Dead fish alive - eating at a menguo restaurant
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
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106
157
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Beijing,
China
Thursday, April 12, 2007
If you are ever in the Xidan neighborhood loking for food after an exhaustive day of shopping or an entertaining evening at the Beijing Concert hallloo no further than the small hutong west of the concert hall.
After an inspirational eveining at the beijing concert hall listening to the university of arkansans inperitaional singers, we headed into the small hutong area near the concert hall. Our spirtits were high, our stomachs growling, needless to say we wanted to conclude the evening with a delicious meal. Scouting out the hutong's restaurants we finally settled for a restaurant with neither of us had tried before - Huang ji huang which serves up menguo cooking style dishes. For the uninitiated, menguo descrobes the way the food is steamed in a closed-lit wok on the table. Patrons can choose thr ingredietsn to their liking - fish, chicken, beef and a rich assortment of vegetables.
I left to my friend to select our dinner. He decided on bai shan (white eel) - an eel like fish but not an eel as I know it from back home. He didn't tell me that we had to pick out own dinner; I left this task to him. The cook fished the fish out of the tank and off he went into th kitchen. A few minutes later, the waitress came back with a tubber ware assortment of different ingredients - the cut-up fish, vegetables and parsley. She mixed all these raw materials in the wok and presented us with a colorful mix of raw food. To my horroe, the pot was alive - breathing. Everey single piece of the cut-up fish was moving, literally jumping around in the pot. The tail was wagging, the head moving, the mpouth openeing ad closing. It seemed like the fish was talking to me - looking at me with vengeful eyes and blaming me for his menguo destiny. And guilty I felt - looking at the wiggling pieces I had second thoughts. I tried to convince myslef that all creatures destines for human consumption are killed humanely. But then again, I am in China so what's humanely is in the eye of the beholder! But this fish didn't look like it had any saying whatsoever in the way of his demise.
Seeing my anguished and horrified look, the waitress felt pity and covered up the wok's glass cover with a napkin. While recovering from the shock of seeing a dead fish alive, our lovely waitress went to work mixing a brown gooey-looking mass in a bowl. This was to be our "three-ingredients" sauce which she eventually spread over the steaming fish and vegetables. The entoire cooking, or better, steaming process took about 10 minutes. Now we were ready to eat. Oh, how heavenly the food tasted. The fish no bones except for the spine. In addition to the fish, the deliciously steaming dish inlcuded potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and lots garlic. We also ordered mu er, wood ear, and bocai, a green vegetable.
It was one of the most delictable and delicious meals I have had in China and I had sampled some exquisite food over the past couple of weeks. Though I couldn't stop thinking about the wiggling fish parts, I said a little prayer for the fish that gave its life to please my palate. The cost of the dish
