Oh, the restaurants of Jinzhou! There are so many places to choose from! I wanted to put together a list of our usual haunts. Unfortunately, I don’t know any of their names. Josh and I have our own descriptions of these places, and if you happen to be in Jinzhou, we can take you there!

Hot Pot Place Near the Fu-Mart - First, an explanation of Mongolian Hot Pot: They bring out a large bowl of boiling broth. Then they bring out stuff for you to cook in the broth. This usually includes thinly sliced raw meat, vegetables, noodles, tofu, etc. It is fun to eat, and very social, but what do you get at the end? You get boiled meat. It is always a little disappointing. The best part is the sesame sauce for dipping.
At this particular place they serve it the old-fashioned, Mongolian way. The bowl looks like a hookah. It has very hot coals in a central chimney. That chimney is surrounded by a moat of broth. It is a cool device, that must have worked great back in the days before propane burners. I don’t like it because it is hard to fish out the chunks of food. You can’t see what you are looking for!

Hot Pot Place Recommended by a Cab Driver - I have no idea how to find this place again, but it was pretty good. They serve Mongolian Hot Pot in the modern style, in a shallow bowl over a gas burner. It is much easier to find your food this way. But again, it is boiled meat. You can only get so enthusiastic over boiled meat, even served with sesame sauce.

Hot Pot Place on Main Street With the Big Fake Tree Inside - This is our favorite restaurant in Jinzhou! Instead of using raw meat, they grill the meat first and assemble all the ingredients before bringing them to your table. They serve it in a rich broth, over a propane burner. It continues to sizzle in the broth while you eat it. It is about one-hundred times better than the stuff that comes out raw and just gets boiled.
I also like the kind of tea they serve at this place. It has orange zest, and a bunch of other stuff in it.

Mette’s Favorite Beijing Duck - Beijing Duck is good, good, good! For those who have never had it, they bring a roast duck to your table and carve it into little, bite-sized pieces. They also give you little crepes, sliced scallions, sliced cucumbers, and plum sauce. You dip the duck pieces in the plumb sauce and wrap the crepe around it, with some of the vegetables. You eat it like a mini-burrito. Yummy! There are at least two dedicated Beijing Duck restaurants in Jinzhou, but we have only been to this one so far. The duck they served us was a little too cold. Warmer would be better. Aside from that, it was good.

Close to Campus, But Full of Working Men, Not Students - I especially like their whole, fried fish. The waitress brings out the fresh fish for us so that we can see it before it is prepared. The vegetable dishes are also good. Stay away from the cumin beef. It is served sitting in a puddle of oil.

Close to Campus Where the Cool Kids Hang Out - I am trying to remember what we ate in this place. I know it was stir-fried something. On the bright side, plenty of our students were there, so they could help us order.

Close to Campus Where They Play Historical Soap Operas on the TV - We have only been to this place once, but I liked it a lot! We ate jin jeng ro si, thin strips of some kind of meat, stir-fried, served over raw, slivered scallions. They serve little crepes that are actually made of pressed tofu on the side, and you eat it by wrapping the tofu around the meat and scallions. Very good, and very cheap. We only spent 8 yuan there, and that included beer.

Dumpling Place Across From the Open Market - I love this place. For 6 yuan you get an enormous plate of steamed dumplings filled with chopped mutton. You also get a mutton broth in which to dunk them. These are the best dumplings I have ever had. They also keep the kitchen open, so you can see them cutting up the sheep in the back. I usually choose not to look.

Korean Restaurant on Circle Bus Route - Beware Korean restaurants in Jinzhou, because most seem to serve dog meat. They serve other things, too, but you have to be extra careful to avoid eating dog. At this particular place, we ate Korean barbequed beef (bulgogi) and pork. I thought it was okay but Josh wasn’t impressed. He’s picky when it comes to Korean food, and they didn’t give us any kimchi.

KFC - The Colonel is everywhere in this town, but so far I have refused to partake. I am waiting for Jinzhou to get a Popeye’s.

Night Vendors Across the Street From Our College - The lady who makes an inside-out egg crepe is good. The father and son who make fried rice are good. Stay away from the fried meat on a stick.