Not a kunming food fan.
I think what Joshwa say is the dish called "dajiujia" from tengchong. I heard it also has a story about the empire in ancient China.
Do you know what people call Kung pao chicken here? They call it "chicken and peanuts"......besides the ingredients and the taste of this dish are totally different here......!
Hmn not "dajiuja"—no tomato, ham, or egg. It's erkuai with xiang la jiang (a spicy bean paste), yunnan mustard pickles, and scallions.
As for the place I get it: Where Luofeng Jie meets Huashandonglu, there are two or three restaurants. You want the one furthest to the right, where you'll probably go upstairs to be seated. Everything I've had there is pretty good. I think it has "白" in the name.
Hope you like spicy— theirs is definitely on the hotter side.
Spicy is ok, as long as they aren't trying to hide poor quality oil/ingredients. I'll give it a try this week. Also, going to see if the dajiujia exists in KM.
2 years ago, I went a place behind the jinmabiji plaza, it was an entire 2nd floor serving decilious food from each part of yunnan. Dali cuisine, jianshui cuisine, banna cuisine, tengchong cuisine, also cuisine from guizhou. Clean enviornment, great food. That was the best I had ever tried for yunnan snacks or yunnan special cuisine.
But last year when I went, I found it disappeared. Didnt know why.
There is a place called"古玩城"(dont know where does this name come from, "古玩" means precious and valuable stuff like the things in forbidden city dates back to ancient China. But I dont see anything related to this word in this"古玩城"..) selling yunnan snacks now, go east from nanping area. Not sure if they serve "dajiujia", possibly yes. My friend took me there. I think food there just soso. Enviornment is not good.
@AlexKMG & BillDan
Kunming or Yunnan are generally not regarded as a grand culinary center in Chinese food culture.
However, it is simply mean to rant about as you have been doing.
And even though Kunming doesn't belong to the top 10 cities for food in China, it bares representatives of many different cultures, and that's a plus. You can find very good - please note that I said "very good", not "acceptable" - food in Kunming and around.
You just have not been looking well, guys !
If what you are looking for is THE great and grand Kunming Local dish then you might be disappointed. But you can find good beef and brocoli for sure, just aim at the right restaurant, like a cantonese one for example ! You know, one that's going to be located on the second or third floor of a grand hotel, with fuyuan pushing DimSum trays through the aisles and stuff...
Just look around a bit ! Get out of your little area, ask people ! you have no cantonese friends at all in kunming ? or no one who knows good cantonese restaurants ? There necessarily are some, 'cause there where some already back in 1996.
I don't live in KMG anymore, but was there in 2009, and will be coming back soon, and I already know at least one place where I'll be stoping to eat : Mamafu's !!!
Yes I think that's a good restaurant, and there are many others like that around.
there are a lot of muslims too in KMG, that's another goodthing, as their culinary culture is different from the Han. Believe me Muslim food can be delicious, once again, look around !
Vegetarian huh ? yeah I think that should be pretty easy to find, but not with soup ! You keep on talking about soup ! chinese people like their soup to be tasty, and that means that the soup base will almost always be some kind of broth, either chicken, beef of something else.
So just skip soup, and go for rice, tofu (can be found in many different sorts, there has to be one kind that you will like), and green vegies. Chinese people stir frie a lot of different sorts of green vegetables.
And if that is still not to your likes, then go and try the vegetarian restaurant at Yuantong temple.
I had lunch there once, and it was delicious, extreemely tasty.
Kunming is like anyother city in China or anywhere else in the world : you go to the wrong place, well, you've gone to the wrong place. But then find the right place, and you'll keep going back again and again and again.
Oh ! last thing, about Paris and Chinese food (I'm from Paris) : we've had our great wave and rave of Sichuan restaurants, and still have. But what seems the hype now, has more and more of these restaurants are appearing in Paris, is... Yunnan restaurants ! yeah !
So be proud to be there and enjoy the food, it's becoming famous worldwide !
Go out and look better !
@aum235
Mamafu's can cook. Had an excellent rabbit dish there, and rabbit takes skill. However, haven't found other places as good, except for Dai restaurants. Incidentally, Mamafu's would be considered only slightly above average in many other cities I've been too.
"Go out and look better !" Did that for all of Kunming. Found the food to be much better elsewhere. Maybe just my tastes or maybe being jaded from having had better elsewhere in China.
Dai restaurants are a great culinary bonus for Kunming, but I never seem to include them mentally as part of Kunming cuisine. I'm probably being unfair in that respect, as many of the people who are so vehement they had their best meals in Kunming, are probably talking about a meal they had at a Dai restaurant.
Yuantong temple vegetarian restaurant has closed. So has the small vegetarian mixian place attached to it.
Don't even start on Cantonese food in Kunming. I couldn't even do justice to what a person from Guangzhou would say about it.
Kunming Muslim restaurants can cook ok to good. But for all the muslim restaurants we have in Kunming, it doesn't even approach 10% of the taste of Xian. That being said, Kunming has more than other cities.
I am sorry if I've been to too many other places that put Kunming to shame foodwise. I have lived in this city longer than any place in China because I choose to and like it. But I'm in agreement with BillDan, I don't live here for the Chinese food.
After reading joshwa's "good KM dishes" post I'm inspired to try some new dishes. Nevertheless I'm not sure where to go. What's a good place for er kuai close to Cui Hu/Wenlin Jie area? What about a Dai restaurant?
Also, "Chrysanthemum greens salad with fresh chilis" where do you get this? I would definitely like to find a place I feel safe eating raw vegetables other than Salvador's.
The most popular place for erkuai on Wenlin Jie is the Yunnan place next to the French cafe. The locals love it, long line.
This is my personal favorite Dai restaurant. But most Dai places are good. It has moved towards the intersection with yuan tong jie, in a small alley. You might have to ask around as the entrance is no longer visible from the street. Excellent "lao nai" potatoes.
Not Chinese, but another good place to eat raw veggies is the salad bar buffet at Wicker Basket.
@AlexKMG yep, that's my Dai place, too. It's up a teeny alleyway, next to a red sign that seems to point you around the corner in the wrong direction. :) Go halfway up the walkway and turn left.
Also, there's a half-decent dumpling shop if you go straight up the walkway and around the corner to the right past the pool tables . The guotie are deep-fried, though, so beware. I like the jicai rou (shepherds purse w/ meat) dumplings, and the cold dishes at the front are good, too.
@joshwa
Glad your post inspired someone to go out and try something. Obviously, I'm not a huge fan on Kunming cooking, but I'm all for people trying new places to eat.
This thread was an ad hoc continuation of the "Restaurants you love to hate" thread, which was love/hate on Kunming restaurants, then became love/hate on food in Kunming. It tended more towards the negative. We'll have to start a separate "Good Eats" in Kunming thread which will no doubt have have a more positive vibe.
