Chinese Street Barbecue

[thelaowaichef]

I thought I'd make my first post here about one of my favorite things to do in China: Eat street barbecue! Of course it is never the healthiest option, but it is delicious! Last night we went down to Dongmen (Laojie) in Shenzhen and did a food crawl at the infamous food street. I tried a few things but amongst the best was the yangrou and the youyu. The aroma they give off while cooking over the hot coals is absolutely mesmorizing. Any fans of street barbecue here?

[Teasenz]

I remember those days when I was studying Mandarin in Beijing, and had street barbecue several times a week with good friends. They all went back to their own countries, but I'm made some amazing friends for life. Good memories.

 

Have you tried BBQ in Xiangmihu?

[abcdefg]

Any fans of street barbecue here?

 

I'm a fan. Especially of 羊肉串儿 lamb kebabs, aka yangrou chuaner. Part of the aroma usually comes from the spicy marinade, which is heavy with cumin in most parts of China, especially the west. Were yours giving off cumin scent as they cooked? Here (Kunming) they often dust them with ground fennel as well. 茴香粉

 

You second photo shows lotus root slices 藕片,  not youyu or squid  鱿鱼。Amazing how widespread the love of squid is in China, even far in the interior, miles and miles from the sea. But the best I've had was in Qingdao, right on the coast. They sold room temperature draft beer in plastic bags with a straw to wash it down as one strolled along.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[thelaowaichef]

 

 

Have you tried BBQ in Xiangmihu?

 

No, I haven't but I have heard of it. Doesn't Barack Obama's brother own a street barbecue place there? I heard it's pretty good but unfortunately it's not western barbecue it's actually Chinese barbecue? I love Chinese barbecue, but I think I prefer American BBQ to be honest haha!

[thelaowaichef]

 

 

You second photo shows lotus root slices 藕片,  not youyu or squid  鱿鱼。Amazing to me how widespread the love of squid is in China, even far in the interior, miles and miles from the sea.

 

Sorry, yeah I forgot to put the picture of the squid in there my bad. You can see the pics of the youyu and everything and even the video of our Dongmen food street crawl at my blog (Which is in my profile) if you're curious. 

 

 

 

I'm a fan. Especially of 羊肉串儿 lamb kebabs, aka yangrou. Part of the aroma usually comes from the marinade, which is heavy with cumin in most parts of China, especially the west. Were yours giving off cumin scent?

 

They sure were. I know there was cumin for sure but they also used some additional spices, I can't explain what it is but all I can say is that the mix looks sort of bird-seedy but has a variety of spiciness to it

 

 

You second photo shows lotus root slices 藕片,  not youyu or squid  鱿鱼。Amazing to me how widespread the love of squid is in China, even far in the interior, miles and miles from the sea.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[onebir]

In Changsha some places do grilled aubergines - split in half, dusted with ziran and jijing (& weijing... unless you say no weijjing) & grilled until squishy inside. Really good!

[gato]

They sold room temperature draft beer in plastic bags

The draft Qingdao beer in plastic bags was amazing!

[onebir]

Qingdao Beer is like Qingdao's soy milk

[abcdefg]

In Changsha some places do grilled aubergines - split in half, dusted with ziran and jijing (& weijing... unless you say no weijjing) & grilled until squishy inside. Really good!

 

Street-side grilled aubergines are one of my favorite things. Ate them a lot in Zhuhai. I lived in an apartment overlooking an impromptu evening food market. It started daily about 7 or 7:30 in an empty parking lot and folded up by 9 or 9:30. Being on the coast, they also had grilled oysters and shrimp.

[eliaso]

I'm a real aficionado of 烧烤, eat unhealthy amounts of it, have my favourite places I regularly go to and when travelling to other cities I also try to sample some. If you'd over hear me ordering some bbq you'd propably mistaken me as a fluent speaker of Chinese   I have to say I haven't yet found as good bbq in other cities as you can find in Harbin (however I haven't been to Inner Mongolia or Xinjiang). Not being a fan of sea food so bbq in Qingdao didn't get me excited either but fresh Qingdao draft was excellent.

 

Things I often order： 拍黄瓜 （a simple cucumber salad, often using cilantro and white vinegar instead of dark variety in North East), 老虎菜（a spicy vegetable salad), 干豆腐串(tofu rolls with vegetables inside), 羊肉 and 牛肉串，鸡翅 (chicken wings, I usually go for 黑胡椒 black pepper ones if available), 猪排 (pork）， 土豆片 （grilled potato slices) and 面包片 or a type of a nan bread if I eat in a place run by Uighurs. And a beer of course. In Harbin it's common to finish the whole thing with a soup called 疙瘩汤.

 

Often these places have a bad hygiene standards and fake meat when ordering lamb or beef kebabs is not unheard of. If a lot of locals eat in some place, it's propably ok. If you see an actual lamb leg (or the whole thing) hanging next to the street cart / restaurant that's a really good sign. Uighurs (people from Xinjiang province) tend to often make better than average stuff.

 

Anyone ever stumbled onto Chinese bbq outside of China?

[abcdefg]

Anyone ever stumbled onto Chinese bbq outside of China?

 

I've had it in Kuala Lumpur. (Lots of Chinese expats there.) Jalan Alor is particularly rich in such things.

 

[ChTTay]

I've got a lot of love for BBQ'd fish tofu 鱼豆腐. Done right it's fantastic. Even if you don't generally like tofu (or have never given it a chance) I suggest you pick a good establishment and order it there.

I've never been a fan of Chinese BBQ'd vegetables really. Prefer just ordering cold sides or some fried vegetables.

I'd also say that judging the meat standards on how many Chinese people eat at a certain restaurant probably isn't a very reliable test. It seems like any geezer off the street can put up a luminous 串 sign up and be guaranteed custom.

[thelaowaichef]

@Eliaso I can't read Chinese but definitely know what you're talking about from the descriptions. Some of my favorite dishes are definitely the jitui, of course. This jitui is a bit different than anywhere else though,  because they do this weird thing where they sort of "crucify" the chicken leg by sticking a skewer through it to make like a cross..I can't explain it actually haha

 

I also love mantou, and I love how they use like vinegar and cumin to give some flavor to the bread. The crunchy toastiness is amazing. Nice alternative to buttered toasted bread.

 

Spring onions of course are just delectable and I too enjoy the potato slices. Of course there's shang hao (I'm not sure if that's right but they're oysters" which is the oysters with all that lajiao and garlic added on top. I also like that yu that is basically a mackerel, they remove the main bones, and I squirt lemon on top of it. SO AMAZINGLY GOOD. Of course chaomian is amongst my favorite dish but I don't know if you'd really count that as street bbq, that's more like street food I guess. 

 

@abcdefg Thanks for the warm welcome

[abcdefg]

Of course there's shang hao (I'm not sure if that's right but they're oysters" which is the oysters with all that lajiao and garlic added on top.

 

Probably sheng hao 生蚝。They still call them that when cooked on the half shell, even though sheng 生 usually means raw. Hao 蚝 = oysters.

 

I had some in Shanghai last month on a small "seafood street" near the hotel in which we stayed. Also had grilled scallops on the half shell that night. Quite a feast.