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Our last morning in Beijing, and we still didn't have much of an appetite for breakfast. We did, however, need some caffeine this morning, so we walked around and stopped at CITIC Bookstore (中信书店) next to our hotel. It's a nice little space where one could have coffee and hang out, and there are even books I could read while chillin'.
We checked out of our hotel and brought our luggage to lunch. Our taxi didn't want to make the long loop to the restaurant entrance, so we dragged our suitcase a short distance along the shores of Houhai (后海) to Kaorouji (烤肉季). Having done traditional Pekinese lamb hotpot for our first meal, it is somewhat fitting that our last meal of the trip should be old school lamb barbecue.
A special room upstairs had been arranged for us, with an adjoining barbecue room affording us a lovely view of both the Drum Tower (钟楼) and Bell Tower (鼓楼).
The real attraction, though, was the big wood fire griddle (炙子) made by welding strips of iron together. The intention is for the fat to drip down the gaps between the iron strips, although I do wonder if that still happens with this particular griddle that reportedly has been in use for some 60 years.
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There was a short and awkward period between the end of our sightseeing and our appointed dinner time. We had planned to park ourselves somewhere for a quick drink, but the bar below the restaurant at Taikoo Li Sanlitun (太古里三里屯) wasn't open yet, so we decided to just show up early to Old Tower for our dinner.
I'm not familiar with the dining scene in Beijing, and I never knew about this restaurant's existence until it came up on our itinerary. Truth be told, I was not familiar Chef Talib Hudda. Well, I have heard of his previous restaurant Refer, because it showed up on Asia's Top 50 Restaurants one year and registered in the back of my mind. I didn't really have an idea what Talib's cuisine is like, and certainly didn't know that his new restaurant is so named because of his nickname in Chinese, but like the rest of this trip... I just follow loh.
We were seated in the "private" area, which was just outside the entrance to the kitchen, and separation with the main dining room was by means of a drawn curtain. This arrangement felt kinda awkward, as staff must pass by our table every time they go in and out of the kitchen, and they also have to navigate the nearly floor-length curtains drawn for privacy.
Well, we did tell Talib that we came early to have a drink, and he very kindly comped us a bottle of bubbly to start...
Krug Grande Cuvée, 173ème Édition, ID 124007 - this has got that classic toasty brioche nose of Grande Cuvée, while the acidity on the palate was on the high side.
Pistachio chips - made with scraps, and meant to be something one can snack on with drinks. A little on the spicy side.
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Another day, another morning with no appetite for breakfast. Knowing we have another big lunch coming up, I decided to give up my search for that jianbing (煎饼) breakkie I have so longed to have.
I've always enjoyed my meals at restaurants bearing the Da Dong (大董) name. While Mr. Dong is famous for his newer style, "crispy not greasy (酥不腻)" roast Peking ducks, it's a style I don't particularly care for. I like my ducks juicy and greasy, and nothing excites me more than seeing the juices run down as a chef slices up a bird. However, I am a BIG fan of his other dishes - from the more traditional Shandong cuisine to even his "creative" work involving molecular gastronomy.
I was really happy that Gastro Esthetics at DaDong (美•大董海参店) was included on our itinerary. It's been too long since my last visit to DaDong, and I still think about the sea cucumber I enjoyed 9 years ago...
Foursheets noticed the Maybach SUV parked right outside the restaurant entrance, but we quickly went upstairs to our private dining room. Chef Dee from Chef 1996 Restaurant (1996川菜•主厨餐厅) was our hostess today, and there was a spread of little snacks for us to enjoy while we waited for everyone to arrive.
The menu at DaDong's restaurants have always seemed like literary works. I still recall the big, à la carte menus looking like traditional Chinese texts, and our custom menu today read like a scroll. The title was Banquet Postlude to Winter (冬趣).
We started with some Champagne. Since I don't have to work today, I don't mind a little light drinking at lunch...
Perrier-Jouët Blanc de Blancs, dégorgée le 31 Juillet 2023 - good acidity balance on the palate.
Finger food: 4 Pekinese snacks (手指餐：北京小吃四款): I guess we got a little extra since I counted 6...
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When I signed up for this trip to Beijing, I knew there would inevitably be meals which showcased northern Chinese cuisine such as Pekinese (京菜) and Shandong (鲁菜). I did not expect a stop at a Sichuanese restaurant to be part of our itinerary. Having said that, I do remember Mr. Chichi posting about Chef 1996 Restaurant (1996川菜•主厨餐厅), so I guess I wasn't too surprised to see this name pop up.
Foursheets and I arrived about half an hour before the appointed time for dinner, and the crowd that had gathered was already bigger than our lunch group today. The Man in White T-shirt Lightly-buzzed Chef (微醺大廚) and Dada had arrived in the city, and we were treated to the sight of him walking around in shorts in freezing temperatures.
The guest of honor tonight was the famed director of the popular TV series A Bite of China (舌尖上的中国) - someone who possesses an incredible amount of knowledge about various Chinese cuisines - and after he arrived, it was time to begin the feast. I didn't realize until later that tonight would include the "feast of the preserved meats", which was why the tonight's menu was inscribed with the title "Winter Sichuan banquet (腊珍宴)". I knew I was in trouble when I saw that the printed menu was 4 pages long... Chef owner Liang Di (梁棣) was really pulling out all the stops for our guest of honor, and Foursheets and I were so lucky to have been the the fly on the wall...
Sichuanese cuisine has categorized 24 different types of flavors (二十四味型), and the menu tonight clearly specified which flavor category each dish belonged to. Each chapter of the menu was also named after specific Song ci (宋詞).
Xing Xiang Zi • Opening (行香子 • 启品)
We were presented with the seasonal produce being used tonight, which we had seen on display while touring the main restaurant earlier.
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Considerating that I went to bed around 3 a.m. this morning, I definitely woke up too early. I had spent a little time yesterday researching for potential breakfast spots around Conrad Beiing, but I simply had zero appetite this morning. My dream of an authentic jianbing (煎饼) breakfast would have to wait until tomorrow, then...
One of the reasons why I chose our hotel was that it was only a short walk to our lunch venue today - and I would be able to avoid sitting in the notorious Beijing traffic. With the sun being out and it not being a windy day and all, the 20-minute walk to lunch was leisurely and nice. We even passed by one of the breakfast spots I had found on Dianping (大众点评).
I was kinda excited when our tour guide announced Lamdre (兰斋) as our lunch venue for today. Having earned a couple of Michelin stars as well as a place on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Chef Dai Jun (戴军) must be doing some seriously good plant-based cuisine. Foursheets and I are always happy to explore restaurants that offer fine dining experiences in this genre, and the lighter nature of this meal would be a welcome break from our packed dining schedule.
Since we're in China and it is lunch, Mr. Chichi suggested that we take the restaurant's tea pairing.
Sweet osmanthus Oolong, Anxi (桂花乌龙, 安溪), 1996 - this was pretty nice and elegant. Very soft and very fragrant.
The first course of our tasting menu - entitled Rooted in the Autumn (京归秋根) - came with a trio of bites:
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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.
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I usually try to meet up with Mr. QLI whenever I'm in Beijing, and this time I relied once again on his knowledge of local restaurants for our dinner together. Having had Chinese food when we met for the last couple of times in Beijing, he decided it was time to introduce me to what he feels is the best "Western" restaurant in town at the moment.
The Georg is part of Georg Jensen Hus, one of the new luxury courtyard houses (四合院) that have been built along the banks of the historic canal known as Jade River (玉河). As one might infer from the name, it is owned and run by the Danish brand Georg Jensen. The space retains the charm which emanates from the classical architecture style, but the large windows and modern lighting add an unmistakable contemporary feel. Not surprisingly, the cuisine is said to have a Nordic touch.
Since Mr. QLI is a VVIP here, I left all the arrangements up to him... and we ended up having the kitchen set us up with their tasting menu.
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I'm in Beijing for an annual conference, and decided to stay at the Imperial Mansion, Beijing since it is just on the block next to the Grand Hyatt Beijing. Not knowing exactly when I would arrive in the city, I didn't make plans to have dinner with anyone. I figured I'd just pop into DaDong Artistic Conception Food (大董中国意境菜), as the Wangfujing branch of the chain is in the shopping mall right next to my serviced apartment.
I was handed two large menus once I got seated. Contrary to popular belief, DaDong is not all about Peking duck. Founder Dong Zhenxiang (董振祥) has created a whole range of modern Chinese dishes, often using non-traditional ingredients and/or cooking methods. The dishes are often presented in an artistic fashion and accompanied by poetic descriptions. What's more, some of the dishes rotate according to the seasons and the availability of ingredients. I've been pretty impressed by my previous visits.
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I've never had the urge to follow in the footsteps of others to do these year-end "best of" lists, neither for restaurants, meals, nor dishes. Heck, I haven't even done a "top 10" list of my favorite restaurants since the middle of 2009. But as 2016 drew to a close, and similar lists from friends and others started popping up, I started to wonder what a "best dishes" list would look like for me.
Well, the last week of 2016 wasn't a particularly busy one in the office, so I started browsing through all my posts during the year to try to narrow down to a "reasonable" list. I knew it would take a lot of effort to narrow down to just 10 or even 15 dishes, and at the same time leave out a number of memorable experiences, so I decided not to restrict myself to an arbitrary number like that. Instead, I'd take a hard look and pick out the ones that had the most emotional impact and gave me the most pleasure - not necessarily only the most "fine dining" or "high end" dishes. Many of these dishes are ones that I'd be happy to eat an enormous quantities of... or ones that I'd be happy to eat day after day.
The following list isn't ranked, and are listed simply by chronological order.
Sliced whelk in consommé (清湯螺片) from Howard's Gourmet (好酒好蔡), Hong Kong - I've never been a fan of whelk, as I could never appreciate this ingredient enough to justify paying the price commanded. This dish changed how I look at whelk, and was the single most elegant whelk dish I have ever had.
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I'm up in Beijing again for a quick trip, and this time around I actually get to have a couple of decent meals. I was chatting with Mr. QLI about the potential candidates, and in the end he suggested that we hit Family Li Imperial Cuisine (厲家菜). While there are several branches of the restaurant in the city, curiously, one of them is a long way from the city center. In fact, it's not far from Beijing Capital International Airport. Mr. QLI told me that this particular branch, named 蘭庭厲家菜, is where Chef Li Xiao Lin (厲曉麟) - the second generation owner - cooks. Apparently the location is close to his home.
Since I was flying in this afternoon, it seemed to make sense for us to dine here - as I wouldn't have far to travel from the airport and therefore not subject to the frustrating traffic jams that Beijing is known for. But poor Mr. QLI did have to travel for about an hour just to have dinner with me...
I arrived to discover an empty restaurant in a quiet shopping mall, and Mr. Li chatting with Mr. QLI in one of the five private rooms. We seemed to be the only diners tonight, which wasn't too surprising giving the restaurant's location. I dropped my luggage, apologized for arriving a little late, and was introduced to Mr. Li. I had had my first taste of their cuisine at their branch in Taipei last year, and had been curious about what it would be like at to eat in Beijing. Well, I did better than just eating here... I got to meet and chat with him.
Everything seemed to have been arranged, so I just sat back and waited to see what came our way.
Fried beancake (炸咯渣) - these were interesting, because they were crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Similar to gaozha (高渣). Pretty old school and dipped in some garlic-laced soy sauce.
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My second and last night in Beijing on this trip, and once again my friendly neighborhood prime broker arranged a dinner with Peking duck. We were shipped off in batches to Duck de Chine (全鸭季) - the Peking duck restaurant within the complex known as 1949 - The Hidden City. The complex was formerly a factory and research facility set up in 1949, and this was converted into an F&B complex. The historical feel of the place was maintained, and looked a little out of place in the sea of tall, concrete-and-glass buildings surrounding it.
The menu, of course, was preset... so I waited for the onslaught of dishes.
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I'm in Beijing for a short business trip, attending a conference organized by a former employer. As part of the overall program, I'm attending two dinners hosted by my prime broker, and Peking duck feature prominently at both dinners...
First up tonight is DaDong Artistic Conception Food (大董中国意境菜) - a branch of which I had hit on my last trip to Beijing. The location tonight was within a shopping mall, and was in fact within walking distance from the Peninsula Beijing. Pretty convenient for me.
We unrolled the scroll that was our menu tonight, and my jaw dropped at the number of courses we were going through tonight with the Winter Tasting Menu (冬趣). I'd better not finish everything put in front of me tonight then...
Crispy mushroom in tomato (蕃茄脆菇沙拉) - the tomatoes were stuffed with mushrooms, which was interesting and actually tasty.
Goose liver hawthorn (山楂鹅肝) - half of these were hawthorn (山楂), and the other half were foie gras pâté made to look like hawthorn - much like the foie gras lollipops at Amber.
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I'm up in Beijing for a couple of days on a business trip, and have a free slot for dinner tonight. It's been a little more than 2 months since Felix stopped by Hong Kong before moving to Beijing, and I thought it's high time I caught up with him. After a couple of rounds of discussions - and disqualifying some venues due to timing issues - we settled on the new branch of DaDong Artistic Conception Food (大董中国意境菜) - a 3-storey building right at the East Entrance of the Beijing Worker's Stadium (工人体育场).
This is quite a palace that Mr. Da Dong has built for himself. The entrance is quite dramatic - one either walks through a lawn with numerous lights as well as a couple of grazing horse statues, or drive through to the underground entrance, where the first scene encountered is an army of chefs roasting ducks in a central oven. In the middle of the main dining room on the ground floor, there is a 2-storey high screen which loops through a video about - who else? - Mr. Da Dong and his philosophy. Felix and I joked that in some scenes, instead of looking like a mild-mannered and cultured scholar, the boss ends up looking like the Shanghainese mafia of old…
I was a little flustered when I got to the table, and my first attempt at flipping through the menu left me bewildered. The dishes seemed to be crammed into the first few pages of the tome, and it all seemed like information overload. Fortunately, the same dishes appear on the remaining pages along with beautiful pictures, which made things a lot easier.
I wasn't particularly impressed by the duck when the chef came to Hong Kong last year, so I needed to see if I liked it any better here in the home base. My last dinner left a pretty good impression in terms of the other dishes, as I found plenty of Western cooking techniques at work. I was very curious on some of the more creative and fusion-looking dishes, and thankfully Felix was game.
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We are now more than halfway through the Beijing Olympics, and news about the Opening Ceremony continue to trickle in. All of this confirmed my belief that things in China haven't really progressed/evolved all that much after all...
I must admit I was pretty awe-struck by the artistic show for the first hour, under the direction of famed director Zhang Yimou (張藝謀). Zhang is one of my favorite directors, although his more recent works have demonstrated a clear shift away from his early style. He has been accused of focusing less on the story and concentrating only on the aesthetic aspects, but this is fine by me as I love the cinematography and some of the special FX of his recent works. The visual element is very important to me.
Well, the show was pretty. The giant scroll/screen was really something. And the sight of dancers gracefully "painting" on the scroll with "ink" really impressed me. Showcasing the four great inventions of the Chinese civilization was also a good way to allow the world to see the contribution made by the Chinese people.
But...somewhere along the line things went a little wrong.
At the very beginning, when the TV was showing the footage of the 29 giant "footsteps" traveling across Beijing, I noticed something strange. The images I saw looked like CGI and didn't look like any live footage I had ever seen. The lighting was all wrong and it looks like it was processed. When the live broadcast cut to the view from inside the Bird's Nest, the contrast was all the more evident.
Of course, we now know that the first part of the footage was "faked" - it wasn't live at all! It was indeed computer enhanced.
After this was uncovered, the organizers defended their actions by stating that due to the unpredictable weather and the difficulty of positioning helicopters to shoot live footage, they decided to come up with the best solution so that the image people saw would be "perfect." Hmmm...
Then, in the middle of the ceremony, we saw a group of children present the Chinese national flag, dressed in the native costumes of 56 ethnic groups found within China. As the procession went on, we also saw a pretty little girl in a red dress singing a song in a beautiful voice. As the camera focused on the little girl, I couldn't help but notice that she was offbeat...her lips didn't quite match the words I was hearing. As I was already intoxicated by this point (see The best suckling pig ever), I didn't give it another thought.
By now this segment has caused two separate "sensations": none of the children came from ethnic minorities - they were all Han Chinese - even though the program introduced them as minorities. And the little girl in the red dress was lip-synching to a recording made by the real singer, who was deemed to be not up to the visual standards of the officials. In other words, she just wasn't pretty enough for TV.
The organizers, of course, again have their justifications. It's quite normal for people of one ethnicity to dress up in the costumes of another, they say, especially in a performance. That may be true, but then perhaps the program shouldn't state that they are minority children. That's a blatantly false statement.
As for the little girl, well...the Chinese officials wanted the whole world to see a pretty face, while at the same time hear the perfect voice. So by doing what they did, they were able to deliver the best of both worlds.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world didn't buy this argument, and neither do I. William Pesek called it "China's Milli Vanilli moment" in his Bloomberg column, making reference to the disgraced pop duo who lost their Grammy Award after it was discovered that they lip synched everything.
This particular action by the Chinese officials have now further tainted the Opening Ceremonies, turning it into a big joke.
When audiences pay good money to go to a live concert, they want the real thing. If they find out that the artist on stage was lip syching, you can bet that they would be extremely upset and even demand their money back. Why would the live audience inside th Bird's Nest that night - and audiences around the world who paid via the TV broadcast rights - feel any different? And can you imagine people's reaction (not to mention the artist's own feelings) if the organizer told Sarah Brightman that they preferred a prettier singer, so can she please just sing in the background while someone else stood on top of the globe and lip-synched to "You and Me"?
Oh, and it was also revealed that Beijing didn't want TV cameras and audiences to see empty seats at some of the less popular events, so they got "volunteers" to fill up those empty seats so that the world can see how popular the Beijing Olympics is.
All this points to one message - that China is all about what's superficial, that presenting the best image possible is all that matters to the powers that be. This, coincidentally, fits in quite well with what we have seen from Zhang Yimou in the last few years - and is exactly what he is being critized for.
I have heard people complain about the "racist" West nitpicking the little flaws of the Opening Ceremony, a statement echoed by Wang Wei, the Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. Mr. Wang called the accusing press "meticulous" - the exact quote in Chinese is "我認為你太吹毛求疵了". I completely, respectfully disagree.
The whole world knows that the Olympics has always been regarded by the Chinese central government as its "coming out party." A chance to show the world the might of the Chinese people, and all the things that China can achieve. The fact that China threw an estimated USD 44 billion into staging the Olympics and building new hardware is a testament to how important this is to them. The whole world is watching, and China cannot afford to let the world see any flaws in the big show.
But when you make such a big deal about something in public, you can't really complain about people putting everything under a microscope, because you invited the whole world to come and see it for themselves!
And the name of the game continues to be hardware, which really is what China has had to show for over the last 10 years. We know China now has lots of dough, and is certainly not short of people or labor. So just throw resources at something and build some impressive hardware to show people how great you are. Forget the software - it doesn't matter and you can't see it on TV anyway. Forget reality and what's underneath - coz all we need is the best image and face. We have the Bird's Nest, we have the Water Cube. We have a new airport terminal. What else do you want?! We just want the big picture, and sweep everything else under the carpet and forget about it.
With this mentality, it's no wonder that the Olympics turned out the way it did.
Oh by the way, reports have surfaced recently that two of the Chinese girls on the women's gymnastics team are underage. This is of course denied by the officials, but honestly, when I saw them on TV I cannot image that they have reached puberty...
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It's been almost 7 years since my last trip to Beijing, so I was really looking forward to attending our Access China conference this year. While I spent a lot of time inside the hotel/mall, I did manage to get out and finally have some Peking duck...
I didn't do much homework on where to go, so when my friend suggested that we go to Duck King (鸭王), a popular chain, I happily went along with it. At least it was going to be better than Quan Ju De (全聚德)... We ended up at the branch next to Saite (賽特), across the street from the St. Regis, as it was the closest location to the Grand Hyatt.
Since this was going to be my only chance to eat outside of the hotel/mall, I didn't mind over-ordering.
We started with duck feet with mustard sauce (芥末鴨掌), which was nicely de-boned and served cold. The mustard sauce, however, didn't do much for me.
The other starter we ordererd was deep-fried duck tongue with salt and pepper (椒鹽鴨舌). This was pretty yummy. Usually I only eat duck tongue at Shanghainese restaurants, so it is normally braised with soy sauce. This is definitely another take which would go down well with some alcohol (like beer).
What followed was the classic whole duck done three ways (一鴨三吃)- the traditional crispy skin and meat wrapped in pancake (脆皮肉分片), diced meat fried with pine nuts and wrapped in lettuce (鴨松)，and finally the duck soup cooked in claypot (沙鍋煲鴨湯). The skin was excellent - crispy on the outside, tender and juicy (or should I say oily) on the inside, but without too much of the yellow fat under the skin. The meat was also lean but juicy and tender, full of flavor. Both are sliced evenly in small pieces for ease of wrapping in pancakes.
The diced meat was also nice, with bits of Chinese crullers (油條) and pine nuts. The lettuce leaves adds a refreshing balance to the otherwise oily/fried texture.
The soup, on the other hand, was nothing to write home about. But then again, I was never a big fan of this.
We left the restaurant very stuffed and with doggy bags for about half the duck... It was good to finally have had duck in Beijing after such a long absence, but next time I'll look for the smaller operators.
