Du Men Chong -独门冲(簋街总店)

东城区东直门内大街15-3号(北小街北中街间)

Occasion: After exploring the 13 Sacred Ming Tombs, Jade Factory and the Great Wall, we were ready to get our grub on. 12.11.11 

Spicy fried shrimp 

This was a lot spicier than I had expected it to be.  I was almost ready to cry and ate 1 shrimp with an attempt to eat another one.  My tolerance for spicy food just isn't that high and I could not take the spiciness of this dish.  If you love spicy food, I'd really recommend coming here!

 Zhong Xing Kao Yu- Zhong Hing style Fried Fish

Fried fish that was served hot pot style.  They first deep fry the fish then put it in this hot pot soaked with spicy sauces and our choice of sides: we chose mushrooms and veggies.  Also another spicy dish, but a lot more bearable.  It seemed as though a majority of the menu consisted of spicy foods that did not appeal much to me, but I still wanted to try it.  Our tour guide recommended this restaurant for their fried fish and so I was on a mission to try it.  It was only after we had eaten there did I realize that this restaurant is well known for this dish! YAY!  We selected catfish as our choice of fish, as it was more of Henry's pick.  The meat was super soft and moist.   Though this dish was spicy, it was ALOT more bearable than the shrimps.  Henry was a full and happy camper!

 

Yang Chow Fried Rice

YAY! Something that wasn't spicy! I think I feasted on most of this, since it was the only dish that was bearable to my palate.  I thought it was delicious!

DaDong Roast Duck- 大董烤鸭店

朝阳区东三环长虹桥东南
Building 3, Tuanjiehu Beikou, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

Occasion: Dinner after a day of touring the city! We just had to come here and try their infamous duck! 12.10.11

Roast Duck 

We had to try their infamous duck! It was $40 a pop! I don't usually eat duck, but back home in the states, I'm sure you can get a whole duck for half the price at a Chinese restaurant! I usually do not like the way Chinese duck is prepared because I find it too fatty, but not here.  It definitely met the standards of good duck.  Each piece of meat and skin I ate was free of fat, which was a definite plus for me.  The chef brings the duck in front of our faces to show us our duck, then goes ahead and artistically slices each piece of meat and skin.  It was a skill I've never seen before.  It came with a basket of crepe like skin for us to wrap the duck and condiments to eat as a roll.  They also taught me to dip the meat in sugar as it gives it not only a sweet taste but also a nice crunchy texture! YUM!

Condiments, sauteed green bean sprouts with garlic and some kind of pastry puff 

The condiments we ate with the duck wrapped in a chinese roti like wrap.  We definitely needed some greens in our system to help with the digestion of food! The pastry puff was thin and hallow and we stuffed it with duck meat and condiments and hate it like a sandwich.

 Soup

With all the bones from the duck they make it into a soup, which was perfect for the cold winter night.  We had the option of taking the bones to go or soup, we opted for the soup that had a hint of natural sweetness from the duck bone. Very brothy and tasted authentic.

Complimentary fruit platter

So fancy! We ate it all because we liked the selection of fruits.

Wang Fu Jing- 王府井小吃街

东城区王府井好友世界商场南 Beijing, China

Occasion: Second time here! This time to try different things. 12.10.11

From left to right, top to bottom

Cuttlefish stuffed with meat,  Zha Zhang Mien, Potstickers, Lamb intestine

Cuttlefish balls came with soup.  We did not expect it to have anything inside, but it was a nice and tasty surprise. It was delicious.

Zha Zhang Mien was a vegetarian dish. Noodles were fresh and tasty and for the price we paid, we couldn't have expected any more.  We enjoyed it!

Potstickers for 15 RNB. That is super cheap considering the amount we got.  I got to watch them make it fresh. Delicious!

Lamb intestine sounded kind of disgusting, but actually quite tasty.  Reminded me of beef tripe and was drizzled with a little bit of spicy sauce.  Something different, authentic and definitely not something I'd be able to order here in the states.

Crab apple candy sticks
I saw a lot of people walking around with these and so I wanted to try one myself.  I mean you won't be able to find these in San Francisco, so why not.  These crab apples were sour and tangy with a mushy texture.  It definitely looked a lot better than it tasted.  At first taste, I thought it was disgustingly weird, but after a couple of bites I started thinking it was better.  Still I threw it out after about 4 bites.  Just not my stick of dessert.

Deep Fried Scorpion

It was my goal to try this during my trip!  It was now or never, so I chose that moment to do it.  I first got full of real food before I could eat this.  These little creatures were still alive when I purchased it.  Once I bought it, the cart owner would toss the stick in the deep fryer.  He let it cook for about a minute or so.  Anyway on to what it tasted like.  After I got passed the fact that I was eating these little nasty creatures, I was brave enough to take my first bite.  It reminded me of deep fried shrimp shells.  Crunchy with a deep fried flavor.  There was not meat and was crispy.  Not bad at all! I ate all four of it.

85度C- 君太店

西城区西单北大街133号君太百货2楼

Occasion: Bought some goodies/snacks to have just in case we got hungry. 12.09.11

Pineapple bun with custard filling

So freaking good still considering it was two days old.  The bun itself was soft and not dried out.  The crust was still crunchy and the filling was sweet, but light. Perfect while touring the forbidden city.

McDonalds

Near Wang Fu Jing

Occasion: Henry really wanted to try the spicy chicken wings, so we came here just to try that. 12.09.11

Spicy chicken wings

I was so confused when we were eating this.  Were we in KFC or were we in McDonald's.  In the states, you find chicken wings at KFC not at a McDonald's.  I guess in asia they do it a little different in order to cater to the population's taste and preference.  I don't usually like fried chicken from KFC because the chicken is dry and it doesn't taste like real chicken to me.  To my surprise, the chicken was moist and the skin was perfectly crispy.  It was good, but a bit too spicy for me.  If KFC chicken from the states tasted like this, I wouldn't mind going there more often.