Despite being born and raised in Australia, I have grown up on Chinese food and eating it everyday is not an issue for me.
My family is in the restaurant business and our dumplings (steamed or fried) and spring onion pancakes are definitely hard to beat.
Going out for dinner in Beijing is not easy when trying to pick out a place to eat. I am all about cheap, quality food and often all you have to go by is word of mouth.
My friend works at the Australian embassy here in Beijing and he took me to a restaurant specializing in Xin Jiang cuisine.
Walking in, the waitresses were dressed in their traditional wear. It was rowdy and colourful, almost fully booked out. “It was usually like this”, my friend commented.
Like most eateries in China, the menu was choc-a-block with choices.
We had the pineapple rice (which was actually served in a hollow pineapple), a delicious potato dish (similar to a cheesy gratin) and a spicy rice noodle that would put any chow kwai diow to shame.
When headed to the Workers Gymnasium over the weekend, a colleague (who is a Beijing local) recommended the spring pancake house.
And no, we are not talking maple syrup and ice cream.
One selects from a list of savoury dishes and these are wrapped in steamed, paper-thin pancakes. You wrap these yourself, which is part of the experience.
Discussions about food fill the halls everyday – mostly at the start of the day, as we reminisce over last night’s meal, and at the end of the day, when we are deciding what to have for dinner.
I was off to tea with a few Americans two nights ago and we finally decided on … get ready for it … tex mex. Mexican food in China. Go figure!
It was surprisingly good. I’d recommend the beef burritos and the bean dip.
“Luckily, I’m not sharing a room with you”, my Canadian friend remarked afterwards.
I am yet to do dumplings.
When I was in the country three years ago, a relative took me to a fantastic dumpling house near Wong Fu Jing and I have been told that there is a great place off the Second Ring expressway.
I don’t think they’ll be as good as my mum’s, but I’m willing to give them a shot.
That should be the attitude to food when visiting the Mainland. None of this Mexican food in China business.
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