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I found a restaurant serving "Texas BBQ" here in Wenzhou, China. I went there...

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    I found a restaurant serving "Texas BBQ" here in Wenzhou, China. I went there...

    I was browsing around on dianping.com the other day, as you do, and was amazed to find a restaurant that served "Texas BBQ". Wow, this has got to be some crappity-crap, right? I looked at the reviews online and found it wasn't just some slop on a plate, they had something that looked like ribs. I had to go. I have this eternal optimism that makes me order the margarita from every menu that has one, even though I know it's going to suck. I can't shake the idea that if I just go to enough places, I'll find a really great one. To be honest, sometimes it gets into masochism. I remember David Parrish told me a while back to do a report on local BBQ if I found any so here it is.
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    The entrance.


    The restaurant was called "Hershey" for some reason. I really don't know why. I can guess that the owner probably spent some time in Pennsylvania or did business with the Hershey company. It's not really a "BBQ restaurant", but rather a restaurant that also serves an exotic dish: American BBQ. So keep that in mind, it ain't exactly The Salt Lick.
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    The interior



    We sat down and I eagerly grabbed the menu. To my immense surprise, they not only had "Texas BBQ", but also "American BBQ". The American BBQ was clearly ribs, and the Texas BBQ was described to me as "belly". I had a double reaction here. I have learned the Chinese character for "belly" and avoid it like the plague. I have learned from hard experience that it means "intestines" when it appears on menus. However, the photo looked a lot like brisket. I really got excited for a moment. Isn't brisket a belly meat?
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    American BBQ BBQ. ¥108 for the platter, that's $15.72.
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    Ooo la la, BBQ barbecue let you enjoy the American south Texas amorous feelings? This is why you don't let your relative who "speaks English" translate your menu.



    If you're wondering what was on the rest of the menu, it had a lot of seafood since that's popular here. Some other "generic foreign food" dishes like spaghetti bolognaise.
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    This was the front page of the menu. I really don't know what this is about.


    I only get 10 pictures per post, so continued underneath.

    #2
    We sat down and I ordered a beer. I had to specifically order a "cold" beer, otherwise you just get one that's been sitting out. Place settings were nice enough. Chopsticks and fork & spoon together. That thing that looks like a condom? Really looked like a condom. It turned out to be a wet-nap.
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    I ordered both BBQ platters. Why not, it's a special night out with my girl. Usually she has to work every evening until 10:30pm. She only gets 3 days a month off. Not unusual for service jobs (she's a spa manager). The first BBQ platter arrives. It's the Texas BBQ.

    Starting at the lettuce garnish and going clockwise, it's the BBQ, the yellow vegetable is Japanese daikon white radish that's been pickled in a yellow brine, potato wedges, sausage slices, slightly toasted white bread, a sort of thin thousand island dressing, plain ketchup, and a salad with the same dressing.
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    I guess this is a kind of boneless short rib? I'm not really sure what it is. Maybe very thick sliced bacon? There was no smoke flavor, and you can see there is no smoke ring. The bark looked good, but it was spongy and soft. The meat was tender and had clearly been slow cooked, but indoors in an oven. No BBQ sauce, which would have really helped this dish. This was the first time I had ever had slow cooked meat from a Chinese restaurant, and it was quite nice. My girl recognized the similarity from what I had cooked for her before. I was expecting Taiwan sausage, which has a weird off flavor, but this sausage was some kind of commercial sausage. It was kind of greenish inside and was pretty forgettable. I appreciated the white bread. It would have been better toasted on both sides, and toasted more. But at least it helped accompany the BBQ. It was only toasted on one side, which means they did it on the grill and not in a toaster.

    Next to arrive was the "American BBQ" which was ribs. This was the one I was looking forward to. Wow, after all this time, slow cooked BBQ pork ribs right here in my town. A recognizable slab of ribs!
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    The ribs were oven-baked. Nice and tender. Again, hampered by the absence of bark. The sauce was described as "vinegar flavor" by the staff but I didn't think it was very vinegary. More tomatoey to my taste. It was served on butcher paper, so someone had at one point been into a real BBQ restaurant. Me and my girl stripped the bones clean.

    Last edited by Lost in China; November 16, 2016, 08:11 AM.

    Comment


    • ecowper
      ecowper commented
      Editing a comment
      Lost in China you can make your own bacon with pork belly. Meathead has some great recipes for that. For the uncured, slow cooked ... I'd cook it just like you do a pork shoulder. Other folks on here have certainly done it and could give input.

    • Meathead
      Meathead commented
      Editing a comment
      Looks like belly to me. My pork belly recipe http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porkn...ork_belly.html

    • EdF
      EdF commented
      Editing a comment
      Yum!

    #3
    The surprise of the night was a really good rosemary roast potatoes. The potatoes could have been cooked much more on the outside (again - bark!) but the taste was right. I've never seen rosemary used anywhere in China except as a garnish on fancy cocktails. The cherry tomatoes with the potatoes were just right. Best side dish in ages.
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    My final judgement? It would have never passed back home but we're not in Texas. If we were back home it would get 3/10, but here I give it 8/10. I could have been more disappointed. Keep in mind this restaurant has been adjusted for local tastes. Think about your delivery Chinese food restaurant that serves dishes like Moo Goo Gai Pan and General Tso's Chicken that nobody in China has ever heard of. It was pretty pricey, but then again a night out means spend money. Plus foreign food is always more expensive. Would go again but only get the boneless dish. Maybe I'll use it to impress guests, or when someone else is paying.

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    Comment


      #4
      Beautiful

      Comment


        #5
        Great post. I enjoyed reading it and looking at the photos. I'm glad you found this place and had a night out there. Thanks for sharing.

        Comment


          #6
          Great write up and photos. I learned while in the Navy that ordering "X" food, (where "X" is a country's food - like Chinese or Italian), in different countries may mean many different things.

          Comment


            #7
            Better than Anthony Bourdain!

            Comment


              #8
              Great report and pictures! Thanks!

              Comment


                #9
                Nice post! Always fun when traveling/living abroad to experience the local interpretations of one's native cuisine.

                Comment


                  #10
                  Great write-up, and well documented; it's a lot of fun to find posts like yours in our "little" community!

                  Comment


                    #11
                    Awesome! If that's the best BBQ in china you need to open a restaurant!

                    Comment


                    • Lost in China
                      Lost in China commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Ha...friends urged me to do so. But a restaurant is 10% cooking and 90% other business stuff. You have to live at the restaurant to make sure the staff makes things correctly and doesn't steal you blind. I've always said I will gladly consult for a fee and teach someone else the Tao of Meathead.

                    #12
                    Great write up. Thanks for sharing your experience. I would imagine this is a toss up every time you go out to dinner.

                    Comment


                    • Lost in China
                      Lost in China commented
                      Editing a comment
                      At $15.75 a plate I think I'll stick to noodles and rice most of the time.

                    #13
                    Just to think, I would never have known how the Chinese do American bbq if I hadn't joined this site!

                    Comment


                      #14
                      I always enjoy your posts. Thanks for letting us share in your adventures. I remember going to a "Tex-Mex" place in London once when I was in high school, and therefore didn't know any better. To this day I'm not sure what I ate.

                      Comment


                        #15
                        nice write-up - thanks for sharing!

                        Comment

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