After the first day of their visit, Judy and Lisa mostly went on tourist adventures by themselves since I had to work. I went to the office early and often joined them in the mid-afternoon or evening, but they went to the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Olympic Park, and Summer Palace by themselves.
I did meet them for dinner everyday, and over my time in Beijing have managed to luck upon several really good restaurants of many different genres, so I got to share them with my guests. The second day (for first day see above post) we went to a place famous for Dim Sum, which is a culinary practice from southern China and Hong Kong where food is brought out in little portions on carts and you just take the plates that you want. There were no carts in Beijing, but the food did come in smaller portions (and prices) so we could try many different things. Notably, we all tried the black-bean-fried chicken feet, which were spicy but quite good!
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| Before they knew I was taking the picture, I got their real emotions... |
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| And this is their facial reaction to the picture! haha |
After their Great Wall trip, we went for Muslim hotpot. We each had our own pot of boiling broth and shared various things to dip in it and cook - lamb, beef, shrimp, lettuce, mushrooms, yams, lotus root…after cooking, you can dip it in a special sesame-peanut sauce before eating.
The fourth night, we went to an excellent Taiwanese restaurant famous for its 'xiaolongbao' or thin juicy dumplings. We discovered while there that the restaurant had been listed by the New York Times at one point as among the ten best in the world (a seemingly preposterous claim, but still, evidence to its quality). The dumplings have really thin skin, and when you put them in your mouth you experience this explosion of pork-y goodness that is exquisite. Judy and Lisa were amazed, and actually went back to the same restaurant the next day for lunch on their own!
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| The shaved ice with red and green bean dessert that we had after dinner |
Next up was vegetarian cuisine - hard to get in China where even plain vegetable dishes are often cooked in meat broth. I thought I was taking them to a chain restaurant that I had experienced in Yangshuo with Andrew, Lotus Pure Vegetarian, but upon arrival it became apparent that the Beijing version was much more opulent than its southern cousin. There were no less than 5 Tibetan-robe-clad attendants in the parking lot to usher us into the restaurant, which was hiding behind a massive swinging door with big metal hands. Inside the restaurant, the colors were muted with hanging curtains, a Mongolian-looking tent, fake foliage, and tiny lamps on each table. The food was fantastic, with the highlight being the best pumpkin soup i have ever had, it was sweet and savory and creamy and not-too-heavy all at once. We also had a mushroom dish, an excellent noodle dish, 3 organic vegetable/fruit drinks, seaweed wraps, and even cheese fondue!
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| Judy with the veggie wraps the server recommended |
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| A view of the restaurant complete with Mongolian-ish tent |
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| Having a little trouble with the fondue...the bread kept falling off the stick! |
To top it all off, we capped their last evening in Beijing at Da Dong Duck, the city's 5-star modern Chinese cuisine restaurant famous for its 'lean ducks'. Adam, Alison, and I discovered it on accident on our first full day in China, and it was since become a staple for guests; the duck is just excellent and the other dishes are unique, tasty, and presented beautifully. We got there a little early, so enjoyed a glass of wine at the bar before being shown to our table.
We were trying to create a photo documentary of dinner but our stomachs got the better of us when the duck came - but I do have several of the earlier dishes -- purple yam and orange balls, and bamboo shoots with mustard sauce.
And I do have previous pictures of the duck with the accoutrement dishes from previous trips to Da Dong. You dip the duck in the brown sauce and put it on the tortilla, then add various veggies and pickles from your side dish.
For dessert, we ordered an interesting-looking cotton-candy-coated-fruit dessert, which - surprise! - came with strawberry sorbet as well. We were so full and happy at the end of dinner, it was a great end to a great visit, I really enjoyed showing them what I have learned about Chinese food here in Beijing.
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