street food - Deanna Roberts Studio

It’s really daunting when you arrive in a strange country, let alone a strange city where time appears to have stood still in many ways. Not being able to speak the language is one thing but not being able to find or ask for food that you need is another. This blog article ‘Where to find food in Jingdezhen’ is more like a list of what to look for, look out for and where to find it. There is a wealth to choose from. Jingdezhen has no shortage of restaurants or food outlets, whether it’s on the street or in the most sophisticated of restaurants. Over the years the number of restaurants and cafes have grown from a meagre few to buckets of them… the choice is huge and dining out is certainly a popular pastime.

So, let’s kick it off…

One thing I discovered at a restaurant in San Bao was the drink Wang Lao Ji. It’s not everybody’s favourite thing but it was certainly mine. I was ever so pleased to find out I could buy it back in Australia at the local Asian supermarkets! It’s also apparently for calming the body’s changes in temperatures and restoring body balance and ‘climatic normality’. I really enjoyed it with most of the food I ate anyway.

It’s pretty much available everywhere. If you don’t find it at a local street shop you’ll find it many restaurants and cafes. It’s like the Coca-Cola of China.

Try it!

© Deanna Roberts 2017

Definitely give the street food a go. Ok… some of it you need to be wary of – eg if it’s been out in the open for a while. Go for the freshly cooked stuff. This guy here was making amazingly thin pancakes and filling them with his special sauce, chilli, chopped greens and a crunchy crostini-type thing. Whatever it was, it was yummy.

Pancakes, dumplings, fish, you name it. Street food has soooooooooooo much on offer. Many of the the street food vendors are selling food at night and also many during the day. You can find a few dotted along the main drag and also at each end of the Sculpture Factory road. The markets also have a lot on offer and street food there is very popular with people queuing up on occasion… especially for the fresh stuff.

© Deanna Roberts 2017

Now you just never know who you’re going to meet. Maije and her husband found me in my residency studio after asking around. A group of us had visited her hubby’s studio a few weeks beforehand and I’d admired his work, asked about it and posed for a few photos. Next thing I was at their home learning how to make dumplings with them and eating mountains of food coupled with a plum wine and lots of conversation. Good thing I had someone there to interpret. What was going to be a short lunch turned into an afternoon of entertaining discussion. Nothing beats the traditional fare I have to say.

Naturally, there’s a wealth of tea to choose from. Whether you shop at the local supermarket, market or venture to towns like Yao Li, the choice of tea is huge. Some of the packaging is simply exquisite and gift-boxed so that you don’t even need to worry about wrapping paper and a card! Shop around though. Green tea ranges in price from just a few dollars for a few hundred grams to hundreds of dollars a kilo. Yes, there is definitely a difference in the taste, and I’m told… how it has been hand-picked and handled, so it really comes down to what suits your taste and budget. Rose bud tea was definitely a fave and again, delightful to know I could also purchase it back home. Most restaurants will serve up green tea automatically on your arrival and it’s customary to rinse out your glass, chopsticks, spoon, bowl and plate before use. There’s usually a pot of tea in the centre for all to use to pour and then a bowl to pour in the used liquid. Some restaurants will also serve you with crockery pre-wrapped and vacuum sealed plastic in order to show you that it has all been carefully washed and is hygienic.

© Deanna Roberts 2017

Tea, is, of course, such a natural part of the Chinese culture. To sit down and talk for hours and share tea, carefully brewed and handled is all part of the customary process. Don’t be surprised if you are also offered small treats along with it, for example, fruit, snack bars and other little sweet temptations.

© Deanna Roberts 2017

Whether you dine locally or venture out of town to places like Po Yung, there’s always more to discover. What you know as a favourite dish locally may also be called the same thing when you’re dining out of town but can look and taste slightly different. Be prepared for those variations as we’re not talking fast-food chains here. Many restaurants also have plastic sheets on the tables as it is also customary to leave your food scraps beside your plate and on the plastic. The plastic is then removed and often just wrapped up and thrown away… scraps ‘n all. You may be invited to sit down at a table where others have just left and their scraps of chicken or fish bones and other discarded items may still be sitting there awaiting disposal. Be prepared for anything really.

© Deanna Roberts 2017

With fine dining, there’s usually the big ‘lazy-susan’ thing in the middle and you’ll no doubt end up sharing various dishes with your other guests. The most respected guest at your table usually sits furthest away from the door and often one person at the table pays for all guests. The waiting staff will often be holding a mobile device and select menu items from there so it pays to know what you’re ordering – ask to look at the images or take photos of food you have discovered you like and show it to them. Lotus root, fried chicken and fried dumplings are certainly popular.

When we say be prepared for anything… well… yes… there may still be the odd restaurant that serves dog. How its all served I don’t know. I have never been game enough to try, nor do I intend to. I’m not even sure how many of those restaurants still exist but if you spot a cage of dogs outside the front of a restaurant, well… you can draw your own conclusions. I’ve also heard that restaurants serving dog are now banned in the major cities (maybe a rumour?) but how far that rule has reached I cannot say. Ask around. It may or may not be your thing, but it’s worth checking either way. There are certainly lots of different ways that we do things, regardless of what country you’re from, we all have our customs and our preferred cuisines. It just comes down to what you’re prepared to try and how your taste buds are going to react. Having someone who speaks and reads the local lingo though, is definitely worthwhile.

© Deanna Roberts 2017

In comparison there’s also the hot pot concept where you share a table with a group of friends and have a hotplate and hot pot directly in front of each of you. Decide between yourselves what fresh ingredients you’re going to order and plates of fresh hot pot items will arrive for you to share around and make up your own concoctions.

Often the water in your pots may already be boiling if they’re anticipating your arrival and you may well find a few dates and perhaps a piece of lotus root in the pot, bubbling away, and adding a small, refreshing touch of sweetness along with beautiful aromas. Try different combinations, test a few things out. Its the perfect opportunity. Its fresh, its tasty and its totally up to you what you throw in to your hot pot.

There are also some very contemporary cafes around too and it’s worth popping in for the atmosphere. Yo Yo Cafe in Gallery street is well worth a visit but be prepared to pay through the nose for a coffee, ie about 4 times more than what you might pay elsewhere.

Yinji Cafe is also very eclectic (located just around the corner from the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute) and well worth a visit. Venture up the stairs to their little gallery of antiquities or stay downstairs and watch a movie on the big screen while you devour a piece of cheesecake and a cuppa. Makes for an interesting night out too.

Well, now you can say you’ve had a taste of what’s on offer (no pun intended). Failing all of that there is the supermarket and the fresh fruit stalls. The red dragon fruit (Hóng lóng guǒ) is delectably sweet and delicious and should be on your ‘bucket food list’. If you want to remain with completely westernised styled food, there’s always Walmart. Be prepared, again, to pay through the nose for what you want, usually located in the foreign-food section.

If you’ve got your own food ideas and experiences of where you’ve been in Jingdezhen and what you’ve tried, whether it’s their amazing chicken soup (head ‘n all) or turtle or the simplest of cuisines, we’d love to hear about it. Please share here in the comments below.

Happy dining!