We arrived in China’s capital city and aside from avoiding overexposure to the pollution, I really had one big thing in mind: a food tour. And oh, I got what I wanted.
I should preface this by noting that (1) I generally haven’t had a good experience with Chinese take-out in the States, and (2) I don’t eat pork. It turns out that I love Chinese food, when it is delicious and doesn’t come in a silly box. Also, turns out that though it feels at times like a crime to avoid pork in this country, there are actually plentiful alternatives to please the palette of anyone who’d rather pass on the pig.
On with the food tour!
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Jiaozi - After my previous love affair with soupy Shanghai-style xiaolongbao dumplings, I was eager to see what was on offer up north in Beijing. The jiaozi dumplings we sampled were handmade on the spot. The favorites were the lamb & onion, and shrimp, egg & leek fillings, but the menu was huge and the options seemingly endless. The meal was truly satisfying…especially when paired with an ice cold Tsingtao.
@ Niuge Jiaozi, Dongcheng district
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Xinjiang Cooking - My tastebuds have been generally happy with what China’s Muslim restaurants have had on offer thus far, including lamb kabobs and thick cut noodles; however, this meal brought my experience of cooking from China’s mostly Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to another level. The panfried cumin crusted lamb with fried bread, followed by the sauteed onion and lamb were impossible to stop eating. The spicy green beans were sprinkled with tongue-numbing whole peppercorns, which called for some homemade yogurt on the side. All I could say (after the feeling in my tongue came back to me) was: when can we come back again?
@ Crescent Moon Muslim Restaurant, Dongcheng district
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Yunnan Cooking - I have to be honest, when I first read about Yunnan style cooking I was pretty excited. Lots of sweet and sour flavors and the promise of sticky rice with pineapple put a rumbly in my tumbly. Sadly, the meal itself was a disappointment and featured mainly poached meat and clumpy bland rice in a reused pineapple carcass. The highlight was definitely our afterthought to order the noodles that the Yunnan province is so famous for. The noodles provided some entertainment as they were impossibly long and therefore impossible to serve without getting up out of the seat. The noodles themselves were good, but don’t really compare to the yum yummy thin chewy noodles we enjoy in Yixing on the daily.
@Cai Yunjian, Haidian district
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Sichuan Hotpot - A beautiful way to share a meal with a huge group of friends post-karaoke, I have learned in my time here, is to find your way to a hotpot restaurant that describes their offerings as “numbing” on the sign above the entrance. The idea is that you think of everything and anything people at the table would like to include in the hotpot, and then pick your level of spice. We ordered medium level here, and as you can see from this picture, after we ate everything that wasn’t a pepper there was still plenty of substance leftover over in the pot. Famously thrown in to most dishes from the Sichuan province, the numbing peppercorns made the whole experience the perfect end to a perfect session of rocking out in the Karaoke palace next door.
@ random hotpot place, Chaoyang district
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Peking Duck - Can you believe that I saved my very first Peking Duck experience for when I was actually here in Peking…also known as Beijing. It was my first time with the duck. The anticipation was building, but all in all I have to say it was well worth the wait. This meal was a real treat, complete with a chef carving the whole duck tableside and a thorough demonstration by the hostess on the three different styles in which to eat the duck. (1) dip the crispy skin in sugar, (2) stuff thinly sliced duck breast and veggies into a little sesame coated bun with garlic sauce, or (3) dip the meat in the plum sauce and top with scallions all wrapped together in a delicate paper thin flour wrap. We had a lovely side of sauteed lily buds, and also enjoyed some garlic & eggplant and, our favorite green, pea shoots!
@Da Dong Duck Restaurant, Dongcheng district
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An Organic Garden Feast - Well this isn’t a cuisine per say, but it was perhaps one of the most unexpected and most impressive eating experiences I enjoyed in China. We took a fieldtrip to Chenjiapu, a village set at the base of mountains where an unrestored but magnificent stretch of the Great Wall still stands. After an extremely demanding and breathtakingly rewarding four hour hike along the Wall led by our fantastic guide and host, Mr. Chen, we were seated to this feast of ingredients picked right out of his family’s organic garden and cooked up that same morning by Mrs. Chen. The watermelon was sweet and crispy, the squash warm and comforting, the greens garlicky and tangy, and the pork shoulder…well I didn’t partake but everyone was grabbing for more. Oh and did I mention the green beans? Unforgettable.
@Great Wall Fresh, Chenjiapu Village, http://greatwallfresh.com/
