水烤晶肉－Korean Roast Meat Restaurant

韩国的尚烤肉点 - Korean Roast Meat Restaurant

The title roughly translates to "shuikao jingrou" : Water-roast-crystal-meat. I suppose true to form, the meat is roasted on a crystal-like slab placed at the center of the table.

Due to my hankering for kimchi, the Xian gang of four met for Christmas dinner in a Korean roast meat restaurant. We had a whole bunch of stuff, but my selected pics are:

豆腐 "doufu" - tofu

重庆好吃街 - Zhongqing Delicious Food Street

(Mandarin translations are mine so if it seems wrong, it most likely is.)

The first time I encountered this place was over dinner with debaters from BLCU. This restaurant is a small noisy one along the Wudaokou strip, and we chanced upon it when we heard our stomachs grumbling and searched for a place that did not serve fastfood. I felt we chose well, I bring some of my friends here for yummy eats.

宫爆鸡丁 ("gong bao jiding") - Palace Stir-Fried Chicken cubes for RMB 15

陈麻婆 (Chenmapo) Hotpot

On love

Drink
the poison,
sweet wine
in vein,
faint
with a sudden pain

OUCH. Above is the heart-wretching poem that my friend Chandler wrote and shared with me during dinner.

Two Mondays ago, Chandler and I ate in Chenmapo Hotpot place near Wudaokou. They served regular hotpot fare, perfect for a chilly winter evening. Chandler ordered in bulk so I could not identify the prices. Around RMB 270 for 2 persons.

Peanut sauce - I love this! This was mixed with the cooked beef and vegetables of your choosing.

Roast Duck Restaurant near Guomao Station

My Kazakh friend Askar and I visited the Panjiayuan Antique Flea Market (潘家园旧货市场) yesterday, a visual delight of old goods that made me want to go complete vaudeville. Many of the stalls were manned by members of ethnic minorities, so much so that some lanes looked like they had a costume parade.

After our Panjiayuan Antique Market trip and on our way back to the Guomao subway station, he and I chanced upon a respectable Roast Duck Restaurant where we headed for lunch. Beijing is the disneyland of Peking Duck, so it wasn't surprising to find roast duck restaurants everywhere.

Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou (桥咖啡在五道口）

One of my favourite places to study is Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou. I keep on going there for their great food, but it's its wooden interiors make the cafe look cozy and warm. The best thing about Bridge is that they are open 24 hours, and they serve wine and beer along with their coffee.

五道口的桥咖啡二十四小时开门。他们的反很好吃!他们买咖啡，不同啤酒，红酒喝白酒。

What's better is that sometime, ThinkInChina holds events in Bridge Cafe to create a well-informed expatriate set.

Nationalism and Politics in China: Professor Zhang Jian from School of Government, Peking University （乔咖啡有事件叫中国的族主义和政。 他是北京大学的教授）

My favorite meal is the American Breakfast with French Toast. The BEST French Toast I've had, and one that I crave for from time to time, is Antonio's French toast. This one is a superb rival, and the differentiating factor is that Antonio's sprinkles their with cinnamon.

American Breakfast - with French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and hot chocolate - for RMB 35 (this buys me 5 hours of table space) -美式早餐 - 和法国面包， 炒鸡蛋，培根，热巧克力 - 一共三十五块。我买的这些给我五点在咖啡店坐。

Akasakatei in Gui Jie (Ghost Street)

So for her last evening in Beijing, Bianca and I went back to Akasakatei, a restaurant along Gui Jie, open 24 hours, to have more of their juicy rib eye. Gui Jie is the usual hang out of yuppies who want to sober up after an evening with alcohol.

Green fields roll for RMB 58

Punk Bar in The Opposite House

For post-dinner drinks we headed over to Opposite House, the art-space-cum-hotel, and descended down their equally famous bar called Punk. It was amazing how the lobby of Opposite house greeted us with serene lounge and provoking art pieces, while, Punk, their bar downstairs, had an industrial chic design. Punk's music was laid back and its crowd a bit older.

A spacious bar and the creatively positioned lights