Gut

My colleague and I were strolling along Binhai Boulevard in the Nanshan district this evening when we heard someone call out my co-worker's last name. What are the chances of running into a colleague from many years ago while walking the streets of China...in a town in which neither person lives, no less?

After a few minutes getting reacquainted, we informed the man and his wife that we were looking for a place to eat. They said we should go to "this local Sichuan place" just a few blocks away. "You like spicy? They'll take care of you."

We took the couple's advice and made our way to the small, unadorned restaurant. Nobody spoke English. At all. Not a word. We were handed menus in Mandarin which featured unidentifiable pictures of the various dishes. We ordered what appeared to be a beef dish, followed by what appeared to be a noodle dish. Upon ordering the noodle dish, the friendly young lady who was serving us informed us that it was duck. No problem. Duck in China is usually good.

The first pot arrived. It was the duck/noodle dish. We both started eating out of the bowl, and we both got the same look simultaneously. Not only was it hot enough to dissolve your tongue, but it also wasn't duck.

"This is some kind of gut, dude." Indeed.

I still don't know what it was, but it was real chewy and burned like a torch going down. The beef dish arrived next. It was beef, cooked on hot rocks. It was darn tasty, or at least I think it was. I'm really not sure. I have a bad feeling that some coffee and a bran muffin for breakfast are going to leave me holding onto the handicap rails in the bathroom at work.