Concluding my Wuhan series with a few dishes from our last night out in the city.

利友诚 - at 6 Taibei Road in Hankou - is a casual barn of a place particularly popular with 30 somethings who grew up with treats from its vast menu such as spicy baby lotus roots (almost impossible to find outside of Hubei, a major lotus root producer) and fondly-remembered local brands such as Er Chang soda (recently revived, in non-state run fashion).

The nostalgia extends around the central communal seating area in this beautifully designed, airy and casual space with a selection of booths offering sugar painting, 1980s-style hand-held LCD games, candy floss, and the like.

This place would be a huge hit here in New York where, right now, I'm nostalgic for normal life: panic finally, truly set in here this week - coincidentally along with the first glimmer of things returning to normal in Wuhan itself.

That slow-and-painful-but-sure recovery tells me that all this can and will pass and that, with a little luck and hard work, I will enjoy the places highlighted in these posts - and closer to home - again.

#china #hubei #wuhan #hankou #food #notjustbreakfast #hipster #lcdgamesandthelike #nostalgia #lotusroot #dontpanicnopanic #goodluckeveryone