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A taste of Dali

Haidong Eggplant Barbecue

海东茄子烧烤

A Bai-style barbecue place on the Erhai Park side of the lake whose signature is an eggplant grilled whole until it collapses, then dressed and eaten with a spoon. The rest of the menu is skewers, layered tofu and grilled mushrooms. Bai barbecue is one of the best things to eat around Erhai and it almost never appears in English-language guides.

¥50–70 per person≈ US$7.45Ctrip Dali City list No. 12Erhai Park area / Haidong (洱海公园景区、海东), across the lake from Dali Old Town
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Why come here

A place worth making time for

No. 12 on Ctrip's Dali City food list, rated 5.0

The house favourites

What to order

Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.

  • Haidong grilled eggplant (海东茄子)
  • Grilled layered tofu with house sauce (秘制千层豆腐)
  • Grilled wild mushrooms (烤野生菌)
  • Grilled meat with dipping powder (烤肉配蘸料)

What it actually tastes like

The dry dipping powder is chilli, salt and ground Sichuan pepper, so there is a numbing element if you use it heavily. Grilled tofu smells strongly fermented before you taste it.

Allergens in this kitchen

soysesamepeanutgluten/wheatshellfish

This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.