Home Away from Home 远方的家 @ Datong

We stopped at this popular restaurant on we way to see the Hukou waterfall upstream of Yellow River. They were featured on CCTV for their special dish – freshwater carps caught from the Yellow River.

炒野蘑菇 Stir-fry Wild Mushrooms

They looked like dried mushrooms more than fresh mushrooms. Cannot figure out which types are they, but I think they are similar to trumpet mushrooms. Stir-fried with bokchoy and bean curd with some black fungus.

地皮菜土鸡蛋 Omeletter with Witch’s Butter

地皮菜, aka Witch’s butter, is a type of edible moss that grows on wet stones which is found along the river banks. The texture is like wood ear fungus 木耳, but with a stronger taste that provides a lot of umami to the omelette.

And this point, they gave us some mantou 馒头 that they made in-house. The dough tasted like the Cantonese steam buns , slightly sweet and not too dense. The homemade chilli sauce that came with it was absolutely delicious.

家常豆腐 Homestyle Tofu

The tofu tasted smokey, similar to the ones that I used to buy from near my Taipei home.

壶口山野菜 Wild Vegetable from Hukou

Foraged vegetables boiled and served with dressing. Very fibrous.

土鸡汤 Free-range Chicken Soup

This was the blandest chicken soup that I have ever tasted in China. The chicken was very tough as well. I was so apologetic to have ordered this.

红烧黄河鲤鱼 Braised Freshwater Carp in Red Sauce

This dish was what got them famous and featured on the national TV travel show. The carp from Yellow River was quite huge and was sold by weight. Once you pick the one you want from the live pool, they will proceed to clean in and prepare it based on the style you like – either steamed or braised in red sauce. As I was afraid of the muddy taste from freshwater fish, I opted for the braise. It was OK, slightly sweet and sour, by definitely Shanxi vinegar was the highlight.

They can prepare the head in soup if you ask. But the soup was as tasteless as the chicken soup, so why bother.

干炸小河虾 Deep Fried River Shrimps

The deep fried shrimp turned out to be the tastiest dish among all.

This place is only worth a shot if you are in the vicinity.

Home Away from Home 远方的家
309国道山西吉县农村商业银行壶口支行北25米

Visited Oct 2025