Today we went to a halal food court/ restaurant called: “李记清真馆”.
At first sight it seems like nothing much until you see the queue outside. Then, when you see the Michelin guide plaque on the wall, you know it’s the real deal.
The signature dish there is their beef “guotie”. Essentially a fried dumpling with plenty of juice still inside it. But this one was different. The beef inside was the Arabic style beef you would find in beef stuffed pita bread.
Talking about this with my mom, we came to the theory that during the ages of the Silk Road, Arab merchants would trade in Nanjing and sometimes gift Arab cuisine such as the unique beef.
The Chinese people who had received it must have had no idea what to do with it. Then, through experimentation, voilá, the Michelin worthy Beef guotie that is now my comfort food.
This must have been a common occurrence in the past, where an oddly specific ingredient wanders into an alien culture and assimilates into the cuisine. Perhaps that is what happened with the Italians and Chinese noodles (I am referring to pasta).
When I told Anthony that I was going to Nanjing last week, the first thing he said was that the Japanese food is amazing there. Hearing this I thought it was quite bizarre. After the legacy the Japanese left there, I’d expect them to eat the Japanese as food rather than eat Japanese food…
Coming to Nanjing, one of the things I really wanted to see, out of all the UNESCO heritage sites and critically acclaimed national parks was the Nanjing war memorial museum.
I couldn’t go but here is my mum’s rough description: It wasn’t scary because I think I’m used to seeing what the Japanese had done during the war, but rather, there was just an overwhelming sadness. Especially when I saw a picture of a dead pair of Mother and child, whom appear to have been killed during breast feeding. As a mother, that really affected me.
Beyond the exhibition itself, my mom talked about the architecture, talking about how beautiful it was and how well it captured the emotions felt there.