r/yourmouthwatering

I walked into a restaurant in Beijing and ordered a bowl of noodles just by following what the person in front of me had ordered.
When it was served, I was shocked by the mountain of chili peppers on top.

Surprisingly, it tasted fine — not overly spicy at all, totally bearable for me.

Later I showed the photo to one of my Chinese colleagues, and he said what I ate wasn’t even authentic!
He explained it for ages, but I still didn’t really get it. Can anyone help explain this to me?

I love these sour pickled long beans so much! I quietly ate three little plates, and afterwards I was too shy to get another helping.