Beijing Part V: Food Glorious Food

With the issue of food safety at the back of my mind, I am naturally cautious about my food choices in Beijing. To be on the safer side, I avoided all street food and stuck mainly to food in the hotel and renowned restaurants. Being the scaredy cat that I am, I still managed to get a taste of Beijing. :)

As Beijing modernises, the capital is now seeing a mushrooming of many hip and cool cafes. At 798 art district, there were so many cafes to choose from that I didn't know where to start. With a growling stomach, I finally settled in one of the many.

And ordered a traditional Beijing breakie of pan fried dumplings and glass of chilled soya bean milk. The dumplings tasted fantastic with the side condiments of vinegar and preserved vegetables. This 35RMB (approx S$7) breakfast set was enough to last me through the day.

Truth be told, I have never expected the streets of Beijing to look so chic.

I was staying at the St Regis Beijing and there are quite a few good restaurants sited in the hotel. I originally wanted to go Italian, but was lured by the too-good-to-be-missed hairy crab promotion. These hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake are bigger and juicier that what we usually find in Singapore.

Eating these crustaceans is an art. It was challenging yet fun, at the same time. There was this very sweet waiter who even presented me a step-by-step guide to eating hairy crab at the end of the meal.

Because of the cold climate in Beijing, many locals often tucked into cuisine from northwest China (think Mongolia and inner Mongolia). My guide took me to this rather popular food chain serving northwest cuisine at the Summer Palace area. The main selling point of this restaurant is their organic food and their assurance of food safety and hygiene. 

Knowing that food from this region usually consists of plentiful mutton, I was initially apprehensive. But to my surprise, the noodles were tasty (though albeit a little too oily).

And with Beijing famous for their boiled dumplings, I made sure we ordered a plate of that.

What is a trip to Beijing without peking duck? 

After extensive research, I finally settled on Da Dong Peking Duck Restaurant.

I had a entire 1/2 duck to myself. 

And boy, was it heavenly. I was told to dip the skin in a little sugar and was surprised that it melted immediately. I never had such good peking duck back home.

The side condiments cost an additional 8RMB but it is well worth every cent.

There are many ways to devour the duck. You can either eat it as it is, or you could eat it with these fried buns, or you could eat it as a wrap.

The complimentary dessert at the end of the meal. It was the first time I tasted fresh hawthorn. Juicy and sweet.

This post marks the end of the series on my adventure in Beijing. It has been such an enriching, meaningful and successful trip that it is worth a toast!

Cheers to many more solo trips *hint hint*!