Day 4 : A Healthy Lunch at Zhangjiajie

Yayy! We'd finally reached Zhangjiajie. First stop, lunch! MH said today's lunch was considerably healthy, with nourishing ingredients and mild flavours .... and most of all, the food was not greasy as compared to some of the places we'd eaten before.

Lunch was at a restaurant named <天天海鲜酒楼> at downtown Zhangjiajie. It was a quiet restaurant, with only one table occupied ... hmn ... perhaps the other tour groups had not arrived. Perhaps it was past the peak lunch hour.

Anyway, we were ushered into a private dining room, and lunch was immediately served.

 White radish soup with clams

Radish had cooling properties, just something we needed to cool off the body on a hot, hot day like this. It also worked well to detox or cleanse the digestive system. The soup was sweet as the clams were rich sources of natural glutamate. It was very pleasant to the palate indeed. 

 Shan Yao (山藥) or Huai Shan (淮山) Stirfry With Pork

This was a Chinese Yam or Wild Yam, a common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. The yam slices had a crunchy texture ... much like that of jicama. The pairing with pork was apt, as the meat added sweetness to the dish. It was believed that the yam helped strengthen the spleen, kidney and lungs, thus promoting good health in general. I liked this dish.

We were served 3 types of vegetables. So healthy indeed.

Celery and pork stirfry
Of the three vegetables, my favourite would be this. Celery had a strong flavour, which some people detested. I found it to be refreshing. I also liked its crunchy texture. The combination with pork worked very well. I enjoyed this dish much. 

Water convolvulus stirfry .... they call it 空心菜 there, i.e. hollowed-stem vegetable

This was fried plain, much like how we would cook it at home. 

Steamed angled gourd on a bed of glass noodles

This was an interesting dish. With so much of chopped garlic on top, the flavours of this dish were surprisingly mild. I could taste the sweetness of the gourd, with just a hint of garlic and light soy sauce. I also loved to eat the glass noodles at the base of the plate .... as they had absorbed all the flavours of the dish. Not bad. Something I would replicate at home. 

Steamed chicken

I could tell that it was free-range chicken  that they used for this dish. The meat was succulent, sweet and tasty. This was our first chicken dish in days!!!

So much garlic was used in the last two dishes .... again, I supposed it was not just for flavouring, but also for health purposes. Garlic was good for health, right? ;P

Dessert! Mantou with condense milk

This was the best mantou we had the entire trip .... the texture was fine yet fluffy. We dipped the bun into condense milk, and that added a rich, sweet and satisfying twist. It was great way to end the meal. 

With our stomachs filled, we were going to Tianmen Mountain next. Yayy!