After spending most of the day with my wife's college-mates wandering the shopping district ducking in and out of different shopping establishments to avoid the biting cold of the winter breeze, we meet up with the in-laws for dinner at 狗不理(Gou Bu Li; Literally translated Dog Don't Care) . This is what we ordered:
- 传统猪肉包子 (Traditional Pork steam buns)
- 三鲜包子 (Pork, sea cucumber, and shrimp steamed buns)
- 蟹黄包子 (Crab meat steam buns)
- 野菜包子 (Wild herbs steam buns)
- 百年酱肉包子 (Hundred years marinated pork steam buns)
- 红烧驮掌 (Braised Camel Paw)
- 蝴蝶鳝鱼 (Butterfly Eel)
- 龙井牛蛙 (Dragon Well Bull Frog)
Gou Buli steam bun is one of the local speciality of Tianjin. It stands out from other steam buns because the stuffing is particularly smooth and oily and the dough is not fully leavened. This place is a bit of a tourist trap, but I'm a tourist and I'm told by everyone that if you go to Tianjin you have to try its Gou Buli steamed buns. That I did, it is very good, but quite pricey. The traditional pork steam bun was my favorite flavor.
The other dishes were quite interesting. Take the Braised Camel Paw - I didn't even know camel was edible. It's actually very soft, smooth, and silky. If you enjoy pig knuckles or pig feet, you will definitely enjoy camel paw. Yeah, I know how strange that sounds. Just trust me. It's good.
The eel and bull frog I've had before. It's my understanding that you can't get fresh eel in the States so I knew I was going to order something with eel while in China. The Butterfly eel dish is very similar to the Unagi you find at a Japanese restaurant. The difference is it's not sweet like its Japanese counterpart. The Dragon Well Bull frog is a twist on a traditional Zhe Jiang dish called Dragon Well Shrimp. It's good, but I still prefer the Dragon Well Shrimp.
Overall the experience at Gou Buli was enjoyable. It's one of those you must do it once restaurant because it's so famous.
Our second dinner in Tianjin has made one thing very apparent to me - Chinese people eat every animal under the sun. In the two days I've been here I've eaten donkey and camel - things that I didn't think was edible. I've still got 2.5 more weeks here, who knows what else I'm going to try...
For an explanation of why this restaurant is called 狗不理 (Dog Don't Care) go to http://www.tjgoubuli.com/ and read it for yourself.
2 comments:
According to Yahoo news, they've cleaned up the translation of "Dog Don't Care":
Here is the exciting revision...
Tianjin Goubuli Group Corporation has opted for a tamer English name that may bring its own confusion -- "Go Believe."
"Go Believe"??? Go figure....
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