they can be purchased in a vacuum package, manufactured in the factory.

Cockroaches, worms and grasshoppers also did not dare to try, although pure protein :). However, even among the Chinese this tray did not have much excitement.

All this is washed down with tea from one's own thermos, well, or beer. In tourist cities there are whole civilized neighborhoods with street food. A little expensive, but there are tables and much cleaner. The assortment is approximately the same, but there are also delicacies.

Chinese crayfish. It was too lazy to dig, and beer was there LITE :(. All Chinese varieties, except perhaps TSINGTAO, no more than 3%, the same TUBORG produced in China 2.8% alcohol. Everything for the health of the nation!

Eggs are boiled in tea or in soy sauce. Tasty it turns out. I ate similar ones in Taiwan.

Fried tofu with vegetables.

In Lijiang, more mushrooms began to come across. Shiitake with quail egg.

Four mushrooms (diameter of about 8-10 centimeters) - 35 yuan (350 rubles), but it turns out very tasty.

Proximity to Tibet affects meat varieties. This is a Tibetan yak!

Sell and hot dogs. I thought the light ones on the left were also sausages, but no. This is something floury, cut in half, and sausage with vegetables and mustard is put in there. Not impressed, albeit a little expensive :(.

These sausages were sold in the Old Town in Dali. I really liked them, especially the pork sausage from wasabi. Ah, even salivation itself has begun.

I did not try this protein again. Although probably delicious, almost a billion Chinese can not be wrong. :)

Silkworm larvae.

The next link in street food is Ho-go 火锅 or the "Chinese samovar." These are already small restaurants with 2 - 3 tables, sometimes more.

Small establishments, as a rule, do not have a license for alcohol and serve only tea, but they do not prohibit bringing beer from a nearby minimarket. In larger establishments, you can also taste various tinctures. Vodka infused with wild wasps. There are tinctures on various roots, snakes and even penises of young deer.

And only in Dali, not far from the old city, I found a decent beer house. There is even a local DPA craft (Dali Pale Ale). Nothing, good hopping, but the color is not ale.