Baoji, Shaanxi

Always a sucker for this kind of meal. In the mountains outside of Baoji there’s a restaurant called “Longfeng Mountain Mashed Potato Society” (龙凤山搅团社), the sort of village restaurant that Baoji urbanites would drive to on the weekends. Their specialty is the titular Mashed Potatoes, jiaotuan (搅团), a Shaanxi style of mash that’s pounded until smooth and slightly sticky — and, of course, smothered in chili oil [picture 3].

But this restaurant does something quite cool, and undeniably visually impressive: they’ll also provide you a veritable smorgasbord of traditional Shaanxi-style banquet food together with the potatoes. 26 CNY (~$4 USD) per person for the set — bring more people, get more dishes. This was the spread for two.

Just a really fun style of eating, can’t help but wonder how you could mimic the same concept but with American or Cantonese food