Whilst Brits tend towards pubs and bars for their evening socialising, the locals in Liuzhou go to the 烧烤 BBQ to chat and drink late into the night. These restaurants are on roadsides throughout the city and, given the great weather in summer here, provide the best opportunity for some al fresco dining with Chinese characteristics. By all means go to the BBQ for your main meal but many locals, after having dinner at home or elsewhere, descend on these restaurants for 宵夜, which roughly translates as a "midnight snack". Sitting outside on benches or yellow plastic chairs, you'll see dozens of tables packed with people eating 烤鱼 BBQ fish, 串 skewers of meat and veg, 炒米粉 fried rice noodles and other specialities. As well as the regular BBQ stalls, there are also some speciality places, including our favourite Mongolian style restaurant which serves up the most amazing lamb legs and ribs. Sitting in 30 degree heat at 11pm, eating amazing food, drinking cold, cheap, wate
To welcome everyone back from the winter vacation in February, we put our cooking skills to the test, ate far too much and, as far as I'm aware, avoided giving each other food poisoning. The Chinese are obsessed with food and, if you spend much time in the country, you'll find yourself following suit. We certainly have. The food was as varied in its origins as the chefs themselves, ranging from a Denver omelette, fishcakes, fried rice, steak, quiche, sushi, popcorn chicken and the biggest 粽子 (a type of glutinous rice dumpling) I've ever seen! There were also the obligatory 番茄炒蛋 tomato with scrambled eggs and 可乐鸡翅 cola chicken wings; the two dishes that always make an appearance as all 1.4 billion Chinese are able to cook them. I was amazed at the culinary skills on display, even from those who claimed not to know what they were doing. This is an event that we'll definitely hold again, especially when the weather improves and we can make use of one of the man