Monday 4th August, 2014            2000

The signature dish of Huainan is beef soup and as there is a beef soup restaurant opposite the hotel I thought I should try it while I am here. It is anything but soup and I was fully expecting it to be a bowl of noodles with bits of beef. It certainly looked like it and with the addition of vegetables but the noodles turned out to be strips of tofu, which I hate. At least I tried it.

This evening I was taken to a very modern restaurant which was a completely different hotpot place to any I have seen before. Leslie dropped me off to secure a table before it got busy and then left to collect Air and her friend, a young man who runs several hairdressing shops who, when asked what his English name was, replied “none” and so that is what I referred to him as for the evening.

While I was waiting, feeling very much like a goldfish in the middle of a bowl full of guppies due to the looks I got from staff and customers alike, I observed as a nearby table were waited on. The waitresses cooked your pot at the table, or rather they steamed and braised it. What they had ordered (a seafood medley with chicken wings and beef chunks) looked enticing, especially when some thick brown goo was poured over it. They also had a plate of Chinese “pizza” which is a deep fried disc with a meat filling.

At my suggestion we ordered the same. After one prawn, a piece of beef and a small squid I knew I was in trouble. How could something that looked so divine be so evil?? After a minute or so Air asked me why I was crying! Thereafter I confined myself to the “pizza” and some fruit salad. Tomorrow I head for Anqing and Yvonne for a couple of days.

I did manage to get some night time pictures of the piano house but will include them in the next blog.