What special snacks does Qibao have?
Special snacks in Qibao Ancient Town
Famous snacks in the ancient town
Old Street Rice Balls
After crossing the bridge, we went straight to this " The "Laojie Tangyuan" shop, which has long been famous, is located in the middle of Laojie, at No. 26 South Street. There are round glutinous rice balls floating on the water in two big pots, and with the constant stream of diners coming in and out, it looks like a famous restaurant.
The dumplings here come in four flavors: fresh meat, bean paste, sesame and date paste, and each is hexagonal. The diners queued up in front of the big pot in a regular manner. The glutinous rice balls had been cooked in the pot for a long time. With such a flow of customers, there was no need to worry about the glutinous rice balls being overcooked and unsaleable.
The chef skillfully uses a spoon to nudge the dumplings one by one, and when the dumplings are rolled, they can identify what kind of filling they are, and they can get them right!
When you take a bite of the fresh meat dumpling, a packet of soup drips out. While shouting that it is hot, you quickly sip to catch it, for fear of losing the most delicious soup. The soft glutinous rice skin requires no effort on the teeth, and the meat is delicate and tender. When you bite it, it loosens into tiny particles, and there is obviously no trace of starch. The glutinous rice dumplings with jujube paste, you can feel the special jujube fragrance when you sip it with your mouth. You can only see traces of jujube paste in the middle of the upper and lower glutinous rice balls. The dough is really not ordinary glutinous! The filling of jujube paste is made from dried jujubes, which are pitted, chopped, and steamed with sugar. It is smooth in the mouth and the flavor of jujubes is still there after it passes over the tip of the tongue delicately.
Looking out through the window on the second floor of the shop, the cornices on the opposite floor seem to be within reach.
Braised pork
Braised pork is also a specialty of the ancient town. The meat is wrapped in lotus leaves and cooked in homemade marinade for a long time. A lot of the fat is reduced. Although It looks dark and earthy, but it tastes fragrant and delicious, a typical farm food flavor.
Duck necks, duck legs, duck gizzards, various bean products, etc. were cooked in large and small pots, each with a vivid soy sauce sheen, although at first glance you have to get closer. Observe its raw materials, but the rich variety makes picky people unable to help but spend money to buy one or two bunches. The cheapest one is one yuan per bunch, and many shops in the old street sell it.
Stuffed snails with meat and clams with meat are also attractive delicacies in the same shop. The preparation method is not difficult. Boil the snails and clams in boiling water first, pick out the meat and mash it with the pork, and add seasonings. The ingredients are then poured into snails and clams and cooked. When you eat it, it is a delicious mixture of seafood and meat. It is sold at a shop next to the dumplings on the old street for 13.8 yuan per pound.
Tempting snacks
Qibao Square Cake
Walking through the old street, I saw a lot of the square cake here, which is another famous Local snacks. The traditional square cake is made of glutinous rice crust and bean paste filling. It is about the size of two palms put together and costs 6 yuan a piece. It is soft and glutinous when it is first steamed, but will become hard after being stored for a long time. It is said that the square cake tastes best when it is about to become hard, with moderate sweetness and a delicate texture. Nowadays, there are also jujube paste fillings, mung bean paste, pine nut cinnamon fillings, and the price is 7-12 yuan a piece.
Begonia Cake
The freshly baked crabapple cake is watered with sugar water. It looks unattractive and burnt yellow, but the aroma is definitely appetizing. It costs 1 yuan each. Although you have to queue up to buy it, you still need it. "Grabbing", he stretched his hand very high, took a hot paper bag, and took a bite while it was hot. First, there was crispy caramel, and then there was soft dough, which was not sticky to the teeth and also had a strange fragrance. When you bite into it, you will find the delicate bean paste, which is so fresh that it turns purple. When hot, the bean paste has a liquid feel, and you can eat it without realizing it. Although I heard it is quite high in calories, I will regret missing this delicious snack for the rest of my life. Stores specializing in crabapple cakes include No. 1 and No. 25 South Street.
Duck Feet Bao
Friends who like salty food may wish to try this Duck Feet Bao. The duck feet are wrapped with a layer of rope, which tastes a bit like bean curd skin. , someone told me it was thin duck intestines. The duck feet are nothing special. The novelty is that there are a few pieces of cured duck meat wrapped in them. They are quite chewy and the umami flavor is absorbed by the outer layer of soy products. It is a natural delicacy.
Interesting delicacies
White-cut mutton
The mutton is fat and lean, with tough skin and crispy meat. Of course, it needs to be paired with the best sauce. Tianxianglou’s Mutton is highly praised by many people. The braised mutton there is stewed with mutton, red dates, American ginseng, rock sugar and high-quality soy sauce. It is sweet and soft. About 28 yuan/jin.
Qianlixiang Stinky Tofu
On a corner of the old street, there is a small shop with a flag that says "Stinky Dried Tofu". Buy one and pour it on it. Sweet noodle sauce and hot sauce are eaten on the street. 4 yuan/yuan.
Qibao Zongrou
A wine shop makes Zongrou, which seems to be a bit close to the water. This glutinous rice is said to be made with a secret recipe. It is moderately sweet and salty, and is full of the aroma of wine and meat. The pork in a small jar can be steamed for 20 minutes before it is ready to eat.
Shenglulu Candy
The specialty of the store is a variety of maltose, peanut cakes, orange cakes, etc. handmade on site. The slogan on the packaging is quite interesting: "My favorite candy when I was a kid." The peanut cake is not sweet in the mouth, it is fragrant and crispy, and the maltose will make girls who love sweets less worried.
In addition, the dried sweet potatoes, rice cake dumplings, and soybean cake stalls on the old street are also quite popular; there are also Fuliji roast chicken with thin skin and tender meat, and the steamed meat with lotus leaf powder is fragrant; Qibao Old Restaurant has a special fish head soup, which is cooked and raised in-house. Fish are raised at the door and fish are caught on site, which is quite interesting.
After eating and shopping around, your appetite is completely satisfied. Counting the money in my arms, I really haven’t used much. In Qibao Ancient Town, you can eat and drink with street food for only about ten yuan! Bring some special food back to honor the elders, it’s enough for less than 100 yuan. The transportation is also very convenient. It takes more than an hour one way from the city.
Eat while walking at Qibao Snack Street
This visit was like a trip. In this season, it can be used as a spring outing.
In the past, spring outings were mainly about playing, but this time they were about eating. As people grow up, their goals change.
The sun was shining brightly and the spring flowers were blooming on the day we went. The ancient town has the atmosphere of an ancient town. Eating on such a street with a retro charm is very different from sitting in a glorious palace with golden walls. Which feels good? I believe that the environment should complement the food. There is no need to go to a place other than a luxuriously decorated place to eat duck neck. Right?
I have heard that Haitang cake and square cake are the most authentic ones from Qibao, and they are indeed good.
The prices of both cakes are very cheap. The crabapple cake looks a bit like a rough Portuguese egg tart. The sweetness is different. It is not the taste of sugar, but it should be related to crabapple. Eating such a cake will not make you very full and can be used as an appetizer. There were a lot of people queuing up to buy. When it was my turn, I bought 10 pieces and packed them up to take home to eat. I noticed that the aunt at the back of the queue was not very friendly in her eyes.
It is said that many local people can make square cakes, which are made into small grids with fillings inside. It's very soft when hot, but it was very hard when I bought it, as hard as bricks. There are many shops to buy cakes, so you don’t have to queue in one shop. It must be steamed and hot when eating. I didn't believe it at first. It really didn't feel good eating it when it was cold. After steaming and heating, it becomes much softer. The cake itself is very loose and the filling inside is sweet bean paste. I like it very much.
Before going there, I didn’t expect that steamed pork and beggar’s chicken are also sold in the snack street. In my mind, beggar chicken is definitely not a specialty of Qibao. Because it is delicious, it might be a good idea to introduce it. It just looks like a beggar, and the alluring fragrance is due to this soil. If it tastes good, buy it. The steamed pork is very fragrant. Even if you are not too hungry, you still want to eat it. It gives you a bit of a stimulating taste.
This is the first time I have eaten duck foot treasure, and the first time I have heard of it. I was curious, so I bought four. It is duck intestines wrapped in salted duck feet. It tastes very salty and the duck intestines are very hard. It should be considered as a dish to go with wine. Qibao's wine is also somewhat famous, so I don't dare to make any mistakes.
Many times, it’s not about how delicious the food is, but because of the mood. When the mood is good, the fans turn into shark fins; when the mood is bad, the shark fins turn into fans. It's that simple.
Incomplete search for food and entertainment in the ancient town
Food
The town is not big, but it is good if it has water. While boating on Puhuitang, I suddenly caught a glimpse of two palace boats beside the ancient building. They were exquisitely carved and very eye-catching. After landing, I decided to check it out. It turned out to be a Japanese restaurant called Chao Laiwu. Compared with other snacks in the ancient town, this restaurant is more elegant and suitable for entertaining friends.
This restaurant, located at No. 32 South Street, Qibao Ancient Town, specializes in live eel dishes. If you order a la carte, you can eat freshly killed eels for 40 yuan, and the "heavy eel" set meal is 45 yuan. It can satisfy your gluttonous cravings. The golden grilled eel is smooth in the mouth and tastes fresh and tender without losing the original taste of the eel. This set meal also comes with steamed eggs, dried eel soup, fruits and drinks, which is very affordable. The sashimi platter at this restaurant is also very fresh, and the Japanese skewers (8-10 yuan) are a large platter with all kinds of umami flavors. Chicken hearts, chicken gizzards, chicken skin, and chicken cartilage all instantly turned into delicious food in the hands of the chef. Delicious, there are two flavors to choose from: sauce-roasted and salt-roasted. The former is seasoned with sand tea, which is sweet but not greasy, while the salt-roasted method adds a bit of freshness.
It is said that the charcoal-grilled steak in this restaurant is cooked by the proprietress herself. When it is served, it is slowly grilled on the table in an alcohol stove. The aroma slowly spreads out, making the temptation irresistible.