Yunnan Food - Lugu Lake and Lijiang

On arriving at Lugu Lake, we were famished. We had skipped lunch. The dentist seemed to be very hungry and was prepared to gobble up a whole suckling pig. Anyway, we stopped her. We had a proper meal/ bbq dinner in the open air prepared by another restaurant.

An Ming with her antics

Preparing the charcoal burner for our bbq at Lige, Lugu Lake

Pork. Rating = 5/10

Homemade wine (according to Doctor, she managed to sweet-talk a free jug out from the restaurant). Rating = 5/10

From left: Dr. An Ming (from Nanjing, works as a dentist), Bruce (from Beijing, works for CCTV), Joshua (from Shenzhen), Hagrid (from Shanghai, just graduated from law school). They were all solo backpackers and met Bruce at different times in Dali and Lijiang, who pulled them together to travel in his hired car to share cost. Rating for the companions = 10/10

Pork for barbecue. Rating = 5/10

Liangpi is a cold dish - savory, sour and spicy. Rating = 3/10

Fish. Rating = 5/10

This dentist has nothing better to do than to tease me with the brinjal/ egg plant. Rating for the brinjal = 6/10. Rating for the dentist = 10/10

Chicken. Rating = 5/10

Brinjal/ egg plant. Rating = 6/10

Overall rating for the dinner = 5/10

On the following morning, after coming back from watching the sun rose, we had breakfast at a restaurant. We had rice noodle soup.

The restaurant where we had our breakfast in Lige, Lugu Lake

The menu

The noodle soup came in a jug

The noodle soup. Rating = 4/10

At Lugu Lake, Bruce drove us to Luoshui where we would drop off Joshua. He would be trekking at Lugu Lake while we would be exploring the region around the lake in a car. We came to Zouhun (Walking Marriage) Bridge, where we had lunch. The dentist did not want to take lunch (for fear of the consequence of getting travel sickness later)

We had lunch at the blue-roof restaurant at Caohai/ Zouhun Bridge (Sea of Grass/ Walking Marriage Bridge)

Inside the restaurant

The four dishes were all greens, and surprisingly, they were excellent. Rating = 8/10

On returning to Tina's Guesthouse after visiting the Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge, I had fried ham rice. It was quite good.

Tina's Guesthouse restaurant

Fried Ham Rice. Rating = 7/10

As mentioned earlier, the breakfast food choices in Lijiang were limited. The breakfast food sold from this street cart was more or less universal in Lijiang.

Typical breakfast food in Lijiang

One of the most famous local Yunnan food is Guò Qiáo Mǐ Xiàn (Cross-the-Bridge Rice Noodle). I had one on my way back to Dayan from Black Dragon Pool (Heilongtan). Different sets of ingredients were sold, with different prices, from tens to hundreds of Yuan. Again, this was a rice noodle soup.

The Guò Qiáo Mǐ Xiàn (Cross-the-Bridge Rice Noodle) restaurant

The set ingredient that I ordered. The egg and the meat must be cooked first

Cross-the-Bridge Rice Noodle Soup. Rating = 5/10

Hagrid loved sashimi. He had heard of Bell Restaurant from others and went in search of it. We found the restaurant but the sashimi was very expensive for a whole fish. He just wanted a single portion for himself but the restaurant did not serve single portion. I don't take sashimi. In the end, he skipped the sashimi and ordered Qì Guō Jī (Steam Pot Chicken, another famous local Yunnan dish) and two other vegetable dishes. I did not know that vegetable dishes could be this good.

Hagrid making the orders at Bell Restaurant, Lijiang

Snacks before our main meals

Brinjals/ egg plants with the skin removed. Rating = 8/10

Cabbage. Rating = 8/10

Steam Pot Chicken (Qì Guō Jī). I took this photo after a few pieces of bony chicken had been eaten. Rating = 6/10

Yunnan Food - Lijiang

Yunnan is not well-known for her food. Indeed, like Yangshuo, the breakfast food in Lijiang is limited in choices. The common food are Baozi (steamed buns), You Tiao (fried bread stick), Naxi Baba, and not much else.

Food prices in Lijiang are slightly more expensive than Dali. Overall, prices for meals are two to three times more expensive than Chengdu. This made Yunnan food as expensive as Papua New Guinea, and definitely more expensive than Kuala Lumpur.

From Lijiang train station, I arrived at Dayan (Lijiang Old City) at a gate in the south at Xianghe Road. There, two or three stalls were selling Baozi and Naxi Baba. My first pick was Naxi Baba. The taste was just average and I would give it 4/10. Seeing that it was still too early to check into any hostel, I decided to go for the Baozi too. I rated it 5/10.

The street stall where I ordered the Naxi Baba and Baozi

Naxi Baba. Rating 4/10

Baozi (steamed buns). Rating = 5/10

The shops/ hostels were still closed when I arrived at Sifangjie Square. So, I decided to explore the old city with the aid of my Garmin eTrex 20. Along the way, I saw a few fixed stands on the street. This was the location of the night food market (N26 52 28.4 E100 14 03.9). I picked an unknown fried roll but it was just average in taste. I rated it 5/10.

The fixed food stand at the Food Square/ Night Market

Unknown fried rolls being prepared

Unknown fried roll. Rating = 5/10

I thought that I should not just savor street food to get the most out of Lijiang's cuisine. So, I walked into this restaurant close to Mama Naxi Guesthouse for dinner on my first day. From the menu, I chose the picture of the dish that I fancied. What appeared on my table were small pieces of chicken with a little flesh clinging to bones cooked in lots of chilly. Where was all the meat? There were more bones and chilly than meat. The taste was okay and I would rate it 6/10.

The restaurant where I took my first dinner

Spicy bony chicken dish. Rating = 6/10

In Dayan Old City, there were many restaurants and bars besides the stream running along Xinhua Street, between Sifangjie and Big Water Wheel. At night, loud music and singing would be blaring out from loudspeakers. However, for street food, the place to be was the night food market that I mentioned earlier.

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Tofu with minced meat. Rating = 6/10 

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Food Square/ Night Market

Sliced bbq pork. Rating 7/10 and a little expensive

Food Square/ Night Market

Jiaozi. Rating 5/10

Food Square/ Night Market

Skewered meat. Rating 6/10

Food Square/ Night Market

I woke up early wherever I travelled. I usually went out to look for breakfast early and very often, only a few food shops had opened. In Lijiang, this food shop was the first to open in the morning and I had been having breakfast here every morning. I had a selection of wrapped flat bread, Baozi, boiled egg and doujiang (soya milk) the first time there. On my second visit, it was beef rice noodle soup.

The breakfast shop near Mama Naxi Guesthouse

Naxi Baba. Rating = 4/10

Beef Rice Noodle (Niu Rou Mi Xian). Rating = 5/10