I am not a foodie by any stretch of the imagination. I’ll give anything a try once, I’ve had snake and deep fried scorpions - well I was offered dog once not far from the North Koren border and refused. But I don’t get too excited about food and it doesn't really feature in my travel agendas. I just grab things to eat between destinations to keep going. But I am maried to a Chinese woman so I have to compromise when on family holidays. And I have to admit I’ve eaten the best street food ever in the ethnic minority destination high up in the mountains in Dali, Yunan province in the West of China.
The famous local rose petal pastries. Real rose petals with sugar packed into a pastry pie. Surprisingly delicious. Yes, made with actual rose petals.
A variety of fried food is on offer. This is a small sampling.
There is a strong theme of flowers as flavours amongst plenty of familliar offerings like pancakes, tofu and chuar (Chinese kebabs) but it can all be eaten without having to stop the holiday and sit down for too long. I was definitely a bit iffy about the idea of eating flower petals but I was stunned by how delicions they taste. Our sense of taste is heavily influenced by our sense of taste and if you’ve never tired it they taste exactly like they smell. So keep an open mind and it’s definitely worth the visit for the food alone. And come in the winter, it rains all summer long and is warm and sunny in winter.
Cake on a stick flavoured with rose and devilwood made from rice.
The bacon and egg pancake was delicious but the rose petal sugar pancake was my favoirte of the whole trip. Available only in Xizhou Old town.
Another local speciality milk congealed and fried into a kind of instant milky cheese. Savory and tasty and very chewy.
Hard fudge candy with various flower flavours.
Stinky tofu, it sure smells but I’m a fan of the flavour, not as stong as you’d think.
Crystalised bars of flavoured sugar.
Flower flavoured alcohol.
Oysters with pearls.
Typical China, 2.5 kilometres above sea level in the mountains in an ethinc minority area and you can still get a cappuccino and a burger. Im not complaining. Nice to see them make the franchises fit in with the local architecture. The MacDonald’s signs are in stained hand carved wood.