Shagang actually ate a pretty big dinner last night, when we ate at a Muslim restaurant. Now, when you hear "Muslim restaurant", what do you think of? We were expecting a restaurant with Middle-Eastern dishes, of a Turkistan theme. Nope, it was hard-core Chinese, with a few local dishes, and following
Halal. If you can read the menu there, it included whole roasted goat, spiced tripe, boiled cow head with abalone, horse intestines in sauce, lamb ovary stuffed dumplings, boiled camel foot, sheep embryo in blood sauce, and so on (not making any of that up!).
Some of it was freakin' intimidating. Some of it was also definitely
against the Qur'an, such as the menu items comprised of blood or gelatin, and they served alcohol. Come to think of it, the restaurant was really "Muslim decor" Chinese.
Look, we've already told you we're adventuresome, and have already eaten fish head, fried carp, and several "unknown" things, but sheep embryo? Boo yao! Fortunately, after 6 pages of menu items that reeled our senses and churned Kayla's still sensitive tummy, we did come across a few pages with palatable dishes.
We had lamb dumpling (Jiaozi) both steamed and sautéed, that were fabulously good, and mutton skewers that were peppery but awesome -- Ganggang ate 3. He also really chowed down on the fried rice, and lamb clay pot. Rachael really liked the sesame beef - more on that in a minute.
Our waitress also exhibited a common trait we've seen in hotels -- speaks English very well, but doesn't really understand it when spoken. After 3 attempts to get cold milk for the children, we got hot salted milk with tea for the adults, and then hot (delicious) milk for the kids. Kayla nearly got beer.
When you look at the picture of the sesame beef, you'll notice how it looks much like you'd expect, but what's hard to see in the photo is that the pieces are thin. I mean, really thin. In fact, so thin, it would have to be Carl Budding Beef, and there didn't appear to be any red meat in them, and they were crunchy. They were really delicious, and we all liked them, but knew it must not be from a part of the cow that you typically see in the Kroger meat aisle.
When we tried to ask our waitress about the beef, and used various signs and
charades, and finally got the answer "beef-like meat". Um, except it wasn't like beef, not even Budding Beef, which is scarcely beef at all. It was the most un-beef-like meat ever. My best guess? Horse intestine. Becca thinks it's beef intestines or ear. So, we're not sure, but it was very good, and I'd order everything we had again.
The highlight of the evening was a communication breakthrough, when I asked Shagang if he "had to go potty" and used the
ASL sign for using the bathroom. He nodded his head, we walked hand-in-hand to the bathroom in the hotel lobby, he insisted on using the same stall we'd used twice before, and promptly did the deed. He got hearty praise from Becca and I, and we re-told the story to Kayla so Ganggang could tell what we were saying. Kayla rolled her eyes, but played along as jie-jie.
