Pittsburgh favorites part 2: Asian food

You may have noticed that a significant portion of my diet is made up of Asian food, particularly Chinese and Thai. I’ve been pretty pleased with Pittsburgh when it comes to the Asian food scene, especially after the less-than-stellar selection in DC. I’m sure I haven’t been to all of the great Asian restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, but this is a pretty solid list to start with if you live in the city limits. You may ask: Why no sushi? Because I haven’t had any great sushi here, and honestly I was too cheap to try the supposedly great sushi restaurants in the area. Your suggestions are welcome!

Chinese: China Star (Squirrel Hill)

After living in China and cooking with Chinese friends, I have annoyingly high standards when it comes to genuine Chinese food. I can barely bring myself to eat the American style Chinese food anymore. I preferred to cook it myself…until I went to China Star and tried their “alternative” menu. If you don’t look Chinese, the waiter will first hand you the Americanized menu. Ask for the Chinese menu. If you don’t know what any of the stuff is, ask for recommendations. It’s hard to go wrong. Squirrel Hill is overall the best neighborhood to find legit Chinese food, tea and desserts. Just follow the exchange students.

Vietnamese: Tram’s Kitchen (Bloomfield/Garfield)

While there are many deserving Vietnamese places up and down Penn Avenue, my favorite is Tram’s. It’s got a simple selection of soups and noodles, it’s fresh, it’s fast, and it’s in a tiny storefront. If you’re lucky, you’ll even be seated at a tiny table with tiny chairs. Not as tiny as the chairs in Vietnam, but still. Pretty cool. And of course, the pho is fantastic.

Thai: Thai Cuisine (Bloomfield)

This was a hard choice, because I love the shop down the street, Thai Gourmet, nearly as much. But in reality, I find myself going to Thai Cuisine more and craving their noodles, soups and curries more. But in the end, if you live near Bloomfield, you’re a lucky dog. It’s the best Thai food I’ve had outside of Thailand. It’s reliable, it’s affordable, it’s a happy place.

Korean: Tokyo Steakhouse (Bloomfield)

Yes, it’s called Tokyo, and yes, they have sushi, but I’ve never had the sushi. So I’m just going to talk about the Korean food. This is where we go to indulge. We stuff ourselves with grilled beef and chicken. We go crazy over the little side dishes. It’s rarely busy, but it makes me happy that way. I get really tired of the jazzed-up, Americanized Asian grills. You know the ones I’m talking about. This one is different. You cook your meat. There is a little bridge and a pond in the middle of the restaurant. The people who work there are actually Japanese and Korean. There are Japanese businessmen drinking beers in the corner. And the beef. Oh, the beef…

Asian Market: Lotus Food (Strip District)

Pittsburgh really does have a lot of Asian markets all around, from Oakland to the ‘burbs. But Lotus is the king. Sitting on a corner near the end of the Strip District, Lotus is a great source of cheap rice, noodles, and even vegetables. The cilantro at Lotus just tastes better. The bok choy come in all different sizes. The tofu is freshly cooked. The candy and cookie selection is overwhelming. I still haven’t been able to try all the varieties of dumplings and steamed buns that they offer. And the best part: the Chinese employees actually speak Chinese with me! I can only hope that I find a store as great as Lotus in my next city.

Coming next: Pittsburgh Parks

Hangzhou with a local

And not just any local! The lovely Qing, my classmate at Pitt. Hangzhou is her hometown, and it used to be part of her job to show people her city. So I knew I was in good hands. I had visited Hangzhou for a couple days in March 2009, but it was rainy and difficult to get around. Hangzhou is a big city, but it’s not as tourist-friendly with public transportation or pedestrian options as other Chinese cities. This time, with Qing as my guide, I had an air-conditioned car to protect me from the 95 degree heat and blazing sun. For me, the second time in Hangzhou was a charm.

classmates at the Hangzhou Wetlands Park

I felt welcome as soon as I got to Hangzhou. When I got to the baggage claim area, I noticed a lot of people pointing and whispering. But this time, they weren’t pointing at me! I weren’t sure who they were looking at, so I just forgot about it. But as we approached the public area of the airport, I saw even more commotion. Hundreds of people with posters, flowers and flashing cameras were chanting something. The closer I got to the door, the louder they got. Eventually I noticed that the girl walking directly next to me was wearing huge sunglasses and surrounded by body guards (body guards in China are not the same size as body guards in America). I was standing next to one of the most famous female singers in the country. The cameras flashed and the crowd moved in as we walked through the door, so I’m hoping I am on some Chinese gossip blogs as the sleepy, sloppy looking American walking next to their pop princess.

the escalator: a modern twist on a Chinese temple

From the airport we went straight to the main attraction of the city. Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake (Xi Hu) which has been the setting of many paintings, poems, stories and songs. Qing first took me to the huge pagoda at the lake, site of a famous love story featuring a snake, her man husband, and a battle of sea creatures. Chinese literature never lets me down! Neither does the level of familiarity the average Chinese has with these stories. They heard them as children, read about them in school, and now they see them depicted on television. The amount of poems and stories Chinese kids have to memorize is mind-blowing, and it may explain why the Chinese have so much love and pride for their history.

green, green Hangzhou

happy buddha in a magical rock

Another perk of having a Hangzhou native as my guide was learning about local cuisine. Chinese food is extremely diverse from province to province, city to city, so Qing made sure to give me a taste of Hangzhou seafood, dumplings, and dessert. Without Qing, I would have never known that Hangzhou cuisine is much sweeter and less spicy than the rest of China. I ate shrimp dumplings that felt like silk, homemade breakfast at her grandmother’s home, and eel, jellyfish and frog eggs with her extended family. If you ever find yourself in Hangzhou, order the steamed papaya with frog eggs and honey. Trust me.

lotus growing in West Lake

My second day in Hangzhou was spent at the Wetlands Park, an area where non-Chinese rarely visit. All of the tours are in Chinese, and the main attraction of the place is that it was the site of a well-known romantic comedy. I’ll try to get the comedy with English subtitles; Qing promises me that it really is a good flick. Anyway, the wetlands were really cool because it’s basically a group of islands where people lived as fishermen and silk producers. As the area modernized, most of the people left their island homes for the urban space. But some people still live there, completely isolated from the rest of Hangzhou. The only way to get around the wetlands is by boat. Tourists go there to take a boat ride and learn about what life was like 200 years ago in the wetlands. I was particularly impressed with the boats turned into dining room tables and the pygmy ducks, which I unfortunately did not get a proper photo of.

view of the wetlands from the temple

old, almost-forgotten Mao painting in a photo gallery in the wetlands

With my limited Chinese and the challenge of the Hangzhou dialect, I didn’t get to really converse with all of Qing’s family that I met. But nonetheless, they made me feel extremely welcome and encouraged me to return as soon as I can. Even though my visit to Hangzhou was so short, it reminded me how valuable it is to spend time with people in their homes, with their families, seeing what it is that keeps them coming back.

at the train station. next stop: Shanghai!

Rainy days in Shanghai and Hangzhou

We basically added an extra day to our time in China by flying from Xiamen to Shanghai…for $30 (it would have been the same price but a 24 hour trip by train).  Shanghai was never a place I had on my list, but once again I was awed.  The city is huge, yes, but it has tons of character.  The subway system is vast, and we were “lucky” enough to experience insane rush hour and what a crowd in China really means.  The buildings are all very old, mostly European style, and run along the Huangpu River.  We really loved walking along the pedestrian area of Nanjing Road, where we found super expensive clothes but super yummy dumplings.

beautiful Shanghai by night, when it finally stopped raining

It rained a lot in Shanghai, so we spent a long time in the Shanghai Museum, trying to learn as much as we can about the history of this enormous country.  One thing that fascinates me about all the Asian countries we’ve visited is their collection of historical currency.  Since the United States isn’t very old, we don’t devote nearly as much museum space to currency as Asians do.  This museum had half a floor displaying money!  We also paid a long visit to an urban planning museum, where we saw all of the “green” plans for Shanghai.  We definitely noticed pollution there (although it was not as bad as anywhere in Southeast Asia) so I really hope they are true to their green promise.

the biggest model i have ever seen in my life!

Along with models of what the city is going to look like down the road, we saw a lot of information about the upcoming world’s fair (or as they call it “expo”) in 2010.  They are building like crazy to prepare for the event, and many countries will also have buildings to showcase…something.  We never really had a good explanation of what exactly people will be presenting at this world’s fair.  But we did learn all about the mascot and what he stands for.  Something about water and bringing people together.

me with a big stuffed mascot for the expo 2010. i followed the rules and did not touch him!

We only spent two nights in Shanghai, making us really want more in the future.  The city will be even more spectacular after all the construction for the fair is done.  We took a quick train from Shanghai to Hangzhou, a city with a famous lake that we were told to visit.  We only spent one night there, and that was fine with us, because beyond the lake, there isn’t much to do there.  Our hostel was quite a trek from anything interesting, too.  The lake was nice, and clearly a big tourist spot for the Chinese.  I took some really nice pictures that I will post later on.  But for now, I have to get away from a cute cat who is cuddling with me and who I am probably very allergic to.

Learning how to pronounce Xiamen

(“Sha-men.”) This morning we flew on Xiamen Airlines to Shanghai, and I slept through the whole thing, except for two minutes when I was eating the breakfast dumplings they served us.  One of the things Jon has learned about me over the past six weeks is that I can and will sleep anywhere.  Shanghai is awesome, but I already miss Xiamen.  Here are some photos to show you why!

Can you tell what this pretty restaurant is? Oh yes, it's the most gourmet Pizza Hut you will ever see! Why don't we get these in America?

This is the puppy (with his mom) who lived at the hostel, who I stalked.

The biggest attraction in Xiamen is Nanputuo Temple, a large complex that houses many Buddhist monks.  We showed up thinking it was going to be a peaceful experience, much like the rest of the temples we’ve seen in Asia.  Not so!  There were literally hundreds of people there, all Chinese, carrying flowers and incense like I’ve never seen.  Many of them had bags full of papers and other gifts to the gods.  (Papers represent gifts for the gods in the next life, and they are burned so that they can reach the gods.)  It turns out that one of the gods of the temple had a feast day, so many people came to pray and give gifts.  We were very lucky to be there on such a busy day!

one of the buildings at Nanputuo Temple

Just one of the many piles of bags filled with gifts for the gods

What we loved the most about Xiamen was the slower pace of life compared with what we expected from China.  This was especially apparent on the small island of Gulang Yu, which is just a short (free) boat ride away from Xiamen Island.  There are no cars allowed on Gulang Yu, and it is mostly filled with gardens and green space, along with the required restaurants and tourist shops.

On the edge of Gulang Yu stands Koxinga, a national hero who conquered Taiwan and is now the biggest sculpture of a historical figure in China

Without cars, Gulang Yu is a great place to wander around the narrow streets. Doesn't look like what you'd picture as China, eh?

Our friend who worked at the hostel told us that Xiamen is consistently ranked as one of the top three happiest cities in China.  It’s easy to see why: beaches, islands, adorable puppies, gourmet Pizza Huts, bubble tea for fifty cents, and a huge university with multiple soccer fields.  (We found a soccer ball and played a bit before most of the students woke up!)