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khiemtranIt's early evening and I'm on Qīngshíqiáo St in Chengdu, on a mission to find a restaurant recommended to me by a friend back at home.
First of all, the name Qīngshíqiáo (青石桥) is quite interesting.
The first character,青 (Qīng), normally means "green" (or sometimes "blue"), but in this case, combined with 石 (shí) or "stone", it means "bluestone" (or, sometimes, colloqially, "limestone"). The last character, 桥 (qiáo) means "bridge", so, put together, we get "Bluestone Bridge St". I presume there actually is (or was) a bridge made of bluestone somewhere.
These are all characters that a beginning Chinese learner will pick up quite early on, and they'll come up again and again in placenames. Another famous landmark in Chengdu is the Taoist Temple known as Qīngyáng gōng (青羊宫), one of the largest Taoist temples in China. In this case, 青(Qīng) combined with 羊 (yáng) meaning "goat" or "sheep" actually seems to mean something like "black goat".
But anyway, on to dinner...
The place I'm looking for is called 白家 (Bái Jiā) or "White House" and it specialises in 肥肠粉 (féicháng fěn) or a sort of noodle served with pig's intestine, a popular Chengdu dish. The last character, 粉 (fěn), meaning the type of noodle, can also mean "powder" leading to some somewhat unfortunate translations.
Not that there's a whole lot of English-signage. The latent potential for pig's intestine noodles as a tourist dish is still untapped. Here's another example, but not the one I want. Can you spot the 肥肠粉 (féicháng fěn)?
Having been up and down Qīngshíqiáo St without success, I move on to Plan B: Asking For Help. I asked at the store just ahead in the picture and they pointed me on towards the yellow sign in the distance. Can you make out what it says?
Let's get a bit closer...
As you can see, it has 白家 (White House) and 肥肠粉 (Pig Intestine Noodles), but there's an extra character in brackets above it (原). I find out later that this is Yuán, meaning "original" or "former". The new name of the restaurant is written along the top of the sign. It's 老瓦房 (Lǎo wǎ fáng) or "Old Tile-roofed House".
Not understanding the extra character, I point to the sign and ask which way to go, and the people out front point inside. Since the one at the top seems to be 老瓦房 (Lǎo wǎ fáng), I try down the stairs, only to sent back up again.
At last, it dawns on me that the place on top is where I am meant to go, to much hilarity from the people outside. This is Lǎo wǎ fáng, the former White House Pig Intestine Noodles.
Now, I just have to order, and more hilarity ensues. However...
Success! An absolutely delicious bowl of noodles with pig intestines! This being Sichuan, you don't actually drink the soup, just pick the ingredients out of it using chopsticks (or, if you order guokui, a type of Chengdu-style fried pancake, you can use them to soak up the flavour). I've never had pork intestine before, but it tastes a lot like beef tripe (which I love) with a stronger offal taste. The broth is rich with chillies and Sichuan peppers. I said I didn't mind chilli, but they seemed to have toned it back for me, presumably because they didn't want to have to deal with the paperwork resulting from an exploded foreigner.
And when I made it back to the hotel, and emailed my friend, I found ... that it was not the right place after all. Ah, well. At least the food was great and I amused the staff (who insisted I come again, which I did, to try the excellent guokui, but that's another story...)
First of all, the name Qīngshíqiáo (青石桥) is quite interesting.
The first character,青 (Qīng), normally means "green" (or sometimes "blue"), but in this case, combined with 石 (shí) or "stone", it means "bluestone" (or, sometimes, colloqially, "limestone"). The last character, 桥 (qiáo) means "bridge", so, put together, we get "Bluestone Bridge St". I presume there actually is (or was) a bridge made of bluestone somewhere.
These are all characters that a beginning Chinese learner will pick up quite early on, and they'll come up again and again in placenames. Another famous landmark in Chengdu is the Taoist Temple known as Qīngyáng gōng (青羊宫), one of the largest Taoist temples in China. In this case, 青(Qīng) combined with 羊 (yáng) meaning "goat" or "sheep" actually seems to mean something like "black goat".
But anyway, on to dinner...
The place I'm looking for is called 白家 (Bái Jiā) or "White House" and it specialises in 肥肠粉 (féicháng fěn) or a sort of noodle served with pig's intestine, a popular Chengdu dish. The last character, 粉 (fěn), meaning the type of noodle, can also mean "powder" leading to some somewhat unfortunate translations.
Not that there's a whole lot of English-signage. The latent potential for pig's intestine noodles as a tourist dish is still untapped. Here's another example, but not the one I want. Can you spot the 肥肠粉 (féicháng fěn)?
Having been up and down Qīngshíqiáo St without success, I move on to Plan B: Asking For Help. I asked at the store just ahead in the picture and they pointed me on towards the yellow sign in the distance. Can you make out what it says?
Let's get a bit closer...
As you can see, it has 白家 (White House) and 肥肠粉 (Pig Intestine Noodles), but there's an extra character in brackets above it (原). I find out later that this is Yuán, meaning "original" or "former". The new name of the restaurant is written along the top of the sign. It's 老瓦房 (Lǎo wǎ fáng) or "Old Tile-roofed House".
Not understanding the extra character, I point to the sign and ask which way to go, and the people out front point inside. Since the one at the top seems to be 老瓦房 (Lǎo wǎ fáng), I try down the stairs, only to sent back up again.
At last, it dawns on me that the place on top is where I am meant to go, to much hilarity from the people outside. This is Lǎo wǎ fáng, the former White House Pig Intestine Noodles.
Now, I just have to order, and more hilarity ensues. However...
Success! An absolutely delicious bowl of noodles with pig intestines! This being Sichuan, you don't actually drink the soup, just pick the ingredients out of it using chopsticks (or, if you order guokui, a type of Chengdu-style fried pancake, you can use them to soak up the flavour). I've never had pork intestine before, but it tastes a lot like beef tripe (which I love) with a stronger offal taste. The broth is rich with chillies and Sichuan peppers. I said I didn't mind chilli, but they seemed to have toned it back for me, presumably because they didn't want to have to deal with the paperwork resulting from an exploded foreigner.
And when I made it back to the hotel, and emailed my friend, I found ... that it was not the right place after all. Ah, well. At least the food was great and I amused the staff (who insisted I come again, which I did, to try the excellent guokui, but that's another story...)
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-28 09:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-28 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-28 06:50 pm (UTC)One of my regrets is that we don't have any restaurant offering Sichuan regional cooking around here, and I'd really, really love to visit Chengdu. Thank you so much for sharing.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-28 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-29 11:55 am (UTC)What happens if you *do* drink the broth? ... I guess since it would involve lifting the bowl, there's no way for you to do it unobtrusively...
no subject
Date: 2013-05-29 08:42 pm (UTC)The picture was taken by one of the people at the restaurant. In the place I went to the next night, the staff ended up lining up to take pictures with me...
no subject
Date: 2013-05-29 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-29 08:45 pm (UTC)