Eating Basic Chinese

Friday was Ian’s Birthday. He is our project manager for the construction of our plant and three of the construction company managers wanted to take him out to dinner, so they invited all of us.

They said we were going out to eat “Basic Chinese.” As soon as this was announced, two of our American team politely declined, but Drew and I were excited and definitely going – cameras in hand.

We drive to the outskirts of town and down a one lane road and stopped in front of the crummiest building to have ever been erected called “The Farm House.” I am thinking, now this ought to be interesting. I won’t even begin to describe the bathroom experience.

Of course since this was a special dinner, they put the 8 of us in a private room. Usually, I don’t care for this because I would rather sit out in the open environment with everybody else just to experience the full ambiance of the location. But this room did have air conditioning and that was the selling point. But in reality, it turned out that our private room was only partially private because all (and I mean ALL) of the other diners had to casually stop by and look at the westerners. I am pretty sure they had never seen “tall round eyes” before, so they would wander past, peek in, gawk, laugh, and move on. We have gotten very used to this reaction, so we just talk to them and enjoy the moment.

Despite being a run down building, there were probably 30 or so others eating here, so we knew we knew something positive was going to happen. Turns out we were right. The primary dish was a roast chicken which has to be ordered a day in advance so they can prepare. Ordinarily, the chicken (and pork, beef, and the fish) are all just chopped up with a meat cleaver and you get a small bite of the meat and mostly bones, but not this chicken. The entire hen is roasted and served as one piece (along with the head and feet). The hen was slow roasted to the point that I could just grab a piece with chop sticks and the meat just pulls off the bone. Without a doubt, this was the very best dinner I have had in Xiangtan and maybe in all of China. It was incredible. Two of my buddies back home (Jeff Mc and Jeffa C) used to ask “The food is all bones - where is the meat?” We found it tonight. Big hunks of chicken the way it’s supposed to be. There were veggies, and pork, and soup, and noodles … unbelievably good. They brought a birthday cake for Ian and our group plus the restaurant staff all came in and toasted Ian and we sang Happy Birthday in Chinese (I sang in English). By this time, the family who owns the place had pretty much joined our party so now we have a large party. Side note; Chinese cakes are all elaborately decorated and very ornate and beautifully done and beautifully presented. Which is a good thing, because they all taste terrible.
So after sitting around stuffing our fat faces on this spectacular dinner, I was dying to see the kitchen so I told Ian I was going to go tell the chef thank you for the great food. I just walked back and out to the kitchen (the kitchen is actually a separate building) and started asking this older man if he was the chef because the food was great. After he figured out what I was trying to say he made it clear he was NOT the chef and that the actual chef was this young kid (maybe upper 20’s). So I had to repeat all my speech and that I wanted his picture. He was so excited that after the Photo-Op, he showed me around so I could see the veggies, and meat, bags of spices, and how he cooks. The chicken roaster is a charcoal fired ceramic oven (like you might fire pottery). As always, a very fun discussion as I had to sort through some of the veggies and he wanted me to smell the spices and I think was telling me what they were and showing me how to rub them between my hands too release the aroma to fully appreciate them. Very cool (albeit very dirty).

When we finally finished our celebration, it was time to pay. This occurs in a different room near the front of the building and to add up the cost, the the owner pulls out her abacus! I know you want me to explain the use of this - but she did it real fast and I have no idea, but an abacus? Maybe this was just for show, but there it is. Our hosts paid and called a taxi and then we all stood around outside with the family waiting on the car. It was during this wait that I realized we were the last ones there and that they were definitely closed just waiting for us to leave. But they didn’t care. I would bet that if we wanted to stay all night, this family would have let us.
We certainly made some new friends and this restaurant is now on the short of list of preferred places to go.

Basic Chinese at The Farm House!