chengb02

my original thoughts on the article have been more or less confirmed by Gary and HKDave. I figured she was somebody who hadn't spent too much time on the mainland and simply made the statements out of her longer time in HK or just as a pro-HK attitude. I was especially suspicious when she brought up the saying/greeting "??????“ (ni chi le fan ma) and then used the literal translation...This was a very common greeting on the mainland, too, at least in Beijing, though nowadays you don't hear it quite as much. I think the great thing in any large Chinese city (but this is mainly coming from experience in Beijing, and to a lesser extent Shanghai) is that there is an unbelievable diversity of Chinese regional cuisine that can be found and is accessibly priced for the majority of people. Much of what she describes seems to be more about Chinese culture and the importance of food, elements that can be found anywhere in the world, not things that are unique to HK...Well, maybe she will continue on the food topic in today's entry...

considering going here before a play on a Thursday night, but a bit worried about the no reservation policy and the crowd, would it be possible to do?

This is an excellent, huge market. It is easy to pass by without realizing the treasures inside as it appears to be just a large warehouse, but its definitely worth a stop (but it gets packed on the weekends). Part of the market serves as the distribution center for Korean/Asian markets all over the midwest.

Not sure if any of you are Slate readers, but the past two days there has been a "diary" on HK. Today's entry includes a lot about food, including the comment: "That's what makes it different from the big cities on the mainland, even the ones like Shanghai and Beijing that are booming with new money and businesses. You can't stand on a corner in Shanghai and choose food from six different regions of China. Hong Kong is the Chinese version of New York, my hometown. It's not a grafting of East and West, that old British colonial cliché. It's the capital of the Chinese overseas diaspora, the world's great Chinese urban cosmopolitan center." I am wondering about what those who have spent extended amounts of time in HK (and hopefully the mainland too) feel about this. My impression is that its a bit of an overstatement, I know that in Beijing, you can not only find good Chinese food from all over the country, but also foreign foods from all over the world in a not too large radius from most locations in the center of the city. What impression do others have? For the full article, here's the address

haven't seen it but this will make me look out for it. I have yet to go to Zaytinya, but have been to Cafe Atlantico (regular and mini bar) and Jaleo, and Chef Andres is definitely deserving of this award, congrats to him.

I have had similar experiences as busboy, decent beer, bad food at the ones in Logan and Dulles. If I were at National, I would instead go to Legal Seafood, unless stuck in the old terminal, ugh!

Huangjiu is very often served heated, especially in the winter time. One question though, as I said, I'm not a fan of the stuff at all and was really only introduced to it when I traveled in the Shanghai area. I met an American who told me he loved the stuff, but he said that he usually added sugar or other things to it to make it more palatable, as instructed by a Chinese...Is this common? I will second Gary's point, when ordering beer in China, you must insist you want it cold, or else it could come out room temperature...

How could I forget soju. One of my favorite late night combinations at a little club nearby is their flavored soju and duk bok ki, I know it doesn't seem like it goes together, but at that point in the night, who cares... To jump over to what Pan said, the cheap stuff is always dangerous, especially for someone not used to drinking it. I remember a few impromptu dinners I had in Beijing with a friend and their family who were from Anhui and the father would bring out a plastic jug of huang jiu, something I hate as it is, but even worse when it is of the very cheap variety (just think of any cheap alcohol in the US)...One thing I found sort of cool when I was at the grocery store one day in BJ was baijiu that was being sold in sealed plastic, I guess it cuts down the price of the bottle and was selling for 1.5 RMB...I passed it up though, if I'm going to spend a night drinking baijiu, its going to be Wu Liang Ye, or at least Beijing (a mid range brand that works hard on presentation like bottle and box)... HKDave, you are right on, as I mentioned earlier, baijiu/huangjiu are definitely an acquired taste and there are even many Chinese I know who won't go anywhere near them...

Two of the most common alcohols in China, neither of which you mentioned are Baijiu and Huangjiu. I'm not sure about the availability of either in most places in the US (then again, not sure where you are located), but some of the larger Chinatowns tend to have these available in the grocery stores or restaurants. While I don't like huangjiu at all (tastes like alcoholic soy sauce to me), perhaps that is just my northern blood coming through, if you ask me, in the right company and during the right meal, nothing is better than a bottle of baijiu. The 2 major brands are Wu Liang Ye and Guizhou Maotai. Both are definitely an aquired taste and (especially in the case of baijiu) not for the faint of heart...I remember an interesting gathering where I introduced some American relatives to ergoutou (extremely cheap baijiu)....

hmm...I sort of don't want to go into this, but actually eating dog is probably more common in northern and northeast China than it is in Guangdong (at least that would be my guess). Dog is a very cheap meat and the Cantonese, while they eat everything, tend to go for the finer ingredients. I would like to blame the Koreans for the dog eating influence in the northeast, and while this has something to do with it, the origins of it are sketchy. I recall once before seeing a restaurant, on what at the time was the outskirts of Beijing, called "GouRou DaWang" (Dog Meat King) and wanting to check it out, at least take a picture...In the northeast, the most common way to find dog is in a dog meat soup, which is supposed to have many warming qualities to it. In the poorer provinces (Guizhou, Gansu) it is more common to find a dog meat hot pot. The 48 rmb duck is what I'm talking about, to me, Beijing Duck is a good meal, but nothing overly spectacular, the touristy places will add some things or do the presentation at the table which some cheaper places might not do, but at the end of the day, the quality and taste ofthe duck is usually similar. The Grand Hyatt's Made in China is a fabulous restaurant, great interior and common Beijing/Northern/Northeastern foods. I went to treat myself for my birthday, had 3 dishes and it came out to 250 RMB or so...It was a lot, but I would still go back every now and then...

Go to the hotels at Wangfujing, namely the Grand Hyatt (worth seeing anyways) in Dongfang Guangchang, the Beijing Hotel, or the Crowne Plaza just past the church (you could also go to where Pan stayed at the Novotel or the Peninsula Palace across the street), just to the right of XinDongAn, any of these hotels should be able to help you. While you are at the Grand Hyatt, contemplate dropping all that cash you have put together for the Li Family restaurant on a meal at the Grand Hyatt's Made in China.

In the old days that was the reason...Now its just that because of those old days, they have yet to pick up this habit of tipping...However if they can make money by treating foreigners differently, they will...To some extent money has trumped ideology? There are businessmen and entreprenuers allowed into the Communist Party....

Thanks Gary. Makes sense. I was just going to ask about the "Hu" for Shanghai, but I googled it and found: ←

The only one to offer this dining option is the original location at Qianmen, a 5-10 minute walk southeast from Tianamen (I love Beijing because I actually know what is north, east, south, west by just thinking where I am in comparison to Tiananmen). You won't be able to miss it...I'm not sure how much it is off the plastic/styrofoam, but I know its cheaper than inside the main restaurant. I doubt it is a great bargain (I haven't been in awhile...when a friend visited recently, we went there, but decided the line was too long, having made the mistake of waiting to watch the flag lowering ceremony and then going), but it is a way to have a real QuanJuDe duck at a lower price.

In light of the fact there probably won't be a Krusty Burger opened in the DC area anytime soon, I'm more than happy with Chick-fil-a fries, but as mentioned, don't make the mistake of longing for it on a Sunday...

There are a couple issues here...First, I think this is a constant dilemma for magazines that are foucsed on specific locations. I think that the statement you heard is true to some extent, but also a bit overstated. These magazines typically only have 1 or 2 restaurant reviews a mont (plus some info on 2 or 3 new restaurants). Most of the places that advertise in these magazines are already very established and well known among the expat community (and the amount of ad space that goes to restaurants is small as it is). One of the biggest problems is that most of the expat mags are staffed (in the loosest sense of the word) with 1 or 2 people who have been in the game for many years and a lot of young just out of college types or students in BJ. The number of "contributing writers" and "freelancers" for some is unbelievably high. From experience I can attest to the fact that a lot of bad reviews are given for 1 of 2 reasons: 1. overpromotion in a previous good review and so an attempt is made to balance things out, 2. a writer who is settling a score and then laziness on the part of the editor. I think there is also a bit of a Chinese face issue here, restaurants will often spend a little more on their advertising in these magazines in hopes of almost buying off a good review. I'm not sure how things are right now, but in the past there was much demand for ad space, losing one restaurant wouldn't strike fear in the hearts of the magazine, but it may cause some fear among restaurants who might choose to advertise with that magazine. Sorry for this extremely rambling post...but for these reasons (and others), I would advise that checking out these expat mags can be beneficial about finding information (in the very basic sense: names, addresses, and phone numbers) on different restaurants in the city, but don't pay too much attention to anything they say about the places...

Must remember that QuanJuDe has 3 different dining experiences...take out, eating your duck on plastic without the pomp and presentation (for which you need to get in line early), and the restaurant with its regular dining (for whic you must make reservations long in advance but is best avoidable). It is near the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square. Uigurville is long gone, though you can sample this kind of food throughout the city. My favorite place would be one of the many places around Xinjiekou or Gu Lou, but that is only because of convience for me (close to where I live). There is also the very commercial, Afunti, which has decent prices for a higher end place (probably about 75 RMB a person) and is a lot of fun (a Xinjiang performance and then dancing on the tables), though the food is only mediocre (it is all very good, but for the prices you pay, i would expect a bit more)...

your best bet in getting comprehensive restaurant listings would be to grab a copy of "Thats Magazine" or some of the other expat publications that are ubiquitous in nicer hotels or Starbucks. It sounds like you aren't staying in one of the "nicer" hotels, but you can use your foreigner status to walk into just about any hotel and grab a copy...Alternatively, they can be found online at www.thatsbeijing.com It is true that you can find almost every cuisine everywhere, but this just doesn't disprove my point. There are Chinese from all over the country in Beijing, a Sichuan person would hope that they will be able to go out and have Sichuanese food. Though at times, a Sichuanese in Beijing, say, going to a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing will be disappointed with food that lacks the real taste they expect (this is frighteningly similar to the experience of any Chinese going to a Chinese restaruant in the US). Some of what I was saying goes to history, too, travel for Chinese people in China has really only existed for 10 years. Before that, one of the most common responses as to why somebody wouldn't want to go somewhere is the idea of not being accustomed to that place (bu xiguan), especially its food and language. It still exists, to a lesser extent today, and of coruse it is more common among the older generations. Then again, the consistency of food poisoning stories in the news (or stories about "fake" foods) has led many Chinese to be extremely careful, to the extent that one of my friend's parents only feel comfortable about eating at KFC and McDonalds or the higher end restaurants when they eat out (and these aren't overseas Chinese).

I am starting to understand how those cantonese speakers feel about my posts.....so, lowfan is just cantonese for laowai, yes?

I took a closer look and saw the grey/red bricks and thats the only area that I know of in the city that has that unique feature...The area is nice if someone else is paying, but thats about it. There is a pretty interesting jewelry shop with reasonable prices (by US standards) on very unique designs that I stopped at last time, though.

this is a bit of a random question, but Gary, is that picture taken in the Xintiandi area/site of first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party? sorry, to make this about tipping...at some places, if they think they can get extra money out of an unsuspecting foreigner, then they will do so. If the waitress does that to you, you have every right not to tip her, but as Gary brings up, its also a bit of a face thing for some (similar to tipping on english tours as compared to Chinese ones).

I have heard they opened in HK as well, but I'm not sure where exactly...

their cream puffs are amazing! I know its a Japanese chain that had a branch in Beijing where I stopped every now and then for one. I didn't realize there was one in the US. Next time in town I'm going to have to stop in, though I'm glad to be far away, because they are both addictive and extremely fattening...

My suggestion was made obviously dependant on time...If he was going to be there for a number of days, its a good place to go to try something that he wouldn't be able to get elsewhere. It would be a good break from all the Cantonese food to have a hearty dongbei meal. Though jokhm did comment he was going to be in Beijing, that isn't a part of the traditional Northeast/Machuria region of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. This restaurant was an excellent example of good dongbei food and was honestly one of the best I've been to outside of the actual Northeast, plus it was a fun place. I ate here twice during my short stay in Guangzhou, but perhaps that is because I have too much of the common Chinese thinking of fear of a different regions cuisine...

sorry, once again you're right...what can I say, its late! Or perhaps its thinking about eating these little creatures that caused me to bang the keys with reckless abandon...