Friday, May 12, 2017

Day 6 - Nanjing/Hangzhou Trip 2017 - Dinner - Hangzhou Dongpo Pork

Hangzhou is famous for their Dongpo Pork, so when in Hangzhou, we just need to eat the pork. There are many versions of the origins of Dongpo Pork but all associated with the famous poet Su Dong Po.

There is a very touching legend on Dongpo pork: in the Yuanyou Period in the Song Dynasty, as a local official in Hangzhou, Su Dongpo launched tens of thousands of workers to dredge the West Lake, build dikes and irrigate fields for the benefit of the people. During the Spring Festival in this year, people brought him much pork and wine called Shaojiu. Su thought that he should share with the workers, so he told his family to cook the pork and send it to the workers. Unexpectedly his family mistakenly cooked wine and meat together, as a result, the pork was extraordinary delicious. As Su Dongpo was a nice official and widely eulogized, the pork that was cooked in this way was called “Dongpo Pork“ by the local people. From then on, “Dongpo Pork“ has become a famous traditional dish of Hangzhou. (Source: History Cultural-china.com.)

We went to the famous Wai Po Jia (Grandma's Restaurant) again but the queue was so terrible (2 hours wait), we were already so tired from our sightseeing, dont have the patience to queue and the weather was becoming colder at single digit, especially at night. So we ended having dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. Almost every restaurant will serve the famous Dongpo Pork in Hangzhou. This is for single portion. Tasted good but the layer of fats was really thick.

Tomato Omelette

Kungpao Chicken (OMG, the chicken pieces were about the size of the peanut hahaha) and dont taste good, very bland.

Braised tofu

No comments: