A Dining Out Guide to Nanchang Pt. 1

Nanchang is not necessarily known for it's food, but there are plenty of very popular local favorites. Nanchang has a special style of fried noodles that is served everywhere and is very delicious. A friend of mine once taught me how to prepare them, but I've never tried to do it at home. Most of the food here is pretty spice. Nanchang people like lots of "la jiao" (peppers) in their food. It's a good thing we like spicy food, because sometimes that's the only way it comes.

Oh all the restaurants in NC, I have one dearly beloved, most especially favorite place: The Famous Restaurant. Now, this isn't actually the name of the restaurant, but rather the nickname it's held onto for the past several years. I was introduced to the Famous by some teacher friends a few years back. It's located at #33 Wen Jiao Lu, near the old campus of Jiangxi Normal University.

Now, this IS a hole in the wall for sure. But, it is a hole in the wall that offers perhaps the best food in the entire city. Imagine that favorite dive restaurant on your college campus that everybody went to. The Famous is like that. It is a dive, without a doubt. Dirty concrete floors and walls, spiderwebs on the ceiling, etc. It is a dive. However- I would proclaim that the food at the Famous is better than the stuff you can get at the really nice restaurants in town. This is because the really nice restaurants are more about presentation than taste. They may offer unique and unusual food choices (turtle, toad, dog), but taste isn't a core value for those places. The Famous though- the Famous has flavor down to a science. They offer home style dishes, local favorites, family style grub.

Anytime a new person comes to town, I take them to the Famous. Anytime I'm going out for a meal on my own and I'm on that side of town- I eat at the Famous.

The owners are able to speak a tiny amount of English, mostly because of the strong word of mouth following among foreigners in the city. When the Survivor crew was in Nanchang and wanted local cuisine, we sent them to the Famous. Now, the question is- what should you eat?

My Famous Restaurant Favs:

1) Jia Xiang Dou Fu (Home Style Bean Curd) - Cooked with peppers and pork. Incredible taste. If you don't think you like Bean Curd (Tofu), wait till you try this. This is the dish that could win anyone over.

2) Tu Dou Si Chao Rou (Sliced Potatoes and Meat) - This dish is just fantastic. The potatoes have a sort of meat gravy that makes the flavor awesome.

3) Rou Mo Qi Zi (Eggplant w/ Meat) Chinese eggplant cut in a spiral with meat and "special" sauce (I think it's fish sauce, but that's a guess) . You should know that I never ate eggplant before I had it here. This is the dish that convinced me that eggplant was okay for consumption.

In fact, when I think about, the reason I eat vegetables now is because of the Famous. I never really ate veggies before I came to China, but now I love them.

4) Quan Dan (Egg "Pizza") This is basically an omelet. Very salty, very spicy, very good.

5) Green Peppers with Black Bean (I forgot how to say it in Chinese, but I usually just describe it) I never realized how yummy whole green peppers could taste. Chinese green peppers are usually very spicy. This dish is cooked with a spicy black bean sauce that is out of this world. Jenny and I actually cook this dish at home a lot.

6) Tang Su Zhu Rou (Sweet and Sour Pork) I don't eat this much anymore, but it's still a great dish. Battered pork in a sweet/spicy sauce. Yum.

7) Ba Si Xiang Jiao/Ping Guo (Battered Banana or Apple) This is for desert. It's basically fried banana or apples with a carmelized sugar sauce. They don't have this very often, but when they do it is fantastic. It takes a long time to cook, but worth the wait.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a list of my favorites. I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed by this restaurant.

On top of all of this, the husband and wife that own the place are dear to me. I've known them for such a long time, and they are always glad to see me when I stop by.