Strange Noodle Goop Sauce - Righting a Wrong

The first night I was in Beijing I decided to have dinner at an authentic local restaurant. I browsed the menu and passed on the deep fried Duck Heads and ordered a local noodle dish. When my food arrived it was not what I had in mind. It was a large bowl of warm noodles with cold thin sliced radish and misc. vegetables which was fine but what caught me off guard was the sauce. The sauce resembled thick oily burnt axle grease. At least that’s the first thought that came to mind when I saw it. I immediately lost my appetite and rejected it firmly and decisively. Without giving it a chance I got up, paid, and left.

When traveling Asia it’s a given that at times you will order one thing only to receive something completely different than what you expect. The proper traveler way to react is to accept it and give it a chance. What really bothered me about the meal I rejected was that I was so closed to it and didn’t at least give it a try. I’ve been pretty good about navigating odd foods in Asia so in a way I felt like I kind of failed a test.

Over the next day or two I noticed other places serving up the strange burnt axle grease looking paste and realized it was popular with the locals. It bugged me even more that I didn’t try it previously so the other night I returned to the restaurant of rejected noodles and ordered the same exact thing I passed on before.

Upon close examination the noodles with veggies atop looked very healthy. As before, I was served a generous side dish of axle grease goop and mixed about half of it into the noodle veggie mix. I then thoughtlessly dug in not really thinking about what could be in the mystery paste. I would have asked but no one could speak English. Actually, probably best not to ask.

The taste? Palatable but not particularly appetizing. The swigs of cheap beer in between bites helped me get through most all of the contents contained within the large bowl. With most of the food consumed I declared it a personal victory and felt much better about being open to the oddities of foreign food and culture. I righted a wrong and felt much less like a tourist and more like a traveler.