Nanjing: The Snack Banquet

We arrived in Nanjing after a relatively short two hour bus ride from Suzhou. I'd been told that "100 kilometers or two hours away from anywhere in China, in any province, the food will be different." It had been a two hour bus ride from Hangzhou to Suzhou, and the cuisine was quite different. Now, in Nanjing the capital of China during six dynasties, and along with Beijing, Xi'an (our next destination), and Luoyang, one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, I was curious to see if the cuisine would differ so much. It would be interesting to see since we were still within Jiangsu Province. We caught a cab from the bus station to our hotel, during which time the Missus struck up a conversation with the cab driver. Finding out he was born and raised in Nanjing, the first business at hand would be questions about what to eat. I had a couple things in mind, but still really didn't know too much about Nanjing style food. The cab driver went through a couple of things, made a recommendation of a place to eat, and more importantly, where not to eat and why.

We arrived at the hotel, settled in, rested my foot which was starting to look pretty bad for about a half hour, then set out on foot to the major shopping area around the Confucian Temple and Qinhuai river..... bustling and busy.....

 

The Missus hit the brakes right alongside one of the snack stands......

 

Pointed at one of the mounds.......

 

And told me, "we gotta get this!"

It was my first experience with Gua Wei Can Dou (Strange Flavor Broad Beans - 怪味蚕豆).

 

One bite, and I was hooked! We stopped by here two more times during the trip. This version was the best I had.

Near the Qinhua River, we found the place the cab driver had recommended.

 
Walked through the doors and entered the restaurant upstairs.....

 

And was seated at one of the long tables in the dining area....

 

So what was this place?

Well, I heard that Nanjing was famous for its snacks; and this was a restaurant specializing in "Snack Banquets". There were several multi-course banquets available ranging in price from relatively inexpensive (by US standards) to very expensive (also by US standards). We just went with the most simple banquet.

And then it started....... plates started arriving at a pretty incredible speed.

 

And they just kept coming.....

 

And coming.....

 

Much of it was rather unremarkable......

 

For instance, on this plate, the only item I enjoyed was the Nanjing Salted Duck, one of a handful of Nanjing specialities I knew of.

 

 

On the other hand, I found that I didn't care for another Nanjing specialty, Duck Blood soup.

 
Man, this was pretty hardcore; next to the "Everything Soup" from Huguosi Snack Bar in Beijing, this was probably the most difficult item I'd had to date. Strong offal flavor; very metallic, not my cup of tea.

Most of the other soups were pretty routine in flavor.

 

 

 

More dishes.....

 

 

 

 

It was fairly apparent that everything has to be prepared ahead of time.......

 

And some of it rather haphazardly, check out the stray rice on the wrapper of the zongzi.....

 

 

 

All the dumplings, bao, and like were served cold......

 

 

 

My favorite item, was this.......

 

Though I'm not a big fan of pork sung, I loved the texture of this..... that's when the Missus told me, "oh, it says they make this with duck lard".... duh.....

The rest of the meal.

 

 

 

In the end, this was more about the experience then the food. We'd find the same thing again a bit later on during or trip.

We left the restaurant, with almost a half day ahead of us. But by that time; my foot was really killing, and as I hobbled back to the hotel, I knew it had to be addressed......

Stay tuned!

Comments

[Lynnea]

that is an incredible array of dishes! makes for a serious banquet.

[Dennis]

Wow they do keep coming don't they! The third to the last tofu dish looks marvelous.

[kat]

hope your foot is okay now. what an eating experience!

[caninecologne]

whoa, that's a lot of food!!!! what was that big round thing?

[Cliff]

This. Looks. Legendary. The banquet at least. I'm not sure if that's applicable to the cliffhanger of your foot :) [or should it be a frowny face :( ]

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - Yes, that's a major variety.

Hi Dennis - It was just meh.....

Hi Kat - It is... sort of.

Hi CC - You don't mean the soy sauce egg, do you?

LOL Cliff - I did survive after all.

[MikeW]

the picture with the chicken wing looked like they scraped last nights banquet left overs into a single plate lol cherries, bitter melon and corn ... interesting combo

[Carol]

I think that's a great way to sample so many things but too bad all the bao/dumplings/etc. were cold.

[Faye]

Wow! That was alot of food! How was the zongzi?? Any suggestions on a place that serves them here in SD? It's been forever since I've had one.

Can't believe they served the baos/dumplings cold!!

[kirbie]

That's too bad that not all the food was great. It looks like so much fun and so many dishes!

[caninecologne]

kirk - so that's what it was. thanks. it looked huge but i guess my sense of scale is all tweaked.

[Sandy]

Is there a foot massage post coming up?

The soy sauce egg looked like an eggplant. I guess it was just an extreme close-up. So where did this snack banquet fall in the price?

[SK]

I really love the idea of a snack banquet-- too bad the execution wasn't a little better

[Jason]

Reminds me of a korean meal in south korea, where the entire table is filled with banchan.

[Kirk]

Hi Mike - Actually, there's a pretty famous Nanjing Wing Tip snack......

Hi Carol - It was too much mediocre stuff...

Hi Faye - No place for good zongzi in San Diego I'm afraid.

Hi Kirbie - It's fun concept.

Hi CC - I think it was the angle of my photo.

Hi Sandy - Sorry to say, a bit more than a foot massage......

Hi SK - It's food for the tourist masses with little quality control.

Hi Jason - That's a nice analogy....

[foodhoe]

I'm coming in after the fact, what happened to your foot? That sucks to be traveling with a foot problem... I love snacks and the idea of a banquet of snacks is irresistible! What was the price for all those dishes?

[Kirk]

Hi FH - If I recall, less than $20 US, which is kinda pricey from China.... stay tuned for the foot update!