QingDao - Donkey and Brain Tofu (Doufu Nao) for breakfast at Pi Chai Yuan

We had time to explore QingDaoon our fifth day in the city. Many of the Missus's cousins had to travel back to Shanghai and Shenyang for the upcoming work week. The Missus and I wandered around a bit, checking out the European influenced architecture......

 


And some of the older buildings which still stand amongst the tall business buildings of downtown QingDao.

That is not to say we didn't have a goal in mind.

I had wanted to check out Pi Chai Yuan food street yet again. There was something specific I was after here, but on our previous visits, the place was always closed.

What was so special about this place? Just take a gander at the sign..... you won't have to understand Chinese to know what they serve here. I really enjoyed the Lu Rou Huo Shao I had in Beijing, and had been looking forward to an opportunity to try it again. 

And on this day, the place was open!

 
The first thing we noticed was that this place really, really, loves signs....... there are signs everywhere.

There was a good variety of donkey dishes. All these restaurants have similar pictures of docile and peaceful looking donkeys on the signs and menus...... it almost makes me feel bad about eating them.... almost.

The Missus placed our order, and one of the little dishes from this table made its way to us.

What I remember the best were the slices of green daikon radish..... very crisp and a bit sweeter than ripe radish.

A bowl of good bean paste was placed on the table as well.

Along with bowls of a clear broth, which I'm assuming was donkey soup. It was fairly bland.

And my very own plate of Equus africanus asinus.......

Along with some "pancakes" for wrapping.... a la duck style......

There's a famous saying; "tian shang long rou, di shang lu rou" (天上龙肉，地上驴肉上), translated as "dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth." And as far as I'm concerned, you can have your dragon meat..... I'll take the slightly sweet, vermilion colored donkey meat. The meat can be pretty tough, and in this case it was a tad drier than what I had in Beijing, but I loved the flavor. The tendon also has a unique flavor, slightly more gamey then beef tendon.

The Missus went with a already wrapped version....

Think of it as a donkey burrito...... or perhaps an a$$ burrito??? It sure didn't taste like, ummm..... well, you know.

While walking back to Zhongshan Lu, we passed this tiny place which was doing some brisk business.

The Missus was intrigued, and walked up to the window in the back of the dining area.

This little shop specialized in Doufu Nao - Brain Tofu. This traditional dish uses a silken tofu, that sorts of looks like grey matter, with a creamy texture like brains as well.

This was really bland....... the Missus had never really liked Doufu Nao, but thought that perhaps time had changed Her opinion. It hadn't..... it's really not to our taste.

The stuffed fried bread, though, was another story......

Stuffed with pickled daikon and scallions, the crust was light and crisp, and it had a decent amount of salt as well.

It was very good. And even though we didn't care for the tofu, the overall price of the Doufu Nao and the bread was 7 yuan...... a tad over a buck.

We left satisfied, and ready for the rest of the day...... and it was to be another pretty busy day!

Comments

[kat]

I gotta say you are brave to try some of the foods that you do!

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Well, you definitely can say your food tasted like ass now. :P

Funny! Nao is brains in Vietnamese as well.

I've been fascinated with all your QingDao posts. Been reading. Sorry I haven't been commenting! But you know I always love your travel posts.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - I don't know about brave.... but I usually just eat what's put in front of me.

Hey WC - It's nice to hear from you! Comments are great, but most of all it's good to know you're doing well.

[janfrederick]

"It sure didn't taste like, ummm..... well, you know."
And how would you know?? ;)

[Kirk]

LOL Jan! I did have "pork rectum" if you recall! But, I'll just leave the answer to your imagination.

[Carol]

First thing that popped into my mind was a Chinese children's song "I have a Small Donkey" that my grandmother taught me when I was three. Now I'll have that song stuck in my head all day.

Finally catching up on all the posts. What a great trip so far!

[ed (from Yuma)]

the missus had a burro burrito

[Kirk]

LOL Carol......

Yes Ed..... she did! ;o)