吃在春熙路[二]

其乐锅魁
锅魁 is a traditional localChengdu snack. The idea is very much similar to hamburger. First you get a 馍馍/饼[the name is different depending on the region]Chinese pancake and cut it in half. Then you choose what to put inside. In Chengdu it's usually pot-stewed pork[卤肉]， marinated pig ear sliced[猪耳朵片],chicken, vegetable, etc. Si an[西安] has a famous snack-- 羊肉泡馍. It's roughly the same structure with different content. This is a 100% fast food. Everything is pre-prepared. It takes about one minute to cut the "bun" and put the stuff inside. The price is very reasonable. It costs 2-6,7yuan depending on the location[this one in春熙路definitely costs more than those on little street] and your choice of inside[vegetarian is cheaper].

一番寿司屋
Obviously, this is a sushi place. Japanese food has been quite popular in China. First it's foreign so that people want to try. Second compared to western food, Japanese cooking is easier for us to accept. We are neighbors anyways.[note: the same is true to Korean food, Indian, Nepalese..more later] But this one is especially interesting. They have a big post outside preaching the origin of sushi--寿司源于中国。 It draws evidence from linguistic research and history, really is very convincing. Later I learned the boss is a local Chengdu 人。

In the food kingdom, where is the national border?

星巴克Starbucks V.S. 良木缘
Starbucks, with no surprise, takes a seat at 春熙路。This one[note: the chains could look very different in China, more later] has pretty much the same set up as what I've seen in the U.S./Europe. The price is almost the same--but with the exchange rate....
In the picture we see another coffee place right across the street--良木缘咖啡. It serves also-- coffee, with pretty much the same price. Compared to Starbucks, 良木缘is more versatile. It provides pizza, pasta, many "staple western food". Later I searched on-line and found out that 良木缘 was opened in 1998 by a local Chengdu couple that have worked in Singapore and Japan. They saw the market of coffee and after 10 years now they have chains in Si an, Wu Han as well.


章鱼小丸子， 傲味鸭脖
these glassed food stands are unique in 春熙路。[it might exist elsewhere but I haven't seen].
。They all sell finger foods. Here two representatives. 章鱼小丸子[octopus balls], it takes the name from Japan but foods from all over, such as Taiwanese hot-dog," peeing beef ball"[撒尿牛丸]from Hongkong, grilled meats from Chengdu, milk tea from Taiwan [I guess].

The other one-傲味鸭脖. This is classic! marinated duck neck..a very typical snack in many regions[at least in Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan that I know of]. We somehow like chewing these bony parts, such as neck, head, tail,etc. 傲味鸭脖 is a brand in Chengdu. It probably learned from the KFC,Starbucks, established their brand and set up chains. There have a really funny advertisement: 爱我就啃我吧！[bite me if you love me!]:-)
Note foods like duck neck didn't use to have a brand or even chains. It's a recent development. People usually recognize the specific place that makes the right flavor, which is still the case in many places. But in this area, flavor is not the primary consideration.