“We go to VIP room” instructed my companion, uttering a phrase that I would rapidly get accustomed to hearing. Over the course of the next two weeks and 28 restaurant meals, I ate in the main restaurant precisely three times. The remaining 25 meals were served “in VIP room” that had three things in common: they were cold, cramped and almost entirely filled by a round table complete with Lazy Susan. Beyond that, they were indistinguishable with one notable exception, in Guangzhou, of which more later.
As with everything in China there is no simple explanation for this custom although hygiene and status are significant factors. Simply put, ten years ago, Chinese restaurants were health hazards. While hygiene has improved markedly over the years, you still run a serious risk of contracting dysentery, hepatitis and other hideous diseases. The rapidly, rising middle class prefers to reduce this risk via VIP rooms. In the VIP rooms, of which every restaurant has at least a dozen, the bowls and plates are typically, shrink wrapped in thin plastic; chop sticks are sealed in paper packaging. During my trip, my host also sloshed warm tea or water over each plate and bowl as an added precaution. I confess. I found this habit more charming than reassuring.
Nevertheless, this ritualized performance accompanied every meal, to be followed by a seemingly endless stream of food. Each steaming dish was placed by servers on to the Lazy Susan. Since I was always the guest of our microscope suppliers, the new arrivals would quickly be rotated in front of me for first taste. As a result, you theoretically face the very real danger of grossly over eating at every meal. Happily, the method of food preparation and chop sticks prevent this from happening. Chinese chefs do not cut their food off the bone; they cut through the bone and they cut small to facilitate chop sticks. In my case, a chopstick is designed to ensure minimal intake as I remain an inept user. When confronted with tiny pieces of chicken, of which a large proportion of each is bone – well, it is no wonder that Chinese eat close to their plates, suck, chew and spit noisily – it is a life saving formula to which I quickly adapted.
Most Chinese at these meals end up eating a lot of a little. At one meal, after what is almost a statutory array of broths (vegetable, chicken and snake), I realized that, in the space of two hours, I had eaten parts of several fish (boiled), goat (boiled), chicken (boiled), pigeon, python (grilled), cobra (grilled), more fish (boiled), rice (boiled in water and snake broth), and at least six different green vegetables (boiled). In Wuzhou, they like their food boiled!
To drink, I swallowed a gallon of tea, beer, some local fire water and the piece de resistance, snake gall bladder. The gall bladder was my own fault. I had noticed one of our party quaffing several shots. As I had just arrived and was searching for some polite conversation, I naively, enquired what she was drinking. The gleam in her eye should have warned me. Before I knew it, a shot glass was magically produced and she began to massage this purple paste into the firewater. I knew from the gleam in everyone’s eye that this was a mistake. They would test this foreigner. Believe me. There is nothing like snake gall bladder shots. The taste is insanely bitter and unpleasant. The immediate temptation is to spit it out. I know my face puckered in disgust owing to the cry of mirth that resounded round our tiny VIP room. And spit it out I was about to do….when suddenly, the taste metamorphosed into the sweetest, warming sensation on my tongue. The contrast was extraordinary. The effect was disconcerting. The temptation was to try it again. I resisted. Snake, it transpired, is a local delicacy and, until recently, Wuzhou was the center of the Chinese snake processing industry.
It goes without saying that Guangxi, the province in which Wuzhou is located, is not a world famous cuisine. It used to be famous for its snake processing factories, most of which have disappeared. On the other hand, my next stop in Guangzhou (Canton) was a pleasant contrast. Situated near the mouth of the Pearl River, Canton is famous for its cuisine and rightly so. While I confess to a minor detour to an Italian restaurant in order to introduce my host to European cooking, I still relish some of the Cantonese meals. Spicy, steaming fish dishes, delicious chicken with almost no bones, vegetables as good as anywhere in the world and immaculate, understated service. Even the VIP room was tastefully decorated and, best of all, warm! Moreover, snake was not on the menu.
Author Resource:-
Charles Crookenden is the owner of The Microscope Store, LLC (http://www.microscope.com). He is British, married to an American and is a keen traveller.
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