The best jianbing and actual jiaozi

MY wife and son stop in Hamburg, en route to the Baltic Sea. It is cool, they tell me triumphantly. I am marooned in the south, near Stuttgart, where we have lived these past three years.

“Real xiaolongbao!” My son smacks his lips, his eyes closed. “Actual soup inside!” The real deal, my wife assures me. The restaurant is called Yu Garden; it is set up like a tea house; there are koi in the pond! In other words, a kitsch paradise.

BURSTS OF FLAVOUR

This is how we measure cities now that we don’t live in the Middle Kingdom. Do they serve good Chinese meals, made by actual Chinese people? Extra points are awarded for jianbing, our favourite street food when we lived in Beijing: a savoury crepe made to order on a piping hot plate; and the xiaolongbao: originally Shanghainese, these steamed bursts of flavour are a mainstay of dim sum menus globally.

My son and I hankered after Indian food when first we moved to Beijing in 2016. But ghar ki murgi was soon replaced by other tastes, textures, sights, and smells. My well-travelled son already had an educated palate. But every corner of Beijing had its own secret. As for myself, having grown up in pre-liberalisation India, Chinese food had meant chop suey and hot sour soup. I’ve spent a lifetime since trying to cleanse the Sino-ludhiana off my tongue.

Among other things we weren’t prepared for when we arrived in Germany in 2019: Chinese restaurants run by Vietnamese, serving lemon and mango chicken, and frequently sushi as well. “Asian restaurant,” my then pre-teen would say sagely. “Definite red flag.”

This new place that he was trying to come to terms with; where were the memorable meals? “It’s like Germans don’t care about food,” he said gravely.

NEW MAPS TO EAT BY

Saarlouis is a smallish town down by the French border. It is pleasantly nondescript, memorable to us purely because it has a Chinese restaurant called East, run by a woman from Beijing. The jianbing is on point; crisp, bursting with flavour, spiced just as we’d asked. No, she said regretfully; no xiaolongbao. She is Hui Muslim, and doesn’t do anything with pork. But she was delighted with my son’s shy efforts to speak to her in Chinese.

In Munich last year, I found what I consider the best jianbing in Germany. Little more than a kiosk, Ledu in Stachus Passagen serves them the way I remember; you specify toppings and heat, the cook makes it while you watch and wraps it in paper, and you eat it to the side. Up in Frankfurt, the aptly named Jianbing Plus serves up a perfectly decent portion, albeit in a sit-down setting. Also in Frankfurt is Madame Mei, a cheery place with a fantastic menu. Much more upmarket, its xialongbao hit all the spots.

Friends in Berlin took us by Liu Chengduweidao, a no-frills Sichuan-style noodle restaurant that serves dishes hot enough to make Indians sweat, a cautionary tadka of chilli oil glistening on the surface of every bowl. “These people actually get it,” my son whispered, happily tucking in. The meat, the light noodles, the red broth and bright green vegetables and garnish: the colours in our bowls captured what we’d been missing in the flat beige of Germany’s culinary landscape.

Let me wrap up with a couple of our local mainstays. The first is CQ Flavour in Stuttgart. Also Sichuan-style, its culinary cues come from Chongqing. The comfort of its staples and its proximity has made regulars of us. We found actual jiaozi (dumplings) and other dim sum in San Bao in nearby Tübingen, a medieval university town where we made our first hesitant forays after the first lockdown of 2020 had ended. In a difficult time, while we were still new in Europe, San Bao was like a beacon.

Of such connections and landmarks are new maps made. m

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2. Many stupas in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent of yore are said to mark locations; the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang reported several of them: in Pushkalavati; the Mankiala stupa; in Mangalura; at Hadda Mountain; at Sarvadattaan. What are these locations of?

3.The Annual Reminders were a series of early pickets held yearly by various organisations from 1965 to 1969. They took place each July 4 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and were designed to inform and remind the American people about a particular issue. The final picket took place in

1969, after which Reminder organisers decided to discontinue the July 4 pickets and shifted their focus to something else. What did that lead to in 1970?

4. According to historical records, they were first worn as early as the 13th century. Previously known as Kapashi, Paytaan, Kachkadi, Bakkalnali, and Pukari, they are now known by their collective umbrella term. What is it?

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7. When it started in 1979, you could get a stencil, a wallet, an ID bracelet, a puzzle lock, a spinning top, or a character-shaped eraser. In Canada, it was called the “Treat of the Week”. What marketing gimmick turned success story is this?

8. When asked whether they would ever make the switch, many refused flatly, citing bibliosmia as one of the main reasons. What is bibliosmia?

9. A binder clip, less commonly known as a banker’s clip or a foldover clip, is a simple device for binding sheets of paper together. It is also sometimes referred to as a “______ clip” because when not in use its clip can be folded up to look like one. Fill in the blank.

10. Traditional ones are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a short-arm cross, or a kite. Traditional Japanese ones open on the short side, while Western-style ones open on the long side. What am I referring to?