Steven's China blog: Delicious! (Xi'an 6 February 2008)

Yesterday (my birthday...) Pin and I were going to try out another vegetarian restaurant nearby the Dayan (Wild Goose) pagoga, only to find that it had closed or moved. Hmm, disapointing. We walked down the street, checking what else was around when I noticed a sign saying zhēn gū yuán (珍菇源 - more or less 'precious mushroom root' or 'source of precious mushroom'). Pin said that this was a restaurant specialising in mushroom dishes - promising. We also noticed three Buddhist monks going in - even more promising.

It was still a bit early and not that many people were there yet, so we were shown into a small, private room. The table had a 20 cm gas stove top let into it for boiling 'hotpot'. Pin ordered mushroom hotpot and an earthenware pot with hot steaming mushroom broth was put onto the stove in front of us. Various fresh mushrooms, vegetables, noodles and tofu appeared and were cooked on the spot for us as we sat there, then served in small parcels onto our plates and bowls. The sevice was immaculate, with the waitresses (yes, several of them taking turns) deftly and delicately passing food from the pot to out plates. They really took care of us, which meant that someone came into the room every 30-60 seconds or so to top up the small plates with more of the same or to cook the next vegetable. This type of service might be a bit unusual for a Westerner, but I just went along with it. You could get used to it pretty fast.

My favourite was a small 'vegetable' from the south of China, which looked a bit like small-leafed sage, but was really slimy (see photo below). It was delicious! Pin ordered two different types of mushroom, which were both delicious and had differing flavours. The tofu was also unusual, for me at least - after the intial process it is frozen, then thawed again, giving it a texture full of little holes and a slightly smokey flavour.

The noodles were made from potato starch. Did I mention that this is noodle country? In contrast to the south, where people eat lots of rice, here a meal is not considered a meal unless there are noodles or at least 'mántou' (馒头 - steamed bun). There are countless varieties of noodle, ranging from rice noodles to egg or buckwheat noodles. The best are handmade, which you more often than not get in a restaurant.