Food in Beijing

Finally a post about some of the great food we ate in China. Our Lonely Planet guide came in real handy when trying to find a good place to eat!

On our first day tour to the Great Wall, we had lunch on the 2nd floor of the Enamelware Factory/Shop. Here is a picture of the meal, they were traditional Chinese foods, and they were delicious!



At the end of day 1 we went to a Chinese hot pot restaurant. Hot pot or less commonly Chinese fondue, refers to several Chinese varieties of steamboat stew. It consists of a simmering copper pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. In many areas, hot pot meals are often eaten in the winter (wikipedia).



Our food was so fresh, here are the butchers cutting the meat!



You can't have hot pot without a nice cold beer.



Complimentary lamb kabob appetizer, it was delicious!



An amazing sesame seed bun.



Noodles.



We decided to leave the head on the plate and cook the rest..



Look at all that meat!!



Hot hot! Pot!





Video of Mike knawing on a chicken's foot.





Ba Guo Bu Yi (6400 8888; 89-3 Dianmen Dongdajie) is where we ate at the end of Day 2. This celebrated and award-winning Chengdu restaurant chain delivers fine Sichuan dishes from a marvellous Chinese inn-style setting with balconies, a central stairway and dolled up waiting staff. Enter through red doors to a traditional style building just off Dianmen Dongdajie. There's music, occasional operatic events and a range of good value dishes including Chongqing (hot pepper chickenY38) and xianjiao yupian (chili fish slices). The food is first rate and the ambience bursts with both character and theatre.



What is a meal without beer, especially Olympic beer?!









The server tried to explain something to me and I had no idea what he was saying, so he brought me over to the wall with a post of a performance on it. He then motioned for all of us to follow him inside the other part of the building, we went up to the 2nd floor balcony and watched the performance.






Video of the performance
watch carefully because the dancer can change her mask with the nod of her head!