Beijing trip 2026 day 1: back in Strong country

I'm spending a few days in Beijing, joining an eating tour organized by Mr. Chichi (吃吃君). It's been YEARS since I last went to a decent restaurant in Beijing - 9 years to be exact, and I haven't been back in the city since that short business trip 2 months before the pandemic started. With someone who's in the know doing all the planning, Foursheets and I just needed to tag along with the gang and bring our appetites. Sweet!

We took an evening flight that landed 10ish, and went straight to meet up with the rest of the gang for late supper. Our tour leader initially asked whether we would be up for mutton hotpot, then arranged for a table at Bistro Strong (壮壮酒馆). Having not done any homework ourselves and just blindly following (and trusting) our friend, we didn't realize how interesting this place would be until we arrived with our luggage in tow.

A long table had been set up in the middle of the floor for us, and the boss himself - whose nickname is "Strong Strong (壮壮)" - joined us for our late night feast.

I was so happy to see a plate of kumquats (金桔). These are so clean-tasting, so sweet and refreshing... without the strong acidity that I eschew in some citrus fruits. I had trouble stopping myself and, in the end, pretty much took most the plate.

Mutton soup with Siberian Solomon's seal (黄精羊肉汤) - when you've just landed in a city in freezing temperature, having a bowl of warm soup is just the perfect welcome. That it came with chunks of mutton from Inner Mongolia made it so much better. What a great way to start our trip!

The soup also came with chunks of Siberian Solomon's seal (黄精), which has medicinal properties good for the lungs, kidneys, pancreas... etc. In its raw form it tasted like a combination of bamboo shoots and ginger.

Air-fried beef shoulder (风干牛肩肉) - nicely spiced.

Marinated organic beef tongue in dry fermented glutinous rice (干糟沙漠牛舌) - the tongue was really nice and tender as expected, and did come with flavors of fermented Shaoxing wine lees (紹興酒糟).

Marinated bird's nest fern (炝拌山苏) - I love bird's nest fern and really wasn't expecting to see it in Beijing. This was served cold, and had a slight spicy kick.

Inner Mongolia Plain Blue Banner milk skin (内蒙古正蓝旗奶皮子) - this was so interesting... and very delicious with gamey flavors from goat milk. Served with some seeds like sunflower seeds for crunch, and also some cliff honey (崖蜜) made by Himalayan giant honey bees. This was so good I also couldn't stop myself, especially since the rich honey worked so well with the milk.

Now we get to the part where the copper pots come out for our Beijing-style hotpot with traditional clear broth (傳統清湯鍋).

There were 3 different dipping sauces, but I still preferred the traditional sesame sauce with chili.

These plates of sliced lamb, which had just been slaughtered in Inner Mongolia yesterday, were very delicious. They did, however, lack the very strong lamby flavors I love so much... but the locals insist that high quality lamb should not have those strong flavors.

Lamb backstrap fillet (上腦)

Leg of lamb (羊腿)

The vegetables were all incredibly fresh and tasty.

Traditional Hohhot shaomai (传统呼市烧麦) - this would be my first time having Mongolian shaomai (烧麦). The wrappers were nice and thin, yet held up very well. The filling of diced mutton and spring onions were pretty satisfying.

Mutton skewers with naan (羊肉串烤馕) - a familiar sight on the streets of Beijing in winter. Familiar seasoning with chili powder and cumin.

The staff brought out a big platter of skewers, and we could choose different parts of the animal.

Barbecued lamb ribs (烤羊排) - nice and flavorful.

Barbecued lamb tongue (烤羊舌)

Barbecued neck of lamb (烤羊脖子) - definitely never had the neck before.

Barbecued lamb belly with tomatoes (西红柿烤羊腩) - the acidity from the tomatoes cuts through the fat of the belly, but I would have preferred the full-fat experience.

Barbecued lamb skirt (烤羊隔膜) - not sure I've ever had this before.

Barbecued lamb shank (烤羊腱子)

Spicy deer heart (香辣油泼鹿心) - underneath that top layer of chili flakes were diced bits of heart of deer from New Zealand. This was very good.

Goat milk ice cream (羊奶冰淇淋) - I was soooo full by now, but how could I pass up goat milk ice cream?! Somehow this reminded me of the maruxna and durap I had in Xinjiang more than 25 years ago...

Stir-fried mutton with scallions (葱爆羊肉) - how did this plate show up at the end?! I have always loved this dish, but it was killing me that I only got to enjoy this when I was already stuffed...

We're dining in a bistro so there was bound to be alcohol involved. The boss brought out a few bottles and chose to focus on Chinese producers.

Henri Giraud MV20, dégorgée le 17 Fevrier 2025 - pretty nice and yeasty nose. Can't go wrong with this.

2023 Yunling Strong White (2023 云翎壮壮干白) - there was some fragrance here, but overall it was pretty muted on the nose.

2023 Canaan Chapter and Verse Master Riesling Sweet (2023迦南诗百篇特选甜型雷司令) - the nose was kinda interesting, floral with lychee notes, but also a bit sharp on the nose like acetone. Maybe this was just too young. Has shades of Trimbach but nowhere near as lovely.

That was A LOT of food, but it was all very tasty. It was 2 a.m. by the time we were done and headed off to our respective hotels. Very thankful to our tour leader for the arrangement, and very grateful to the boss for the hospitality and the treat. I look forward to returning and exploring more interesting ingredients from unfamiliar territories.