Cheerio Ms Sophie!

We went to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant on Saturday with a group of my husband’s colleagues. Don’t know if I’ll be able to find it again without help from our trusty gps lady, but the company was fun and the food great. I was the designated driver for the evening, so I nursed my Pepsi and giggled while everyone else liberally partook of the local beer and báijiǔ – a clear Chinese alcohol that kicks like a mule and could keep a plane running.  If anyone ever offers you some báijiǔ, tell them you’re allergic to alcohol, you can thank me later.

I’ve been asking around if Changchun has a signature dish, but it seems as if the food here is mostly a mixture of dishes you’d find anywhere else in China, with an emphasis on hot, hearty soups and lots of meat – perfect for the cold winters.

Favourites of the evening were the crumbed pork with a sweet and sour sauce (Guao ba rou), as well as a steamed bun that you could fill with a chilli beef and potato mixture.  I passed on the chilli frog stew and pork trotters though. With so much food on the table, there could never be a good enough reason to eat frogs or pork feet.

I knew it was time to drag the revellers home when the mostly German crowd started toasting each other with full glasses of báijiǔ and loud shouts of ‘Cheerio Ms Sophie!’ and ‘Same procedure as last year!’  Nex time, my husband can drive.

Cheerio Ms Sophie!

Cold salad with fungus.

Another favourite, broccoli with garlic and oyster sauce.

Sliced duck with sweet chilli sauce.

Mussels with garlic and soya sauce.

Barbequed lamb.

Shrimps with sauted vegetable.

Sweet and sour pork with peppers.

Steamed buns with chillie beef and potato filling.

A firm favourite – fried green beans with chilli and pork mince.

Pork trotters.

For dessert – sweet potato in a sticky sauce.

Mushroom soup.

Guo ba rou.

Vegetable and pork dumplings (jiaozi) with soya sauce.

Crumbed prawns with chilli and peanuts.

Pork ribs.

First bottle of báijiǔ.

The restaurant’s name.

Second bottle.

Festive watermelon.

Third bottle. Cheerio Ms Sophie!

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