My Lovely Blogaki

The other day, I went to a small Chinese restaurant in Birmingham China town.

While we were perusing the menu, the madame (owner chef's wife, I guessed) recommended this dish outside the menu: Water Meln cooked with string mushrooms.

As neither I nor my dining companion had particular idea what to eat, we went for it.

The winter melon (冬瓜), hidden under the sea of string mushroom sauce, was beautiful opaque green and plenty. The winter melons do not have strong taste, but it was nicely complemented by thick and tasty sauce (I thought it contained oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesami oil).

The price was no cheap £7.80, while other veggie dishes priced around £5, but it is probably justfiable if we consider that string mushroom (エノキ茸 in Japanese) and winter melon are both airborn imported vegetable. Restaurants typically charge 66-70% more on original material price and I think £7.80 is just right in this case.



The other dish we ordered is mixed seafood and vegetablee chow mein, for very resonable £5.80. It was also tasty, though I thought the noodles should not be cut short as it was done here.

Birmingham is full of these small Chinese restaurants that serve both authentic and innovative dishes. I am fascinated.