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khiemtran
If you come to Chengdu, you have to try the hotpot. And one of the best places to get the full experience is at Tanyoto, a famous chain of restaurants originating in Chengdu itself.
First, you'll need to find a restaurant. Here's the Tanyoto logo, a boy riding a fish.
The characters actually read 谭鱼头 tán yú tóu. The 鱼 (yú) means "fish" (a good character to learn for menu reading) and the 头 (tóu) means "head" (it even looks like a human figure with lines showing where the hair would be on its head). Can you guess what the famous ingredient in their hotpot is?
If you don't speak Chinese, ordering here might be a bit of an adventure. When I walked in the waitress proudly showed me an English menu which had everything except the hot pot. When I asked for the huo guo (hot pot), she smiled and explained they only had a Chinese menu for that. Luckily, she had an ipad-style tablet which big pictures, so she could help me choose the hotpot ingredients.
Each table has a glass top induction stove, where your hotpot will go when it arrives. Note that the controls are actually on the glass itself (off to the side and not shown in this picture). Don't worry, they won't burn you if you touch them. Don't touch the part that's been touching the pot though!
That beer, by the way, turns out to be a "Snow" beer which is noteworthy as being the most consumed beer in the world (and yet almost no-one outside China has heard of it). Unfortunately, it's a joint venture with SABMiller and isn't particularly memorable.
Now the fun starts... Here comes my pot of hot pot broth, gleaming with oil and festooned which Sichuan pepper.
Next, I get a Tanyoto bib to put on...
Next, the waitress tells me I've missed a step. I need to go to a counter near the front of the restaurant and prepare my dipping sauce. I get a little bowl of chopped shallots and then get to choose what sauces to put on them.
I've gone here for ground sesame (the brown sauce) and Tanyoto's "secret sauce" (red). It's no secret that the latter has plenty of chilli.
Now the ingredients come out, and I start adding them to the hotpot. I think I've over-ordered!
Besides the fish heads, I've chosen mixed meat balls...
Thinly sliced beef...
And assorted vegetables!
You have to be careful to not mix the raw and cooked ingredients. After something raw goes in, make sure you wait long enough for everything in the pot to be cooked before you start taking things out. Here's the fish head bubbling away...
When you take each piece out, dip it in the sauce and then eat it. Make sure you have plenty of beer on hand if it gets too hot! I told one of the waitresses when I ordered that Wǒ búpà là (我不怕辣) or "I don't fear chilli" and she laughed and then gave me what seemed like a mild version anyway. She came back later and expressed surprise and told me that "foreigners generally don't like spicy food".
So, there you have it. If you are ever in Chengdu, give it a try! (Just as long as you Búpà là!)
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no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 09:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 06:23 pm (UTC)Seems like Tanyoto is a chain or is it? Must search for one when I'm in Shanghai!
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Date: 2013-07-04 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-28 04:02 pm (UTC)And I'll remember hou gou for hot pot in case I'm shown the English menu.
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Date: 2013-07-28 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-29 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-05 10:59 am (UTC)I take it they don't get many young male working class Brits then? In the Midlands and the North, curry is the national dish -- the hotter the better. :)
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Date: 2013-07-15 09:50 am (UTC)