I've always liked Chinese food and so it was a real treat to experience non-Americanized Chinese food. And though we've read that there are far numerous variations on Chinese food than what we're used to in the US, since we didn't get to much of China, we only got to try a small portion of what the country has to offer.
I LOVE DUCK!!!
Beijing, formerly known as Peking, is known for their Peking duck. You can walk around the city and see duck hanging from butcher shops as you can see in most Chinatowns in the US. So around the corner from our swank Hilton hotel was Quanjude (pronounced Shwan-jhu-de), one of the well known places in the city for their roasted Peking duck. So we made a reservation and off we went. As we've experienced in Japan and South Korea, there was a language barrier. They did have an English menu, but not being able to communicate to the waitress properly, we were pushed onto the set meal. So for 630 Ramibi/Yuan (a little less than $100), we got a 5-course meal.
 |
| Storefront of Quanjude |
Unfortunately, most of the courses were ok. But fortunately, the duck was amazing. As we were eating through our first three courses, a carver wheeled out 2 roasted duck and started carving (the other duck was for another table). He meticulously took off the skin and cut them into perfect bite sized pieces and presented us with our plate of duck skin. The waitress directed us to dip the skin in sugar that they provided. Sugar? Never heard of that before. But WOW!!! The skin was perfectly crisp and the sugar just brought the right amount of sweetness to bring out the full flavor of the skin. I have always loved duck skin but this was on a new level of love. And as we were being blown away by duck skin dipped in sugar, the carver continued to carve up our duck and serve it to us. And of course, that too was amazing. After our duck was fully carved, the waitress gave us a card that contained the number for our duck. I guess they track these things.
 |
| Our Duck us No. 078051 |
And having to eat 5 courses of food, there was actually still a good chunk of duck left over. So we had it packed up so that we can eat it later. I've always found duck skin to not be good on the second day, but I thought it best to at least take it to go and we can throw it out later if we didn't like it. But the next day, as we were packing to switch hotels, we start nibbling on the duck and found that the meat was still as tender and juicy as the night before and the skin was still surprisingly a little bit crispy. Can you say, yummy?
Street Food
As we've done in every country so far, we pass along numerous vendors selling various foods on the street and so we can't resist the delicious smell and the experience of eating like the locals. In China, our first experience with street food was coming right off the metro for the first time, where a lady in her food cart would cook chopped up meat (beef, we think) in some sort of sauce and slop it on some bread. The smell alone convinced us to buy one and to our surprise it was only 5 Yuan (<$1). Not sure what it was or what it was called, but what it was was delicious. "I think we're going to like eating here," ran through my mind.
And we weren't disappointed. In Shanghai and Hangzhou, we saw hordes of Chinese (because they only come in hordes during their holiday weeks) eating away at what looked like whole crabs dipped in batter and deep fried. Again, the smell of alone convinced us that we had to partake. Besides, deep fry anything and you know it would be good.
But how does one eat crab as a street food? Well do as the locals and just start biting off pieces of the crab and spitting out shells. Since we've seen Chinese people just normally spit anywhere (be it spit or bits of corn), it would be well within social norm here to spit out your crab shell. I'm just glad that most Chinese actually spit out their crab shells in trash bins placed around these food stalls. Greasy and oily and messy to eat, the crab was oh so good. And we got to eat another variety in Hangzhou where the crab was of a smaller variety that you can eat through most of the crab shell.
We also got to eat our share of dumplings and other meats on sticks walking the streets of China.
 |
| Pineapple Fried Rice in a Pineapple |
As we finished our pineapple fried rice, we notice people walk around with ice cream cones. So we follow the trail to...McDonalds. Not really street food but as I like to say, "Do as the locals." And for 3 Yuans (50 cents), how can we resist.
Dim Sum
Dim sum is a Guangzhou style meal, usually for breakfast, that made it's way over to Hong Kong and eventually to the US (though only in major Chinatowns in the US). The meal are bite sized morsels of meat or vegetable wrapped in dough and steamed cooked. Traditionally, women push around carts with various dishes and you can either ask for one of the dishes or wait for another cart for something you like.
So a quick google search and we come across an article on Wall Street Journal listing some dim sum places in Hong Kong. And surprisingly, we were again staying around the corner from one of the best in the city. So one of our Hong Kong mornings, we stroll over to Lin Heung Kui and have ourselves some dim sum. We get seated on a 4 person table who we initially share with a lovely older lady and later replaced by two older gentlemen and we start choosing foods. One of the things that this dim sum restaurant is known for is ma lai gao, a lightly sweetened steamed cake that was just absolutely delicious.
 |
| Darin and Our Ma Lai Gao |
We also order the normal dim sum fare of shiu mai, dumplings, and other yummy dsihes. Darin and I agree that this is the best dim sum place we've ever been to. We wanted to try and go the next morning, but our flight was too early in the morning. If you find yourself in Hong Kong near the Sheung Wang metro, go to this dim sum restaurant. You won't regret it. But if you do come to Lin Heung Kui, bring a newspaper so you can blend in with the locals.
 |
| Having Tea (of course) With our Dim Sum |
No comments:
Post a Comment