Xinkaiyuan Hotel

Occasion: Dinner before the Zhang Yimou West Lake show

Location: Xinkaiyuan Hotel in Hangzhou, China (newkaiyuan.com)

Edibles: Our second Chinese feast of the day! Drunken chicken; marinated jellyfish; stewed bamboo and pork; spicy cauliflower; black wood ear (a type of edible fungus); raw crab; a sort of Chinese chowder; baby shrimp with vinegar; chopped spinach; baby peas; braised pumpkin

(click to enlarge - isn't Picasa Collage Creator great?)

Musings: A place clearly targeting tourists. Instead of a menu, they have photos or display versions of all their dishes. Just point and give them your money.

Dinner was a bit of a food flurry but a couple of things stood out. I thought the below dish deserved special mention. Yes, it is a dish consisting entirely of cured pork belly or as I call it, Chinese bacon. I could subsist on this dish and white rice (and maybe a vitamin supplement to ward off scurvy) for months.

Honorable mention goes to the spicy cauliflower stir-fry, garnished with chives and julienned Chinese bacon - it's the one in the silver wok. I can't think of the last time I was suprised by a cauliflower dish. It's a pretty boring vegetable but this recipe really makes it shine. (I think it's doable at home. Stay tuned for my recipe-testing shenanigans.)

[Postscript: Zhang Yimou's "Impression West Lake" is AMAZING. They built some crazy infrastructure into the lake so the performers all look like they're walking on water. A tragic love story, really interesting lighting effects, great costumes, great music. If you find yourself in that part of China, I highly recommend you check it out.]