This post was long overdue and after i penned the post about the eating joints in Pemba, i was tempted to write about the Chinese dinner i was invited to during my stay in Quelimane. I just hope i get invited to another such dinner when i make a second trip there (fingers crossed!!). This dinner happened 3 months ago and i was treated to some authentic Chinese cuisine, after years of tasting an 'Indianized' version of the same.
The venue was the residence of a Chinese friend i came in contact with during the course of my work in Quelimane. I was invited along with a Chinese colleague of mine and to my surprise i found 8 other Chinese who were invited by my host. Not for a minute during the entire duration of the 4 hour long dinner was it ever quiet. Boisterous would be the word to describe the crowd which was talking & laughing non-stop in their local lingo since they spoke no English. The solitary Indian was yours truly. (Just imagine what i was going through!!) My colleague took the trouble of translating some of the stuff from time to time. And then came the perfect solution to all this - the food. The Chinese were busy talking & i was busy eating.
The 10 of us were seated on 2 foot tall stools spread around a 2 foot tall table. At the center of the table was an electric hot plate on which the soup was continuously kept simmering. Crab and chicken pieces were in the soup. The remaining menu consisted of masala peanuts, chicken - both steamed & fried and coke. As the chicken and crab pieces were consumed from the soup more was added to it. After that some leafs from their local garden and some stuff (no clue what it was) they brought from china was added to the soup.
It was a 'help-yourself' dinner. Pick up a bowl, chopsticks and help yourself. Noticing that my skill at using chopsticks were like that of a novice, my host was kind enough to offer me a spoon. Words will fall short to explain the feeling that i experienced while enjoying my dinner, so i leave that to your imagination.
This is one dinner i will remember for everything that it is worth - the place, the people, my kind host and, but obviously, the food.
The venue was the residence of a Chinese friend i came in contact with during the course of my work in Quelimane. I was invited along with a Chinese colleague of mine and to my surprise i found 8 other Chinese who were invited by my host. Not for a minute during the entire duration of the 4 hour long dinner was it ever quiet. Boisterous would be the word to describe the crowd which was talking & laughing non-stop in their local lingo since they spoke no English. The solitary Indian was yours truly. (Just imagine what i was going through!!) My colleague took the trouble of translating some of the stuff from time to time. And then came the perfect solution to all this - the food. The Chinese were busy talking & i was busy eating.
The 10 of us were seated on 2 foot tall stools spread around a 2 foot tall table. At the center of the table was an electric hot plate on which the soup was continuously kept simmering. Crab and chicken pieces were in the soup. The remaining menu consisted of masala peanuts, chicken - both steamed & fried and coke. As the chicken and crab pieces were consumed from the soup more was added to it. After that some leafs from their local garden and some stuff (no clue what it was) they brought from china was added to the soup.
It was a 'help-yourself' dinner. Pick up a bowl, chopsticks and help yourself. Noticing that my skill at using chopsticks were like that of a novice, my host was kind enough to offer me a spoon. Words will fall short to explain the feeling that i experienced while enjoying my dinner, so i leave that to your imagination.
This is one dinner i will remember for everything that it is worth - the place, the people, my kind host and, but obviously, the food.
1 comment:
aw..chinese food! I love the way they cook :P It seems so simple but yet so difficult to replicate.
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