I got a nice response with my Mao picture, but some of you wanted to know more about the Mao Restaurant. (And I tried to post comments on your blogs, but I’m afraid from China it is impossible!)
Red Cooked Pork at 8 o’clock
It’s actually called Mao Jia and it is part of a chain of Hunan-style restaurants that serve all the chairman’s favorite foods. Hunan-style food is renowned for being spicy and delicious. Hunan is a province in the southeast of China and is Mao’s home province. The first restaurant was opened in 1987 and now it has spread across China.
Among the great dishes they serve is my favorite (and Mao’s), Hong Shao Rou or Red Cooked Pork. This dish consists of fatty pork belly, cooked slowly in dark soy sauce (and other things), until the flavors meld and the fat melts. It is truly wonderful and has given me a new appreciation for fat. I also love a dish of pork ribs covered in sticky rice.
Here is an article about Mao Jia Restaurant and here is a beautiful food blog about red cooked pork.
We had a going away party at Mao Jia for a very good Chinese friend, Liu Shuang,who is going to Canada for flight training. In the grand Chinese tradition, we had a ton of food, toasts with beer & baijiu (white liquor) and lots of laughs.
