Spice spirit
Spicy spirit is a restaurant of Sichuan cuisine,which is located in Chinatown in Newcastle.With rich experience on cooking,the head chef of Spicy spirit has runned a restaurant in Manchester for 3 years and this is the third years for him in Newcastle.The main ingredient are called ‘Shizihong’,it is a kind of traditional pepper in Chongqing city.All of raw and processed material are shipped from China,which gives food a original taste.
The tolerance of customers for spicy food is different, so it’s hard to please all. ‘The taste of foods we persue is mainly for hemp, not too spicy. Most customers can accept it. We have tried a lot, and decided to stick ourselves, only for those devoted customers.’The owner explained.
Once there were customers who questioned the taste of the dishes and thought that additives were used to ensure the flavor. The owner denied,all the raw materials and ingredients were airlifted from China to Newcastle, it is impossible to add any additives .‘The rumors should be stopped at the wise man.’ he responded.In addition,some students from Durham shed tears after eating.It touched them to obtain a taste of their hometown in alien land.
Talking about COVID-19,the owner sighed,‘This is a natural disaster, which impose an irreversible impact on the catering industry. We’ve been disinfecting and doing everything we can, and wait for it to end.’
Sichuan cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from Sichuan Province. It has bold flavours, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of Sichuan pepper. There are many local variations within Sichuan Province and the neighbouring Chongqing Municipality, which was part of Sichuan Province until 1997.
Back to Three Kingdoms period, Sichuan area was the kingdom of Shu and located in the southwest part of China. Sichuan people at that time liked to eat sweet food. Until Jin Dynasty, people add ginger, onions, chives and mustard into food and the food at that time is called pungent food. So at the very beginning, there is no hot in Chinese Sichuan cuisine.
Around 200 or 300 years ago, hot peppers were brought into China. And people in this area begin to use hot peppers in their daily cooking. It is recorded that hot peppers were popular among folk.Along with the development of Sichuan cuisine, the unique character of spicy and numb also becomes popular in many Sichuan dishes.
Now, there are hundreds of flavors in Sichuan cuisine. And each dish has its own unique taste and flavor. Most of the Chinese cooking methods are used in Sichuan cuisine. Another thing that make Sichuan cuisine special is the seasoning used. From Douchi to famous Doubanjiang and Chongqing chili sauce, all the different types of seasonings used in Sichuan cuisine endow the long lasting vitality of Sichuan cuisine.
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A bite of Xi’an
‘If you want to know about the 50 years history of China,you can go to Shanghai.For 500 years history of China,you can go to Beijing.For 5000 year history of China,you can go to Xi’an.’
In China,Xi’an is an ancient capital of Shaanxi province with a long history. The delicious food of Xi’an is not only popular, but also has its unique food culture in history.On Tiktok,a series of short videos about food in Xi’an have received award from all over the world.
Lei Xv,the owner of Authentic Xi’an street food ,has been a chef in England for over 10 years.Among various cuisines from different areas,he like Chinese cuisine best.Xi’an is the hometown of Xv,which influenced him from an early age.‘When I was young, I liked eating noodles.I would like to push Chinese noodles to the world,this is also the reason why he opened this restaurant in Newcastle.’Xv recalled.
The Authentic Xi’an street food in Newcastle is located in Grainger Market.It has obtained a number of devoted customers since it open,many students return there for a meal several times within a week.A customer from London,travel to Newcastle monthly just for a meal there,who has become a good friend of Xv.
Roujiamo is a must in ordering.It is considered the Chinese equivalent to the Western hamburger and meat sandwiches.The meat is minced or chopped and stuffed in ’baijimo‘, a type of flatbread. An authentic baijimo is made from a wheat flour dough with yeast and then baked in a clay oven, but now in many parts of China, baijimo is made in a frying pan, giving a taste that diverges significantly from the authentic clay oven-baked version.The meat is most commonly pork, stewed for hours in a soup containing over 20 spices and seasonings. Although it is possible to use only a few spices, the resulting meat is less flavourful.
Some alternatives of Roujiamo are also available. For example, in Muslim areas in Xi’an, the meat is usually beef (seasoned with cumin and pepper), Depending on the types of spices used to cook the meat and the way the bread is made, the taste of roujiamo can vary greatly from vendor to vendor.
Another typical food in Xi’an is ‘biangbiang noodles’. If you never tasted it or have little background information, the name might be weird to you。‘Biang’actually is an onomatopoeia word describing the sound when the noodles smashing against the board (especially when smashing against stainless steel board).The word Biang is considered as the most complicated Chinese character. People even draw up a pithy formula in order to write it correctly. You may find another wider hand ripped noodles,belt noodles (known as KuDai mian in Chinese). That particular word is trying to describe the appearance. So the name for Chinese dish are quite interesting right?
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Sally and her Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea, also known as pearl milk tea or boba, is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Tainan and Taichung in the 1980s. Bubble Tea has been in Newcastle for nearly 8 years ,several branches there are popular with locals and international students.
This is an inspiring story about Sally, one of Chinese proprietors of Bubble Tea in Newcastle.
The preferences of the public change day by day,and Sally has noticed this. ‘The bubble tea need some changes as well,from the old style to a new style.’
Although it was so hard at the beginning, Sally soon adjusted her mind and did some research of Bubble Tea Shops in China.She found that a number of people took a picture and post on Instagram after buying a cup of bubble tea.She concluded,‘For bubble tea shops, majority of the customers are young people, so besides the taste ,it is important to shape a bubble tea shop ,whether the appearance, or interior decoration, to meet the demands of young people.
Talking about ‘Quit Sugar’,a popular lifestyle among young people recently, Sally agreed and mentioned different sugar levels of bubble tea. ‘You can choose the total sugar ,half sugar or even no sugar. A lot of customers came to my shop for a cup of bubble tea with no sugar.It’s quite healthy, just tea and milk.Some people drink it everyday.’
In recent years, bubble tea has developed rapidly in China，which leads the development of bubble tea market all over the world. According to the data of, Meituan , by the end of the third quarter of 2018, the number of existing tea and beverage stores in China had reached 410000, an increase of 74% in a year, with a very rapid expansion. The new growth mainly comes from the replacement of conventional drinks by consumers and the demand of consumers for “healthy tea”. Chinese Bubble tea market is moving towards a new age.
Most of bubble teas contain an iced tea base and milk, with chewy tapioca pearls and sugar. Although this is a standard recipe, Chinese bubble milk tea shops and chains now have a growing selection of fruit flavored bubble tea or chocolate flavored bubble tea beside their original flavored bubble tea, fruit jelly, grass jelly, agar jelly, alovera jelly, sago and puddings are often added. There are many varieties of the drink with a wide range of flavors.
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A mysterious Chinese kitchen
A mysterious Chinese kitchen have runned for 5 years in Grainger Market.
Have you ever noticed it?
On 27th of January,there was a fantastic Chinese New Year celebration on Grainger Market. Nanbei Chinese Dumplings, key participant of this celebration ,have upgraded their menu with some discounted items this month.
Although Chinese new year has just gone,Chinese dumping is still famous in Newcastle as a traditional Chinese food. That is the reason why this restaurant is so popular.
Why not come and try?
Selling Chinese dumplings and steamed buns, this is a restaurant runed by two sisters works from 9.30 a.m.to 5.30.p.m,Monday to Saturday. It is not so large but tidy enough.They offered dumpling with various filling including pork, beef, chicken, fish, and shrimp, which are usually mixed with chopped vegetables. Their vegetable fillings include napa cabbage, carrot,mushroom and scrambled egg.
Chinese dumplings typically consist of a ground meat or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. Steamed dumpling s are called ‘zheng jiao’ in China,which are traditionally served with a black vinegar and sesame oil dip. They can also be served with soup as well.
There are many ways to fold dumplings. Basically, steps for folding the skin includes putting a single pleat in the middle, putting multiple pleats along the edge, making a wavy edge like a pie crust, turning a pleated edge in toward the body resulting in a rounded edge, and putting both ends together resulting in a round shape. Different shapes of dumplings require different folding techniques.
In China, there is a folk storie explaining the origin of dumplings and its name.
Traditionally, Chinese dumpling were thought to be invented during the era of the Eastern Han (AD 25–220) by Zhang Zhongjing who was a great practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese dumplings were originally referred to as ‘tender ears’ because they were used to treat frostbitten ears. Zhang Zhongjing was on his way home during wintertime, when he found many common people had frostbitten ears, because they did not have warm clothes and sufficient food. He treated these poor people by stewing lamb, black pepper, and some warming medicines in a pot, chopped them, and used them to fill small dough wrappers. He boiled these dumplings and gave them with the broth to his patients, until the coming of the Chinese New Year. In order to celebrate the New Year as well as recovering from frostbitten ears, people imitated Zhang’s recipe to make dumplings.
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FOODIE DAIRY
Hello! My foodie friend！
Welcome to Foodie Diary!
To my Chinese friends,
Are you used to eating fish and chips?
Do you miss Jianbing guozi , Xiaolongbao and Chinese noodles?
A delicious food of hometown is not only the enjoyment of taste, but also the resolution of homesickness for us in western world .
To my international friends,
Have you ever tasted Chinese food?
No one can deny that Chinese food is well-known in the world. It’s not news that people queue up in London to buy Jianbing guozi.
I am Yi Chu, a Chinese student major in Media and Journalism in Newcastle University. And I’m a experienced foodie,
During the months since I came to Newcastle, I have found several good Chinese restaurants.Here I will share my food map with you.
I will update every weekend to recommend a local Chinese restaurant to you,sharing their menu, environment, features and address of the restaurant with you.
At the same time, I will also pay attention to some new restaurants just opened in Newcastle, to try new menus for you.
I know that drinks and dessert are indispensable for foodie’s dining table.There are also some special food shops.
Of course, I also hope that more friends can share with me great restaurants you have eaten on your food map.
I’m looking forward to your comments !
FOODIE DAIRY OF YICHU 