Shanghai July 7

Ok - last night's dinner was amazing. We went to this little place just up the street from the hotel called Di Shui Dong. You could easily walk by the place because it's on the second floor and you have to go up a dark stairway to get there. The room reminded me of a low budget Mexican style joint - complete with chili peppers hanging everywhere...but there's the clue - they don't ask if you like mild, med, or hot - everything you get is ...HOT.

The cuisine is Hunanese - a province inland that does not suffer from the humidity, just the heat! ha! We ordered chopped pork, lotus root, ribs, broccoli and rice. The ingredients of the chopped pork dish were: fresh chili peppers, dry chili peppers, green onions, garlic and tripe (pork stomach) - ingredients listed in descending order of quantity - whoa! The lotus root was also stir fried with chilies, garlic and chives, the broccoli was steamed in a broth with garlic and a few chilies. My favourite was the pork ribs, dry rubbed with cumin seed, coriander seed, garlic, chives and chilies with a healthy sprinkling of the mixture on top. Mr. Grumpypants was bright red and his nose was running by the time we were half way through the food. We managed to consume lots of watery beer - perfect with this food.

I'll be going back for the ribs...I've heard the skewered shrimp are delicious as well as the hot pots.