I originally wanted to book the renowned Shanghai Imperial Banquet to experience authentic imperial cuisine! But it was fully booked two weeks ago 😭
Just then, I saw the newer Taste of China, $788 per person, with a buy-one-get-one-free offer, so I gave it a try 😬
Turns out, it was a great deal!
Looking at the 180-degree giant screen, the story of a panda chef traveling across China developing new dishes unfolds~
The panda experiences Chinese culture from Jiangnan, visits the Confucius Temple in Beijing, fishes in Guilin 🎣, and selects fermented bean paste and Sichuan peppercorns 🌶️… The whole thing is narrated in English, which is quite funny 😀
For example, when the panda talks to the living statue of Confucius at the Confucius Temple, he learns the phrase "Serve with respect, live with responsibility."
After that, he approaches cooking with more sincerity.
P.S. I really listened attentively to the audiobook! 📚😂
Following Chef Panda's journey, we (mostly foreigners, both white and black) instantly saw China, and the scenes were so beautiful! There was Zhangjiajie (where Avatar was filmed), Sayram Lake in Xinjiang, and the Hulunbuir Grassland in Mongolia… I really want to see these natural landscapes and breathtaking scenery with my own eyes sometime! 😙
We ate everything in one go: Jiangnan Four Small Dishes, Peking Duck, Sour Soup Fish, Mapo Tofu, Hot Pot, Dim Sum, and Fermented Rice Balls… It turns out that understanding the stories behind the food really makes it taste better! 😋 The story mentioned that Chef Panda learned how to cook Mapo Tofu, which requires using three-year-aged Pixian Doubanjiang (Sichuan chili bean paste) and Sichuan peppercorns. And the tofu I ate was incredibly flavorful, yet not too spicy! We even added lobster 🦞 and beef as a side dish, which tasted great! Unexpectedly, there was also hot pot at the end. We ate so much that we were 99% full 🤰 and felt bloated for a week 🙃
Each dish was paired with a different Chinese tea, and we tried them all at once: Longjing, Jasmine, Pu'er, Chrysanthemum, and Silver Needle 🍵 I was initially worried that drinking tea all at once would cause my hair to fly off, but after asking the AI, I learned that this is just old superstition and has no scientific basis whatsoever—I learned something new! 😀
Besides food, you can also play paper cutting games, enjoy interactive projection tables, and watch Chinese national treasures performances up close: face changing, kung fu, and dance! A great combination of food and fun 👍 Highly recommend this immersive experience!
