You Need A Shower After This Meal

Lucky for us, some of the Chinese interns at the China Academy for Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) are foodies. And literate. I do OK in live conversation, but it’s frustrating for me that I have such difficulties reading Chinese; the whole world of the Chinese-language Web is inaccessible to me.

So they found out on some food website about this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Wu Ge Ji Chi, 五哥鸡炽, tucked into a 胡同 hutong district that specializes in spicy chicken wing skewers. Basically that means you wander down this little alley until you come to this tiny, non-air conditioned restaurant where it turns out you need to make a reservation at least a week in advance. Wang Wei, one of the interns, had called last week, yay!

The chicken wings come in four levels of spiciness, from hottest to least hot, named 两面辣 liang mian la (two-sided spiciness), 一面辣 yi mian la (one side with spice), 微辣 wei la (less spicy), and 不辣 bu la (not spicy). Literally, the hottest kind had the spicy rub on both sides, then only one side, then less rub on one side, and finally no rub. Some sort of rub with dried chiles, cumin, and other spices I couldn't identify. The 一面辣 yi mian la was really enough for me. Really yummy chicken, but I was super sweaty and had a runny nose afterwards, despite lots of cold cold Coke.

Peter had 17 skewers total of various spiciness strengths. He’s pictured below with He, one of the interns from Nanjing University, who also ate many skewers, and who demonstrated a special skill at picking the bones very clean. I always tell Peter he leaves behind too much meat when eating off the bone. Compare and contrast their two piles after eating and you decide whether Peter’s being wasteful. ☺

They also had grilled bread, 馒头 man tou, on a stick, flavored with a bit of chicken drippings, with a lovely crunch. Peter, the bread fiend, was very fond of them. At one RMB each (the exchange is about 7.5 RMB to the dollar), who can resist?