Chengdu - Land Of The "La Mei" 辣美 (Hot Women)

They say the most beautiful women in China may be found in Chengdu, in Sichuan province. Sichuan is famous for their spices. The women's beauty is first attributed to their steady diet of Chengdu spicy hot pot. The combination of the broth's heat and spice helps their bodies have smooth blood flow, regular bowel movement, and flushed cheeks.

Hotpot from Chengdu. Token clear broth for me, the laowai.

The past 6 months in snaps

The hibernation required by the cruel Beijing winter kept me at home or indoors in a nearby place most times, without much foodventures to speak of. The Great Firewall of China also discouraged me from accessing my blog (required a VPN), thus I easily fell into the comfort of becoming a creature of habit. 

Still, these past 6 months, life happened. I realized the value of building face-to-face relationships with people I met in the places I frequented, and sharing my many favorite foods with a carefully chosen set of friends. I live in a city where it is easy to find friends but difficult to keep them, because people come and go all the time. Going to the same places with the same persons helps us easily draw into memories in the future. 

A sneak-peak into my life in the context of food:

 Peanut butter toast from Bridge Cafe, my favorite in all of Beijing. One of the cafe's other frequent guest said I was here too often I was already part of the cafe furniture. The chef drew the translation of my name (Faith: 信) on the toast, upon hearing that this was the only item on the menu that I haven't had yet.

老北京 Old Beijing Restaurant

Every Saturday after badminton, my friends and I eat in one of the restaurants nearby before heading to a night activity like 打麻将或者在三里屯去玩儿. I've successfully lobbied for us to venture out of the Shuguangli row of restaurants (near our badminton court), although this entry is a tribute to Old Beijing 老北京, the restaurant we formerly frequented for our post-work out grub, and the place that taught me to eat more veggies.

Thank you to Old Beijing for my one too many 烤鸭。

蔬虎 Shuhu Vegetarian Restaurant

I've taken a serious liking to vegetarian restaurants these past few months. Probably because I hang out with more vegetarian or health conscious friends, who fill out middle table with veggies when we eat out. It was only in China that I got used to eating mostly vegetables, because the Chinese menu is filled with yummy veggie choices that makes it easy to chow on vegetables three times a day (although I still get angry stares from my guy friends when I forget to order meat when we eat out).

Shuhu Restaurant in the university district in Wudaokou is always a welcome choice when my friends and I run out of new options on where we will choose to share a meal. Note that the pictures below are all vegetables, and it somehow, for a previous meat-eater like me, all-veggies somehow tasted like the real thing.

Forever favorite 麻辣香瓜

Suzhou 大圆糕 (big round cake) and Suzhou's fish-squirrel specialty

Government girl Ishy and I spent a weekend in Suzhou, where we got a view of a number of imperial gardens and got a taste of Suzhou's street food. Below are some snaps I borrowed from her blog entry:

Ishy and a taste of the 大圆糕 (for the purpose of translation, I'll call it the big round cake)

Shanghai snaps

Government girl Ishy and I traveled to Shanghai and Suzhou where we spent most days talking, laughing and eating. Below are some of the snaps from Ishy. 

I didn't have the energy to take pictures or take notes of the menu because there was so much to catch up on.

老北京 Old Beijing

I play badminton regularly during the week, and although I get a lot of cardio, there is no trace in my body that proves this because my body looks nothing close to a svelte physique molded by a lot of running and body stretches. This is most likely due to the fact that after badminton, my friends and I go straight to a nearby restaurant and chow on oil-submerged grub and share pitchers of 啤酒.

The great thing about ordering for the middle table is we get to try different food. Below are some new things I tried in our dinner in Old Beijing restaurant:

蒜汁驴肉 Donkey meat cooked in garlic sauce - RMB 38. 他们告诉了我 donkey meat is popular with females because it gives us better skin. Chow on!

Haidilaohuoguo 海底捞火锅 (Hotpot)

One of Beijing's most famous hotpot restaurants is 海底捞火锅 (Haidilao Hotpot). Their hot pot offerings are regular fair, like many hot pot places, but what sets this restaurant apart is its excellent service. Other hotpot restaurants tried to copy this, but have not become as popular as Haidilao, as Haidilao enjoys first-mover advantage.

While waiting, kids can play board games and puzzles in the kids corner just right beside the entrance.

Cooking class @ The Hutong - Water Spinach

I celebrated my first weekend of my genuine summer by attending the cooking class held by the expat club The Hutong. I've been eyeing their Pakistani and Carribean cooking classes since February, but it was only now that I had ample time and energy to get up for their morning class. It's summer: no work, no school, no excuses. 

It was the first time I dealt with water spinach. There were around 11 of us attending class.

Nanjing Impressions 大牌福

I was lucky enough to be invited to judge in the 1st China National High School English Debating Championships held in Jinling High School in Nanjing. The host school treated us judges to dinner in one of the best Chinese restaurants in Nanjing, 大牌福. The interiors reflected original street designs of 1800s. It was amazing being there, it was like being transported back into time.

I munched and chatted through the evening and thus forgot to take pertinent details of the food that we ordered and the location of the place, so what follows is a line-up of photos of the food that we ate (taken with my camera).

杭州的龙井茶 Hangzhou's Longjing Tea

One of the last trips we made in Hangzhou was a visit to a 龙井茶 Longjing Tea Plantation farm. They showed us how they make the tea - plucked from the bush and then dried on stir-fry by hand. 

Longjing tea, or Dragon Well tea, originated from Hangzhou. This is considered the national drink of China and is frequently given to visiting heads of state. It is a favorite tea of today's top leaders, with a portion of production reserved for government customers.

楼外楼 Louwailou, Hangzhou

楼外楼 Louwailou is Hangzhou's oldest and most authentic Zhejiang restaurant, located at the foot of Gushan hill, overlooking all of 西湖West Lake. This restaurant was established in 1848 (163 years ago). Reservations are not allowed in the restaurant so you need to arrive early if you want to eat on time.

Tip: Chinese eat dinner early, around 6:30 - 7, so by the time we arrived at 8:30 pm, most diners were on their way out, so we only had to wait a bit before they gave us a table.

One of their best: 东坡肉 (Dongpo pork). I tasted traces of rice wine in every tender and juicy bite. It was stewed for 2 hours, then the meat was transferred into the jars and covered with peach paper.

Zhiweiguan in Hangzhou

One of our goals in our Hangzhou trip was to try out 南方式小笼包 South-style xiaolongbao. We had it in one of Hangzhou's most famous chains Zhiweiguan. Perhaps it was due to the May holidays, and that it was a Sunday night, but their branch in 西湖 Xihu was packed and the turnover was quick.

They had an efficient way of inputting orders. First, we had to buy proxy-money at the front of the restaurant, then go to whichever counter served the food that we wanted to order. We went for the xiaolongbao, given to us as soon as we handed in the proxy-money and it seemed like the 服务员 waiter came out with around 5 batches of xiaolongbao every 5 minutes. 

小笼包 Xiaolongbao, RMB 15 for 8 pieces

Dinner with Lucy's Hangzhou-based family

Apologies to the readers for the lame title, but when they led us in an ark-looking restaurant with decadent decor, then into a room full of laughter and food, I was swallowed whole by the experience. Below are some of the food we had - all South-style 吃饭.

Goubuli Baozi from Tianjin (狗不理从天津）

Spring has come, which means more time traveling outdoors. We took a day trip to Tianjin, a port city 30 minutes by train away from Beijing, and enjoyed its period European architecture and their specialty food: 狗不理包子 Goubuli baozi

We headed to 食品街 Tianjin Food Street, a covered commercial complex selling all sorts of food from different parts of China, and headed to the corner lavish restaurant that advertised itself as authentic Goubuli Baozi.

百年酱肉包, Steamed pork bun with sauced pork stuffing for RMB 13

天津食品照片儿 Tianjin Food snaps

One of the visits that we did during out Tianjin weekend was to visit 食品街 Food Street, a commercial complex that housed all sorts of food coming from all parts of China. It was an intersection of a variety of food, a feast for the eyes! But my camera could not capture much of it as I gunned for free tastes.

Ham from 哈尔滨 Harbin. The meat is wrapped in some sort of gel. Pork gel?

榆乐轩餐厅 Yuyuexuan Restaurant

One weekend, I decided to check out the East Orthodox Church inside the Russian Embassy in Dongzhimen. After an hour of walking and explaining myself in Mandarin, I faced a Russian security guard who could not speak Mandarin or English so it was the end of the line for me.

I rewarded myself with a meal in some random 胡同 hutong, revisiting some of my recent discoveries.

酸辣蕨棍粉 Spicy sour fern noodles for RMB 12. I remember trying this out in another restaurant so when I saw this again I knew I was in for a treat.

New Orient Kitchen

It was that weekend when my 高中 friends visited. After a day in the Summer Palace, we dropped by Sanlitun and entered the first open restaurant that seemed to have adequate heating.

New Orient Kitchen was a place I already tried out with a friend a couple of months back. They boast of contemporary Chinese dining and clean, healthy eats. I felt that their food was ordinary fare but I particularly like their rice variations.

Teriyaki chicken fillet with crab roe salad for RMB 35

天天餐厅- Everyday Restaurant

It was only a month ago when I joined a small Beijing debate tournament where I met fun and like-minded debaters who were interested in discussing global trends, social movements and management practices. From the pre-elimination rounds all the way to the tournament's Grand Final, I exchanged knowledge, humor and wit with the city's best.

Honolulu Coffee Cake Shop

Since this was a Hong Kong trip where Macau and its egg tarts were not part of our itinerary, we instead headed to Honolulu Bakery, written by Time Out Hong Kong as having one of the best char siu bao and egg tarts. I missed the char siu bao by the time I arrived, they ran out by lunch time.

Egg tarts - HKD 5 each