Worst Meal Ever

After the Great Wall and Tea House we were very hungry. Our next event was attending a traditional Kung Fu show (which was awesome! However there were no pictures allowed). We had a little bit of time to eat and walk around the neighborhood around the theater.

As a self-proclaimed foodie, I wanted to eat some authentic Chinese food. And no, breakfast didn't count. Our guide recommended a nearby restaurant and helped us order. The night's menu: dumplings.

The first thing they brought out was a warm drink. It tasted like liquid bread. Seriously. If you took bread and added water in a blender you could have this drink. Heated, of course. Now I love bread, but this was borderline disgusting. Maybe a little butter would have helped. Or some jam.

Before the first sip

I wish I had captured the face made after the first sip. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough. Blech. We opted for two styles of dumplings, which was too much food for two people. The first was a lightly fried dumplings with pork. The second was a boiled dumpling with beef and leeks. Both came with a vinegar sauce that was 99.9% pure vinegar. And both dumpling styles were very disgusting! Blech!

Additionally they brought out the water in which the dumplings were boiled. In a bowl. Do we drink it? Wash my hands in it? It tasted like warm, slightly starchy, water. Absolutely the worst food we had in China. We were quite disappointed. And still hungry.

Checking to see if I can spit it out without being seen.

Yuck!

Luckily our hotel had some pretty awesome breakfast options. The buffet was stuffed with vegetables, stir fries, dumplings, soups, yogurt, fruit, and traditional Western fare like omelets, toast, and cold cereal.

 My favorite things were sauteed mushrooms and yellow squash. They had quite a heavy dose of pepper which was a new preparartion to me. I also loved the fried tofu and sesame salad dressing. It definitely made up for a not so great meal the night before!