Shenzhen Street Food, by Mike

For about a year and a half, I've asked Mike to grace this blog with a guest post. He's finally complied...

I'm really more of an eater than a blogger, so I decided my first post will be to take over the Fatty Tuesday column (You're not taking over anything. And you missed the Tuesday deadline anyway.).

After stuffing my pie hole this past weekend with a Thanksgiving feast and all of its leftovers, I went down to Shenzhen for one night. Not knowing the restaurant scene down there, I figured the best way to try different local fare was to hit one of its famous food streets.

The Dongmen area is known for being an old and well-established shopping area but also has very respectable street food. Here's what went down:

First up was a delicious tofu I kept seeing people walking around with. Not very greasy and with a good amount of spice, the dish was two large slices of tofu for less than a buck.

Given its close proximity to Hong Kong (just across the Chinese border by the South China Sea), Shenzhen's seafood is fresh and popular, so I had to give the grilled oysters and clams a try. For less than $2 per serving, you get three grilled oysters smothered in a slightly sweetened garlic mixture (imagine scampi with a touch a soy) or five clams covered with glass noodles and the same garlic mixture. I got both.

Not quite having my fill of noodles after the clams, I got myself a bowl of famous Chinese-style hand-cut noodles (dao shao mian) for $2. Super fresh with great texture and awesome with a beer.

Feeling pretty full, I was on my way out, but paused when I saw a long line at one of the carts. After realizing it was Chinese-style stewed pig's feet, who was I not to top off my night with some tasty trotters? I've had plenty of pig's feet before (not the crappy pickled-in-a-jar-at-a-bar kind), and these didn't disappoint, especially for about $1.50.

All in all, with two beers and five dishes for under $10, not a bad meal, or first post if I do say so myself (and he does).