Burgers @ The Corner Bistro

I cannot remember who told me about the Corner Bistro, but whoever it was, I thank you.

The pub or bar looks nothing special on the outside but inside it is a tad dingy, and I like that, I have a thing for lived in places, I find them much more interesting than sanitised restaurants that sadly are becoming the norm these days.

Hunan Province – Part Three – The Hongjiang Old Town of Mr Nie.

Hongjiang was definitely the highlight of our trip to China. We’ve never thought we would go, but at the last minute we made the decision to visit the town, and thankfully we did, as it is definitely a bit of a dark horse of a town.

It’s a bloody nightmare to get there as well. It’s not even on any reasonable route, which has kept it as good as it is.

To get there we had to take a bus from Dehang to Jishou, and then a train to Huaihua, then another bus from there to Hongjiang. It’s an all day mission, but bloody well worth it.

Upon arrival we were left at what seemed like a disused bus station, which actually turned out to be the bus station. Out of season, Hongjiang does not see many visitors and everything goes quiet giving an almost deserted feel to it.

As with a lot of heritage towns in China, there is an entrance fee, which is normally anything from 50RMB to 100RMB. But to be honest I don’t actually mind paying it, as from what I can see the money is actually spent on the upkeep of the towns and does give quite a bit of employment to local people.

We were assisted by the lovely Grace in buying our ticket, who not only scorned us on our choice of hotel, by literally calling it a filthy shithole, but she even rallied round the town to find us somewhere else to stay. As I said, lovely girl.

Looking back on it, it was fate that we were to stay at the home of Mr Nie. Him and his wife were the perfect hosts. They allowed us into their home, they made us feel so welcome, that when it was time to leave, I actually didn’t want to. I wanted them to adopt me.

Hongjiang used to be a prosperous financial centre during the early Qing Dynasty, and thankfully with the policies of the now Chinese Government, making this one of the many towns to obtain help in preserving the ancient buildings, which we were told there were over 300. The home of Mr Nie being one of them as well.

The Ancient Commercial Town is like a living museum, it has a distinct character with narrow, high walled lanes all in the same grey colour. Each corner leading you into a new area to discover. We spent 2 days just wandering around wondering what it must have been like in its heyday, as these days it has a very relaxed feel to it.

As a keen photographer Mr Nie wanted to show us the best parts of his town, which he was so proud of. In fact I think all the residents are very proud of this town. Only thing is, all the residents are old. There are not many young people living there. They have left to find work elsewhere, as locally there is not much around this area.

Not only did Hongjiang surprise us with its character, but also it surprised us with some damn fine food.

Mr Nie had a big part in this as well. For dinner he offered to take us somewhere to eat. We jumped at it.

We weren’t sure where he was taking us, but we figured out it was it was his favourite restaurant. The Yao People of Hongjiang.

We thought he was going to eat with us, but it no, he just ordered for us, and then departed. We feasted well on the advise of Mr Nie.

This was one of many times that animals had been dispatched on my orders. In two days, they chopped up a fish and a duck for us.

Both dishes were cooked with a sizeable quantity of chilli, as is the Hunanese way. But surprisingly they were not scorchingly hot, it was more of a gradual build up, so you got a glowing feeling by the end of the meal.

The fish was cooked to perfection. Soft mounds of flesh falling away from the bones, and even though there were vast amounts of chilli, it was not that hot, but added a great flavour to the dish.

The duck, which we thought was just going to be a portion, but turned out to be the whole thing. It was even cooked with pork belly as well. We even met the lady who did the deed and chopped it up for us. She was mighty happy that we were enjoying her duck.

Actually it was bloody good, and when I say we had the whole duck, we really did. Even the feet and beak were on that plate.

I think this was the first time in a long while that we had lotus root, it was cooked as you would expect with chilli, but also with chives as well. Man they were good. I had not seen them for sale here in London, but maybe I am blind. Please let me know where I can buy them if anyone knows.

The other place Mr Nie took us to was his favourite noodle shop run by Mr Yang. The shop was just on the edge of the old town along the main road. It was as we’ve found out in Asia, that 99 out of a 100 places that do not look the part are far from it. This was one of those hidden gems.

He basically did two types of flat noodles, wheat or rice, plus two toppings, pork and beef. We had all combo’s are they were fantastic.

I still hanker over the pork, just unxious pieces of soft juicy fatty pork belly in a slightly spicy hot sauce. Man it was good. If this was sold in London it would rank as some of the best, and be charged at least £10 a pop, instead of the 20RMB we paid.

The other surprise the town had for us was when we finally managed to leave the lanes of the ancient town and venture into the new town.

To be honest the new town is pretty dull. At night not a lot happens, most people just wander around seemingly lost, as there didn’t seem to be a lot to do. We did witness a bust up between 2 motorists, which had a crowd of at least a hundred people watching as well. It all finished peacefully as soon as the police arrived on their mopeds. Boring.

During the day we took a stroll down by the river and discovered a whole new world. This was where everyone was hiding. The local fresh food market.

This long street with small shanty like wooden warehouses on one side, which now doubled up as tea houses for all the old folk of the town, who spent their days playing mahjong with friends, and concrete buildings on the other with all manner of shops in them.

In the middle were the market stalls, with the stallholders doing their darndest to sell everything they had to all and sundry, including us. One poultry seller was on the little aggressive side with some prospective buyers, when their first offer was put in. She was not impressed and literally scolded them for their bare faced cheek.

We found the people in this area to be some of the friendliest folk we encountered in China. None of us could communicate with each other, but they were happy to chat with us about who knows what, but a smile goes a long way.

I have a thing about markets, I love them so much, that even just wandering down them and looking brings me great joy.

You may be wondering that Mr Nie spoke English to a good level. He did not. We communicated via his laptop and google translator. A wondrous piece of software that allowed to very different people from different cultures to learn things about each other and become friends.

If any of you are in this area of Hunan, please make the side trip to Hongjiang for a day or two and enjoy the city. You may not get to stay at the home of Mr Nie, but you will experience something totally different and unique.

By Jones You Have Some Soul

I’m not sure how I choose to eat at the Great Jones Café, but I’m glad I did. On a cold winters night (although it was spring), the Great Jones Café was more than welcome. It’s warm and welcoming once you enter, like an old lover who welcomes you back after a long time away.
It’s just such a nice cozy place, that every neighbourhood should have a place like this. Welcoming staff, good vibes in the air, nice crowd sitting around chatting and having a great time. Love it.

Being English I have no idea what soul food is, and no idea if what we were served was soul food. Don’t care really, as what we got was fantastic. Just wish we could have eaten more, much more. I was tempted to return before we left, but hey it just never happened. Shame. Real shame.

I don’t know why, but something about the place made me feel aok about ordering the chicken chilli. I never have this in England as you always get a third rate Bolognese doused in chilli sauce and powder. They taste bad and I’m always disappointed that I wasted my money on them. But this time I felt safe doing so. It needed a little bit more pepping up with some sauce on the table but the chicken was moist and juicy. The sauce thick and unxious. It didn’t really need the sour cream, but it made nice white swirls in the chilli. As I had just had a new crown in, I had to ignore the bread. Damn.
Lina’s Ya-Ya Gumbo (no idea what it is) was great. This was the star of the show. It wasn’t what she wanted, as the waitress couldn’t understand what she was saying. Accents I guess. But this brown meaty stew was just what the doctor ordered on a cold windy night. Great, great, great.

After leaving the restaurant we noticed a funny sign outside a fire station, asking for the robbers to give back the iPods and laptops whilst they were out on a call. Is nothing sacred in the world.

We literally stumbled upon Joe’s Pub, thinking it was a pub serving drinks, only to find out it was a live gig happening. We were in need of some liquid refreshement, so why not. We had not heard of the group, PT Walkley. But didn’t mind hearing some new music.

Pretty good they were also, shame they only played for just over an hour, as could have sat and watched them for a lot longer.

We also got a free cd as we left with a few songs on it. Will download it to my itunes one day once we get settled. 

Saigon, Saigon

I had always had high expectations of Vietnam, especially its food. I suppose this has come about from so many people I know coming here and raving about it so much. 

I have passed through Bangkok so many times over the years, and it is quite baffling that it has taken me so long to come to Vietnam. But as they say, good things come to those who wait. 

We entered Vietnam from Cambodia. So Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City was our first stop. It is a really busy city, lots of life, great vibes. Shame there are 5,000,000 moto's ploughing the roads at high speeds. Makes crossing the road an interesting past time.

After a delayed check in to our hotel, and my first taste of Vietnamese Coffee and several bananas, we ventured onto the streets of Saigon. 

After seeing a lot of places catering for tourists, doing western food we were in need of something filling, but not too heavy. 

We wandered down a small alleyway and came across a small restaurant with an open kitchen on one side of the alley and the tables on the other side. Now if a restaurant is brave enough to let you stand there and watch your food being cooked, then it can't be all bad. 

So we took a table and ordered 2 bottles of Bia Saigon. Much needed refreshment. 

We ordered some fresh Salad Rolls, Lotus Root Salad and Pork with Lemongrass and chilli (which I have eaten now several times and is fast becoming a personal favourite.) 

When we bit into the Salad Rolls, the first thing we tasted were the fresh herbs. This is how I expected them to be, and we were not let down. 

The Lotus Root Salad was similar to Green Papaya Salad, but without the heat. of its Thai cousin. Really really good. 

The Pork and Lemongrass & Chilli, as I said before is fast becoming a favourite of mine. Seem to be having it everywhere. It's the combination of minced lemongrass and chilli that drives my taste buds mad. Simply Delicious. 

Walking around the markets, you can see the amazing fresh produce, this for me is what makes Vietnam such an exciting culinary destination. I for one and going to eat my way through it.

Death By Chilli ....

The question that I have been pondering in the last few days is, can a chilli kill? 

The reason I have been thinking about this is because a chilli, or a slice of chilli nearly killed me. Well almost. 

We were at a popular lunchtime spot called Quan An Ngon, here in Saigon. I was happily eating away at my Green Papaya Salad with Sliced Pigs Ears, and some Salad Rolls with Pork and Shrimp. These were going down very well, when I decided to try some of Lina's Hue Style Pho, which was fantastic. But it needed a bit of heat to match the Salad I was eating, so I reached over with my chpstix and picked up a slice of green chilli, and said to Lina, "I am addicted to chilli, I need the heat", and popped it in my mouth. Within 2 seconds it attached the back of my throat like a firebomb. I have never felt such pain before and so quickly also. Lina said my face went red from the bottom up, and my eyes were watering. I grabbed over and picked up her coconut and  finished off her  juice, then downed a bottle of water I had in my bag. Still the pain was there. Was it ever going to go away. Finally after a few minutes it resided. 

Whilst this was going on, I was trying, and did a good job of keeping the pain in. No screams. Hopefully noone noticed around us that I was in incredible pain.

I always thought I could eat any chilli, as I really am addicted to them. But normally they just burn the front of my mouth, never my throat as this evil monster did. 

The last time I felt real pain was a few years ago in a restaurant in Palenque, Mexico, we were given some nachos and a dark red chilli dip to go with our beers. The chilli's burnt my lips and tongue, but I kept going back for more and more. The pain was intense, it felt as if the front of my mouth was on fire. I was red and sweating, but I still scooped up loads of the dip on my nachos, knowing what it was going to do to me. But I had to keep that feeling going.  Addiction.

After this recent incident, I have been wondering, could a chilli actually kill, and so how many times have these little devils struck. Should they be given a warning. Could you sue a restaurant or shop if you encountered a particularly fiery beast, and they never warned you. But isn't that the fun, every chilli could be that ticking time bomb, waiting to strike when you least expect it. 

I, myself will continue to play Russian Roulette with these little time bombs. I enjoy living life on the edge.