I ate a goose brain.

Well, that’s different

Soup with vegetables and century egg

Preserved egg + soup. An unusual aroma. I reckon after two or three tries I’d get used to it and start craving it.

Goose offal soup with several different parts

All sorts of bits of goose in there. Oh, a head too.

A goose head on a plate

So I ate goose head! The cheek is the best bit. Tried the brain too. Very mushy, not much flavour.

It felt as though I was eating another creature’s consciousness. Mentally, that was a very new experience.

Clear soup with pork and bitter melon

A small bowl of broth with pork and bitter melon

Pork and bitter melon. The melon really is bitter. The broth is so refreshing, but the melon tastes like the bitter medicine I had as a kid. Apparently it’s very good for you.

Soup with fish and medicinal herbs

Soup with fish and medicinal herbs. With that strong herbal medicine flavour, it feels like it has to be doing you good.

Crisply fried fish

Fried fish. Ate it happily with chilli sauce.

Thinly sliced beef mixed with shredded ginger

Thin, chewy beef with sliced ginger. So chewy, I bet it has plenty of devoted fans. I liked it too.

Unwrapping a sweet, nutty cake
The inside of a cake studded with nuts and seeds

Had some cake? for dessert too. Even the nuts taste good. Are the nuts fresher as well?

Dark green cakes stacked on top of one another
A fish shaped cake said to be popular with children

A mugwort cake shaped like a fish. Held it like I’d caught one.

Second dinner

Sitting around the dinner table with my wife's relatives

Had dinner with my wife’s relatives!

Chicken in a clear broth

The chicken is so tender and the broth is a work of art.

Black sesame tofu on a plate with sauce

Black sesame tofu with vegetables in a clay pot

The dark centre of the black sesame tofu

A piece of black sesame tofu held in chopsticks

So good I just hoovered it up. This tofu is something else.. They put egg and black sesame in it. How is it this good..

Fried fish and vegetables stir fried with nuts

Fried fish and vegetables stir fried with nuts.

Duck with thin, crisp skin and ingredients for wrapping

Duck and vegetables wrapped in a thin pancake

Duck skin + meat, wrapped up in a little pancake and eaten.

Dim sum, once more

My wife’s uncle, who used to be in the military, invited us out the next morning, so we went to a famous dim sum place.

Noodles topped with vegetables and meat

A chewy piece of meat served with the noodles

Some incredibly chewy cut with noodles that seemed to have been steamed. So good. Tendon, maybe?

Chicken feet chopped through the bone, served with boiled peanuts

A piece of chicken foot chopped through the bone

Chicken feet chopped through the bone. You know how in comics they sometimes make it look like you can feel a living chicken in your mouth? This really tasted fresh enough to have been prepared from a chicken slaughtered that morning.

Assorted dim sum, including steamed buns and dumplings with translucent wrappers

A steamed bun split open to show the filling

All sorts of dim sum. Every restaurant brings out its own shapes and flavours like this. Each one trying something different as they compete.

A black cake with a subtle herbal aroma

A chewy black cake held in chopsticks

A black.. cake? Doesn’t seem to be made from rice, but it’s really chewy with a gentle herbal aroma. Nice.

Grilled fish served on hot stones

Golden dim sum rolls

A table of dim sum and fried noodles

Yellow siu mai in a bamboo steamer Actually, this is yet another dim sum place. Went to so many that I’m putting them all here. Yep.

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