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DaGui (大贵) Hot Dishes: Because…they are delicious too

May 14, 2010 in EAT by jen | 1 comment

After my Ode To Vinegar post detailing the sour cold dishes at DaGui (大贵), I shall now move onto some hot, vinegar-free but still delicious dishes. Guizhou cuisine is not at all popular outside of China – in fact I’ve never seen these dishes outside of China, but Guizhou borders Sichuan, and the cuisine often combines Sichuanese spiciness with the sourness enjoyed by the many minority groups living in this province. There are many tasty dishes, but instead of talking about the more well-known Guizhou specialties, such as sour fish soup (酸汤鱼) or the insanely delicious but less unique, such as stir-fried-deep-fried eggplant (香菜茄子), I’ll chat up the dishes I find most pleasing and surprising in flavors.… READ MORE | 1 Comment

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A Break From Grease, an Ode to Liangcai: Shanxi Knife-Cut Noodles (Mianxiang bafang 面香八方)

May 12, 2010 in EAT by christine | 6 comments

Occasionally we get tired of the Tsinghua cafeteria and escape to a Shanxi 山西 noodle restaurant outside of the east gate of Tsinghua for a quick lunch.  Mianxiang Bafang is bustling at lunch, and the menu spans a wide variety of Shanxi specialties, knife-cut noodles, liangcai, stir-fried dishes, and skewers.  Although Shanxi cuisine is known for its million variations on noodles, especially those delightfully irregular and wonderfully chewy knife-cut noodles (daoxiao mian 刀削面), for a healthy lunch we like to order several cold vegetable dishes (liangcai 凉菜).

Packed with micro-vitamins ostensibly found in green-type foods, the liangcai are usually relatively light, making it the perfect break from a pork-grease heavy Beijing diet.  (A sidenote.  One morning we… READ MORE | 6 Comments

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DaGui (大贵) Cold Dishes: Because vinegar is delicious

April 24, 2010 in EAT by jen | 8 comments

Hello, magical peanuts. In my pre-Beijing existence, I was never really fond of the peanut. If I felt a nut craving, the stores were stocked with an infinite variation of other nuts – smoked almonds, candied cashews, and the oh-so-buttery chocolate-covered macadamias. However, despite its American heritage, the Chinese love peanuts, and most restaurants have some variation as appetizers, and now, I’m a convert. They are just so damn good. (So good, in fact, that we’ve decided to recreate a bunch of peanut recipes for our next project. But I digress.)

The vinegar peanuts at Dagui (大贵) sparked my new-found adoration for the humble peanut, and I’ve become a devotee of this small Guizhou restaurant tucked inside the hutongs of old Beijing. There are easily a dozen great dishes here, but this post is dedicated to cold, vinegary appetizers (凉菜), which epitomize the winning combination of spicy-sourness that is the key note of Guizhou cuisine.… READ MORE | 8 Comments

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Our Happy Place: Maison Boulud a Pekin (布鲁宫法餐厅)

March 3, 2010 in EAT by christine | No comments

Maison Boulud a Pekin is a happy place in Beijing.  Located in the former Legation Quarter at Qianmen, the renovated interior is gorgeous, chock full of delectably tatty antique rugs, hand painted canvas murals, and enviable moderne bulb-shaped white ceramic lamps.  At lunch on weekdays there is a very good deal at RMB 188 for a three course prix fixe meal.  On the weekends there’s brunch, with a huge selection (perhaps overly broad for perfect quality control) to pick from.  If I remember correctly, two courses run RMB 168 and three courses, RMB 238.  The service is almost perfect (with the exception of one dirty martini made in a shaker that had been used for a lychee… READ MORE

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Lamb, with a side of lamb: Crescent Moon Uighur Muslim Restaurant (弯弯月亮)

February 12, 2010 in EAT by jen | 3 comments

It’s all about the lamb. On yet another freezing afternoon, I biked over to the Dongsi 东四 area with a friend and gorged on mutton at Crescent Moon Uighur Muslim Restaurant (Wanwan yueliang 弯弯月亮), a Xinjiang restaurant.  Quite apropos as Xinjiang, located at the northwesternmost corner of China, is even colder than Beijing, and Xinjiang Uighur food is awfully cozy.  Mutton, naan and noodles dominate the menu, with vegetables usually popping up in the form of onions, tomatoes, and peppers.  And of course, there’s the famous dapanji 大盘鸡, directly translated as “big plate of chicken.” This is not an aggrandizement nor false advertising. My first encounter with this dish was on my travels in Urumqi, and the big… READ MORE | 3 Comments

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Perverted Wings: Hot Bean Cooperative (炒豆合作社)

February 10, 2010 in EAT by jen | 1 comment

Last Saturday afternoon, with snowflakes starting to beard Beijing, we made our way to the Hot Bean Cooperative 炒豆合作社.  Opened by a group of young hipsters, it’s a snack bar (canba 餐吧) known for its many types of chicken wings. This concrete-walled joint is excruciatingly hip, with the walls scribbled over with chalk, slightly grimy around the corners in that way that betokens deliciousness.  So we felt no compunctions about sitting down and ordering every wing on the menu, plus a large glass of grape-and-grapefruit hot tea to balance out the effects of chicken wing consumption.  Beer would been better, but we were the first customers, it was 4pm, and it was very, very cold… READ MORE | 1 Comment

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Dumpling Restaurant and Much, Much More: Xian Lao Man (馅老满)

January 17, 2010 in EAT by jen | 8 comments

Xian Lao Man (馅老满), in my humble opinion, is one of the best restaurants in Beijing. It’s known for dumplings (jiaozi 饺子), which come in dozens and dozens of varieties, from the old standby of pork and cabbage to more unusual combination of carrot and egg. But I digress. Their dumplings are indeed fantastic but it’s really the quality of all of Lao Man’s dishes that make it such a stellar restaurant and a consistent favorite of…well, of all folks that have ever eaten there.

I’ll give three examples. All are  staples of many restaurants in Beijing that are generally pretty tasty. But Lao Man really just knocks them out of the park.

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