Xiang Man Lou
Hanlin Street
Jianshui County (Opposite the Zhu Family Mansion)
Yunnan Province
Tel 0873 765 5655
香满楼
云南省建水县翰林街 朱家花园对面
My two-week trip to Yunnan was a great opportunity to gain first-hand information of the varied local foods of the many minorities residing the province. During the trip we sampled the cuisines of several Yi groups, Bai, Hani, Dai, Naxi, Hui and Tibetans.
Jianshui County, the second leg on my trip, is part of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture (红河哈尼族彝族自治州). The area is home to centuries old temples and massive residences, including the Zhu Family’s Mansion, which are a testament to its past glory in classical learning and wealth. The tree-lined stone path remains unchanged but there are many shop fronts with modern goods such as leather boots, spectacles, blue jeans, and just about anything you would be able to find in a city.
The exotic sounding dip-in-water chicken (哈尼沾水鸡) was among the many Hani specialties offered at Xiang Man Lou that made a deep impression on me. The plain boiled chicken is served with a watery dipping sauce. I learned later on from my Hani host family that you can pretty much use any herbs to make the dipping sauce. Still, the zhanshui made at Xiang Man Lou is odd and bizarre in an interesting way. The chopped betel leaves played the main role to give the dish a sharp peppery taste and a refreshing aroma. I noticed the other ingredients used in making the sauce included boiled quail egg, leeks, pepper flakes, spring onion, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, salt, and some items that I never got around to asking about.
The stir-fried minced pork tossed with a beansprout-like root (生拌丕芽菜) is also commonly found in the region. It has neutral taste, juicy with a firm texture, very good.
The stir-fried air-dried pork and rice cake (腊肉炒饵块）is not to be missed. Trust me, I’ve eaten erkuai (flat rice cake made from glutinous rice) in Beijing’s Yunnan Provincial Restaurant, in Dali and Lijiang, and the version I had in Jianshui is the undefeated champion.
The last dish I would like to mention is one I never asked the name of, although I did manage to snap a photo of (see below). It was a remarkable sweet dish made with corn flour that everyone adored. It was so good, we requested on encore.
In my next posting, I’ll talk about my visit to a Dai village along the Burmese border.
Comments