Jianshui grilled tofu, the Yunnan supper counted out in corn kernels

In Jianshui, a walled town in southern Yunnan, supper happens on low stools around a charcoal grill. The tofu arrives in thumb-sized cubes, and the bill is kept in corn kernels.

The grill and the kernels

Jianshui shao doufu (建水烧豆腐, grilled tofu) is lightly fermented, then turned by chopstick over charcoal until each cube puffs and browns. You take pieces straight from the grate. For every one, the vendor drops a dried corn kernel into a dish set aside for you, and counts them when you stand up.

一粒玉米，记一块豆腐。

Two dips, one decision

The dry dip, ganliao (干料), is ground chilli with salt. The wet one, shiliao (湿料), is thinner, built on soy sauce and fermented bean curd, usually with coriander. Most stalls set down both if you point, and it helps to tear the cube open first so the steam leaves and the dip gets in.

The well behind the tofu

Outside the old West Gate sits Daban Well (大板井), wide enough for several people to draw water at once. Makers in the lanes nearby say its water is why the tofu sets and tastes as it does. Their workshops open onto the street, where workers fold curd into small cloth squares, one cube at a time.

When to go

Grills light in the late afternoon and run well into the night, thickest around Lin'an Road and the West Gate. Trains from Kunming take roughly two hours. Carry small notes or a payment app, and sit where the stools are already full.