Surprising and nice encounter with Tibetan food (II)

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When my ‘stir-fried’ beef was served, I could not believe it was only for me -- it was a big portion - a full big plate!! I don't think I have ever seen this generous portion in any Chinese restaurants in China or abroad, other than in northern China. So I thought it was just like people normally said - it is a typical 'northern' thing. But, hey, now, I know I am wrong, very wrong. And the taste of the stir fried beef -- it took me back home with the memory of my uncle’s food straight away.

Tibetan beef is famous, so it is not surprising that they can cook really tasty beef dishes; however, I was surprised that the taste of these dishes was very similar to my regional and ethnic group food, even they are not close geographically at all. And the touch of cumin seeds and coriander makes it even better.

Although, I keep on talking about the surprising similarities between Tibetan food and my ethnic group's food, there were actually some differences - one is the prevalence of curry dishes in Tibetan cuisine; in Chinese cuisine, curry never really existed before receiving Japanese and Cantonese influences, and it has never been a 'common homecooking food' in China.

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Surprising and nice encounter with Tibetan food (I)

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This is a totally lovely surprise!! In the evening, a few of us decided to go to the city centre of Bonn (Germany), and find a restaurant there for dinner. None of us really knew Bonn that well, we wanted to wander around, see what we could find. When we aimlessly got off the tram, a friend suddenly suggested, ‘how about Tibetan food’? He explained that on Monday he tried to dine there with a few other friends, unfortunately it was closed, but he might still be able to remember the way. We immediately agreed --- for us, all the food lovers, we LOVE to try everything!

On the way to there, this friend kept on saying that he did not really know if it was going to be good or not, and hope we would like it. --- He was a bit worried if it was going to be a bad choice. The truth was, besides loving to try the food, I was very curious about the restaurant and the people there.

I had never been to Tibet, and I did not have many chances to know Tibetan people and their food. But I have heard so much of it, my dad used to have some students from Tibet, his knowledge of Tibet was really ‘first hand’. They remained very close friendship after the graduation. And my mum always says that the only wish she has is to visit Tibet one day, as it is the only province in China she has never visited. -- So you can imagine, for me, it was not even that important if the food was nice or not --- but I want to be there.

So there we were. Once you entered the restaurant, you could see all of the staffs there with distinguishing Tibetan features -- somehow, we knew we came to the right place, the food was going to be good and authentic.

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