Yulan cakes. [Photo/WeChat account: wuxishilvyouju]
Patrick Köllmer, who is also called Wu Yuxiang in China, recently traveled to Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, to try the local cuisine.
Born in Germany, Köllmer works as a model, host and food blogger. Boasting 2.4 million followers on Sina Weibo, nearly 610,000 followers on video-sharing platform Douyin and close to 350,000 on the short-video platform Bilibili, Köllmer can be considered a social media influencer in China.
Gluten stuffed with meat. [Photo/WeChat account: wuxishilvyouju]
"Town of sugar" was Köllmer's impression of Wuxi cuisine gained from his followers before he went to the city and he was therefore prepared to taste some sweet dishes.
His first breakfast was the dishes of local time-honored brand Yishengyuan, whose wonton served with soy sauce amazed the food blogger, while his lunch included braised spare ribs in brown sauce, eel paste, and stir-fried wild rice shoots. Of those dishes Köllmer was most satisfied with the braised spare ribs in brown sauce.
On his remaining two days in Wuxi Köllmer tried some other local snacks and particularly recommended Yulan cake, which is a large sweet kind of meatball with a crispy skin, crabapple flower-shaped cake, gluten stuffed with meat, and plain noodles with different toppings.
Plain noodles. [Photo/WeChat account: wuxishilvyouju]
Wuxi's cuisine was not the only thing that impressed Köllmer. He also marveled at the city's pleasant natural environment and beautiful scenery.
The Garman is no stranger to many China's local foodies. His posts on social media platforms documenting his sampling of local dishes in many Chinese cities such as rice noodles in Yunnan province and potted rice with dried meat in Guangdong province have been well-received.
