Lunch near the hotel: Geng Shi Ji.

I think this was the best meal that I had this time in China. Typical of most restaurants here, they are bigger inside than they appear from the street. This was no exception and was at least 3 stories with multiple dining rooms.

Once again, I’ve never seen so much food for a single meal. Tried it all…this was a bit of an adventure….the usual pork belly but also pigtail, knuckle and ear. I had one meat dish that tasted very rich and I was suspicious it was tripe…and I was correct, sort of….had a bit of added additional internal pig organs to round out the dish. As you can tell from the picture gallery, hunan cuisine is one based on spicy peppers.

The hit of this meal were the crawfish…excellent and served with a hot sauce…unlike the cajun variety but quite tasty. To go along with the “southern” theme, thinly sliced okra was also served as a vegetable dish. The chinese steamed bun, mantou, served with a condensed milk dipping sauce was a nice finish to the meal.

No wine for lunch…the drink…Budweiser! Very odd beer choice likely made because of the American visitors.