Cheap Eats

I tried some other food besides dumplings and brown sauce stir fry these last couple of days. I'm amazed by how good some of the cheap food is. Across the street from the jiaozhi (dumpling) place is a Xinjiang Beef Noodle Soup place. They call it 拉面 （LaiMian). The noodles are pulled and stretched right in the front of the store. They come out uneven in thickness but very chewy and bouncy. It tastes wonderful. The soup is spiced with Xinjiang spices like cumin, yellow ginger, and cilantro. The waiters wear Islamic caps on their heads. The only complaint I have is that there are only two thin slices of meat in the whole bowl of noodles. I had to add a fried egg for an extra 1 yuan. Otherwise, it was a delicious bowl of noodle soup for 5 yuan.

Last night, I went to RenRenLe supermarket and found a whole bunch of little food carts in front. I was really excited to see so much street food. There were Japanese takiyakki (octopus balls), bbq squid on skewers, fried stinky tofu, fresh chow mein, bbq corn, steamed corn, meat and veggie kabobs, and much more! I was in street food heaven. For 2 yuan, you could get kabobs, stinky tofu, and lots of other yummy snacks. There was also a popcorn (爆米花) stand with tons of weird flavors: black sesame, coconut, banana, melon, strawberry, and even chocolate! I decided to try the black sesame. I got a huge bag enough for 4 people for 5 yuan. They use an oldfashioned cast iron popcorn popper that makes small batches at one time. Who needs to pay $8 USD for kettle corn when it's just 5 yuan for so much here!

Fruit here is pretty cheap too. Most apples, pears, and grapes are around 2 yuan for 1 kilo. I know, I'm not supposed to eat pesticide-laden Chinese grapes, but they looked so inviting at Wal-Mart and were so sweet when I tasted one that I decided to get a small bunch. Here, they call green grapes 水晶葡萄 (crystal grapes), how can you resist such an attractive sounding name?


I tried some of the street stands near our school today. This is a DaBing 大饼 filled with a fried breaded chicken, seaweed, and veggies like cucumber, carrots, and cabbage. It is the Chinese version of a chicken tortilla wrap. There was this sweet and spicy sauce first slathered on the dabing wrapper, and it tasted a lot like the red Korean sauce you put in Bibimbap stone pot rice. I wonder if it's influenced by Korean food. The wrap sandwich was huge and filling for a mere 4 yuan, but I didn't quite enjoy the texture of the dabing; it was a little too chewy for me. I might try a different wrapper next time.