Fengyi

Pat-00 I know what you mean - they form the basis of the cheapest lunch available to me at the office (Walmart sells them for 90RMB cents (about 13 cents US) each). They are the main food staple north of the Yellow River - seeing bicycles with the HUGE steamers on the back is the Herald of the Lunchtime! The dough is VERY different to the cantonese chasiubao! I agree! There is usually both yeast AND baking powder in the recipes that I've found and also oil in the dough (some recommend bean oil specifically). If you can google in chinese, there are several sites on how to make it. MAke sure you are googling Mainland china sites though - to make sure you get them right recipe because every bun/dumpling plus its dog is called baozi　包子 It is the same dough as that used for Huajua　花卷 (flower roll-bread) if you have a recipe for that. The fillings can be what you make them - but I can recommend the Walmart Celery and Egg one (and I don't even like celery!).

I must admit, I do like the Whampoa Club - although it is very expensive!!! The food is actually better than décor but Green T House is another place for me which is a 'dining space' experience rather than an eating one! Incidentally, I was at a Food and Wine Magazine tasting panel yesterday and brough up your question. Most people there said 'Tiandiyijia' was the place to go for neat food. But everyone agreed - don't order the set menus! They started at about 1000RMB (gulp!). Actually, I think the same holds for the Whampoa Club as well. WARNING: unless you're quite familiar with northern Chinese food, some of the amusing and impressive things about Whampoa's cooking may be a bit 'lost in translation'. EDITED TO ADD: Thank GOODNESS it is Lantern Day today and the fireworks will be over. It is 4pm in the afternoon and they are going off outside my building! Argh! oh well, at least I got my tangyuan in at lunch!

From a small but perfectly functional galley kitchen in the UK (hey - it had two wall ovens! Not bad!), I've moved to this: The only thing missing is the sink - next to which I am taking the picture! Living without an oven has prove interesting...also the total lack of storage - the cupboard at the end doesn't even function because the fridge stops the door from opening fully and they put drawers inside the cupboard. They are the only drawers in the whole kitchen - go figure... After our UK-China move, I've gone from cooking at home every day (with elaborate meals -up to ten courses at weekend dinners) to frequent restaurant eating! This is a testament to both my kitchen and the cheapness of eating out (meal for two for under USD 10 and no tips!) Of course, I should just bite the bullet and move the fridge into the living room like most people here do, but I somehow just can't face it! EDIT: to add, I forgot the most depressing part. When we went away this year, the electrics in the kitchen ceased to function. The result was we returned to a summertime temperature mess of rotten food in the freezer. I still haven't managed to get rid of the smell....so the freezer is off limits as well

WOW! I'm really surprised in the décor difference between the DTF in Taiwan and the ones I know in Beijing and Shanghai. The latter definitely look very upscale and posh compared to the Taiwan one. However, the food looks exactly the same!!! Here, DTF is definitely what I would classify as a 'bit of a splash out' place -falling in the 100-200RMB a person category with nice surroundings etc.. is it the same in Taiwan?

Warning: LAN is essentially South Beauty cooking dressed up in Phillipe Starck clothing. I really don't think it's worth the price tag but if you're into "dining spaces" it would be an interesting restaurant to 'collect'. For innovative hotpot: Pink Loft or Dingding Xiang (Hotpot paradise). The foie gras and wagyu hot pot is to die for at the latter! Actually, recently I've had some very nouvelle-style dishes at Da Dong. There was a particularly good one which was a take on Lion's head casserole 狮子头 except the meatball was made with white fish and the sauce was a clean crisp tasting pea puree. Very yummy! Another place worth considering is Jasmine - by the Worker's stadium East Gate. I went to a dinner there that was rather innovative and enjoyable. I was a guest, so didn't see the menu, but again the style was veyr much nouvelle-Chinese. If you want a nice private dining experience, I would recommend Il et Elle - it's a private kitchen which cooks Huaiyang food with a modern (and French) twist. You can't decide the exact menu as things are chosen by that day's market, but the owner, Sandy, will help you with any dietary requirements. They're on Jiangguomen Avenue. (10) 85324140. I help out with wine dinners there and since the courses are served european-style, it is much easier to do food and wine matching! I've never been to Tiandiyijia 天地一家 - but it's supposed to be something pretty special! At least the prices are! Also, depending on when you come, I would keep an eye out for Handel Lee's new project in the Legation Quarter which is due to open soon.

Here in Beijing, we have a verb-food event (due to the linguistic differences) : 包饺子 - but this reverses into English as 'Jiaozi (Dumpling) Wrap' so it can be shoehorned into the pattern Just a few simple steps: Make dough Make filling Roll out dough...... Wrap Jiaozi dumplings Boil jiaozi Eat them and drink beer until you fall over/die of surfeit/ pass-out. Hurrah!

There's zillions of variations on this - but one I've heard is to add a splash of beer (and that recommendation comes from a Xinjiang person...) to the meat before coating it in spices. Also, keep in mind that some sources say that the 'ziran' 孜然can be considered to be black Cumin (kala jeera - if you're buying it at an Indian store) OR regular Cumin. When I used to live back in the UK - I would use a mix of ground cumin and toasted whole Black cumin and regular Cumin to try and re-create it. That would work quite well. And as Magictofu says, be heavy handed with the salt (and MSG if you're into that) and also bring on the lamb fat! Actually, be heavy handed with all the seasonings!! It' works out the best in the end. . . However, the biggest obstacle to re-creating these skewers is the type of meat. If you can get hold of (or hogget-sp?) it will be much tastier and closer to the Beijing experience. Have fun experimenting Next time I buy a ready-made pack from the supermarket, I will check on the ingredients, but it's probably as you've said: salt, cumin (and/or Black cumin), chile powder.... (also see jhirshon's thread below for more tips...)

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. I personally don't mind MSG one bit - but sometimes I think the use of it is a bit heavy-handed here particularly by my countryside-relatives!) - just like I find sometimes salt can be in the West. . . Ben - I'm sorry to cause you a shock! But it's funny that you should say that my great auntie resembles your late mother...my great auntie is Manchurian - which goes to show the amount of genetic mixing. I'm also glad you enjoyed the food! I did too

I agree with Kent - usually it's used just as salt is - to taste and sprinkled on. Though, I must say that it seems to be added towards the end of the cooking process rather than the beginning. It's also popular here in the form of 'Chicken Powder' which is the same idea as that Cuban Seasoning that was mentioned. It's stock powder used like salt and the main ingredient is MSG. I love it! It really adds an lovely flavour. There's a dish I was taught - sliced up raw red cabbage, red onions, corriander/cilantro, cucumber, green thin-skinned peppers (NOT BELL!), tomatoes. Dress with salt, white pepper, MSG/chicken powder and sesame oil. Amazing! and the MSG makes ALL the difference! And yes, Dougal, Teso's does have LOTS of MSG here in Beijing....though it's all Value line...I've yet to see a Tesco's Finest MSG EDITED to add: It's also great added to cold noodle salads and other cold dishes (at teh last moment) and I also use it in the water to blanch Chinese green veggies.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures - would have made it a lot clearer! Basically, there were four types of jiaozi wrapping going on - with each being defended vigorously!! There was the one which involves about 5 pinches and results in a crescent-moon, squat one; one that was like a mini cornish pasty, one that was very elegant with intricate inter-weaving pleating and a extra-fast version that is often used in jiaozi restaurants in this area. All were quite different looking! As for the spring roll wrappers, they were made by a neighbour at her place so I didn't see. They looked like the usual ones made by 'splatting' (for want of a better word!) the wet dough on a hot griddle surface. But they were done rather well - this lady was quite well-known for her skill with the wrappers!

I thought it might be interesting to post some pictures of a Western New Year in China (just as a contrast to Chinese New Year in the West Pictures ) .... I was invited to my great-auntie's flat in Beijing for a celebration lunch.....at 10:00am!!! We managed to bargain it up to 11am though! It was very fun to celebrate as it was a sort of lower-key version of Chinese New Year and as it was a public holiday, they had invited the husband of the daughter of my mum's cousin (complex enough?) to cook as his job is a as chef for the People's Liberation Army. So yes, we had proper Liberation Army Food for the festivities Well, it started off with the Spring Roll rolling... The filling was very meat-based with lots of 韭菜 (Chinese chives) and the wrappers were all hand-made - very delicate and lacey and quite hard to wrap!! We also made ones with a filling of bean paste 豆沙 (urgh!) for those with a sweet tooth. You can see the bag in the middle of the table. Next came the jiaozi prep with my Dongbei countryside relatives doing most of the work: because the relatives are a mix of Manchu and Han and come from all over Dongbei - there was a lot of argument about the best jiaozi wrapping technique!!! But the filling was the same (pork and celery): Note the INCREDIBLY large bag of MSG from Tescos!!! They love this stuff - their bag of salt was only 200g, but the MSG bag was 900g and boy!! was it sprinkled on with a lavish hand. Having said that, the jiaozi were incredibly tasty - so it does work! During all this work - at the same time(!) in the MINUSCULE kitchen (about 3 square metres!), the Liberation Army cook was cooking up a storm and produced 8 cold dishes and a myriad of hot dishes out of the cubby hole.....and here is part of them: (with the pink thermos and toilet roll adding a particularly festive touch I felt ) The glasses held some Australian Shiraz (that we bought) which was quickly polished off in rounds of 'Gan Bei!' but enjoyed by all. The 'lunch' finally ended at 6pm and we were packed off with 20 springrolls, mounds of jiaozi in Tupperware and a bag of the springrolls wrapper with the cries of every relative's suggestion for fillings resounding in my ears. It was very happy - and noisy! and I was very glad that our New Year's Eve was quiet and decorous....it would have been hard to do a Chinese-style Western New Year with a hangover

Dapanji - yum! Although it does quite a bit wearing to eat by about half way through.... I think the flavour of this dish would be hard to recreate without the thin-skinned green pepper that one gets here in China...but if you can get these (please avoid green capsicums/bell peppers at all costs!), you could probably throw something together by frying the chicken first with the potatoes and onions then adding tomatoes and the spices (definitely as everyones' said: cumin and chilli - and most places I've had it in add whole Sichuan peppercorns) cooking it down and adding the green peppers. But you do need the sauce for the noodles afterwards - so don't cook it dry!!! served with cold shredded raw cabbage, carrot etc... dressed with sugar and vinegar. Wash down with Xinjiang beer or red wine

And while I'm here.... An onslaught of visitors pre-Christmas led me to go to DaDong Restaurant 大董烤鸭店 twice in one week - and I have to say that now I am certain that is the best duck I've had in Beijing. Consistent, not-greasy, good flavour -it's got everything going for it. Also, I got to taste a much greater variety of the non-duck dishes these times and I must say that they were all terrific. Very balanced and innovative. Due to my visitors' generosity (and a Media wine-launch tasting dinner -hee hee!), I also got to enjoy the newly opened Whampoa Club　黄埔会 on Financial Street (金融街) TWICE in one week. Both times were truly wonderful.If there was ever a 'destination dining' spot in Beijing this is IT! The menu is based on such traditional Beijing dishes as Peking duck, but presented and ‘tweaked’ in a beautiful and modern style - I wish that I had taken pictures! I had such Beijing classics as the mustardy-pickled cabbage but they were presented in beautiful rolls with wasabi jelly and scallop additions. Particularly lovely was the dessert of Tang Hu Lu 糖葫芦. Instead of the huge long skewers of candy-coated crabapples, the restaurant had them on little individual skewers stuck into a mound of ice and done very delicately with a very thin candy coating – and they came with side dishes of dark and white chocolate dipping sauce. The 炸酱面 zhajiangmian was outstanding (as it should be at 48RMB a bowl!!!!) as well and the twice cooked lamb shank with cumin was delicious. In all, I really like the way that Mr. Leung has captured the essential flavours of Beijing (with Lu and Dongbei influences) and has made them modern and elegant. It’s a bit of a blowout restaurant (I would recommend ordering carefully from the a la carte – the set menus are REALLY expensive) – and the wine list is over-priced (a bottle of Grace Vineyard’s Premium Chardonnay -which is 108 on shelf and 380 at the Kempinski- is about 460RMB here!). But this still is a very exciting place to try Beijing food done in a style that I have never experienced before.

I'm pretty sure that it's Loft (the Dawang Lu branch) that he goes to. I think I've reviewed it already above. It serves Shanxi cooking - which is, of course, based on noodles and vinegar hence the chinese name of the restaurant: 面醋 It's pretty darned good - not quite real authentic Shanxi (now that I've been there!) but tasty and fun - and a great place to bring out of towners for a visit because it's elegant looking yet interesting as well. There are TWO branches of it and there's also Hot Loft and Pink Loft (the former for hot pot, the later for Thai food) which are run by the same people. The open kitchen is fun - and they really don't mind showing off their skills while visitors run around taking photos. If you want to sit by the kitchen, though - you have to ask as they'll often put you upstairs on the second floor. (the noodle+sauce choice of combinations is one of the most bewildering things about ordering noodles in Shanxi - I'm never sure if I've put the most suitable sauce with the right noodles! Last time I was in Shanxi though I ate with the manager of one of Taiyuan's oldest restaurants - his combos were Excellent!)

If you are referring to Yellow Valley Cheese, then I can assure you that it is very good. ← Yep - it was the Cumin Flavoured (but in Chinese 茴香味..it wasn't fennel, so that was a bit misleading...). Made by Shanxi Windmill Farmhouse Foodstuff Co. It was really nice - a very young Gouda-type cheese with good flavour and the cumin seeds added a great zip to the flavour! Sorry there aren't pictures but we tore it open. And the price...was 70RMB for the smaller sized whole cheese. How does that compare to Liuzhou prices?!? {I won't try any irony today }

From what I've understood from meeting and talking with people involved in the Okanagan-side of Canadian Wine making, cellaring Icewine essentially results in very little change and/or bottle maturation. The sheer amount of sugar in the wine inhibits the ageing process greatly. I think this may be rather like the case of Tokay Essentia where bottles age at an incredibly slow rate. Certainly in cases where I've tasted older icewines, they certainly do not age as quickly as Sauternes do. However, it's always worth an experiment or two or three....but i should think that you'll have to cellar them for decades to get any appreciate degree of ageing...good luck!

If you are referring to my post, please re-read what I wrote, to wit: that Northerners were probably milk consumers. ← I'm sorry - I thought it was clear that I totally agree with your point I guess my sense of humour didn't come across well. . . I just wanted to add the points that most things that people think about Chinese in the West (i.e. they don't eat a lot of potatoes or roast meat, they don't drink very much, they don't have dairy products, rice is the main starch, etc...) are really not true for a vast segment of the population here in the northern reaches of the country. I didn't intend to offend or upset you in any way - I just wanted to agree with you! Anyway to go back to the topic, I've been buying an artisanal Gouda-style cheese here which is made by some mad chap out in Shanxi. He's got together with the local danwei (unit) which has dairy herds and is producing quite a nice amount for the market here. We will be opening it on Christmas, so I will report on the taste then and also take some pictures of the packaging (if I can figure out how my new camera phone works!). And - I went to the Whampoa Club Beijing for dinner last weekend and they had developed some chinese wine-based icecreams! I was far too full to order them, but they certainly looked fascinating!!

I would say that milk is a popular drink here in Beijing - judging by the types that are available in the supermarket! Lots of people seem to like the 'Breakfast Milk' which has some sort of malty extract and egg added to it. I once put it in my coffee by mistake and nearly gagged. Next time I'm at the Supermarket, I'll try and do some phone-shots of all the types of milk. Yoghurt is, of course, HUGELY popular here (corn yoghurt.....bleuch!). I'd love to know more about the history of soured milk consumption here because it does seem very well entrenched - I used to love the little clay pots that they sold it in and that you would have to drink from the spot or pay the shopowner for the little pot! The consumption of ice cream is massive here as well - with Baxi brand offering local competition for the Walls Empire. I have never heard any Northern Chinese said that they are lactose intolerant - but then these Northern types tend to eat meat 'n' potatoes, bread and yoghurt, and drink vast amounts of 56% alcohol liquor..... mad 'furriner' habits [i've just learnt recently the hard-core Northern drinking style of shots of erguotou (56% distilled sorghum spirits) interspersed with glasses of raw egg...... It is truly horrible.....]

I myself have run a food and wine matching workshop at The Hutong - and was impressed by the facilities that they had for cooking class. It's been done to Western standards (i.e. higher work benches, clean, safe, etc..) and it seemed a very nice space - in an old hutong neighbourhood -for a cooking class. I myself have not attended their cooking classes so I cannot vouch for them- but they are supposed to be quite popular. Mark and Stacey are very helpful -so may be able to answer any questions you or your wife may have. I *have* attended one of their tea workshops and found it quite fascinating. It was well done and explained the basic differences between teas very clearly. The teas were also all well-chosen and delicious! Have a lovely trip!

I would definitely go to the newer Da Dong duck restaurant - I was blown away but some fo the food there!! It's by the New Poly Plaza on Dongsi Shitiao - in the new complex right west of the old storehouses. Great duck - but also has other delicious dishes too! So that's the Kaoya covered - what else would you like to eat? I bring a lot of out of town guests for Xinjiang food - as a lot of them don't have the time to go to Xinjiang! Do you want traditional / modern? Beijing food only or other stuff? What area will you be in (don't want to waste your time in the perpetual traffic jam!!)? Sorry for the questions, but there's SO much to eat here!

I just came back from a long weekend there! Bliss I wish you the very very best trip possible and hope you enjoy it. As for the changes, luckily, the neighbourhood where I used to live hasn't changed much - but the rest! WOW! I knew the central Star ferry terminus had been moved but it was still such a shock to see it actually gone!!! Can't add any suggestions for good Cantonese food (except for the usual -which I'm sure you know about already). . . we actually ate nearly all western food just because my friends thought I needed a break from Chinese food. The roast beef and yorkshire pud at Jimmy's Kitchen was terrific as usual. So if you want a change, go there on a Sunday and enjoy (also was invited for a function at the Mandarin Oriental - the site of many a tea in ages past! - for the new-wave El Bulli style cooking there. It was very very fascinating with such things as a tomato "salad" with bubbles of 'Olives') Have a lovely trip - the weather is WONDERFUL there at the moment!

This week I went back to the Sichuan Government restaurant - again, truly delicious food (though I did suffer a bit with the chile and garlic cooked eel dish - wow! it was uber garlicky) and we discovered that they actually have a non-smoking room !!! Hurray! And yesterday, finally got to the new Da Dong branch at Dongsishitiao. I got the totally mystified cab driver to drop us at the old storehouses by the new Poly Plaza and walked from there but there is a drop off in front of the door (if your cab driver isn't totally as clueless as they normally are). It was amazing! Very, very good duck - not greasy at all, yet still "ducky". But what was really good were the other dishes. The best Spring onion fried beef 葱爆牛肉 I've ever had. The only down side was the bill we spent 800 kuai (but 300 of that was on a bottle of baijiu) which is a lot (in our eyes) for 4 of us.

Just a quick update - the restaurant above appears to be closed on Nanheyan road. I don't know about the Dongsi location. We were passing by on a way to a party nearby - where the food was lovely...an eclectic mix of lamb kebabs, cheese and olives, shuizhuyu 水煮鱼, pigs trotters and chocolate birthday cake Also, we've now been back to the Sichuan Government Restaurant a few times and I can firmly confirm that it ROCKS!! The only horrible thing is the line-up for a table. Last night we had their 'old-duck' soup, eels with chilis and whole garlic cloves, a selection of snacks (including great dandan noodles!) and other delights. We were even sat in the non-smoking section (which I didn't think existed!).

My Hui ayi has just arrived and I've asked her what she defines as Hui and what as Uyghur. I showed her this discussion, but she doesn't read english so I did a bit of translation. She also turned up with a big box of Ba Bao Cha which she's going to show me how to brew today! Basically, she singled out mutton and egg pancake (羊肉鸡蛋饼) as appearing very Xinjiang, but says that most of the dishes mentioned would be interchangeable between Uyghur and Hui, though differing in style. She always said that Hui cooking differs from Han cooking most in the areas of cooking Lamb and Beef. With Chicken and Fish, the styles converge much more. She mentioned her stewed beef as a special example and said that Han people would never use the same spices as she did! That the taste was completely different. She also got extremely miffed at the idea that Hui people were sort of Muslim Han people. It provoked a reaction of 'No Way! Of course we're not Han in any way!' from her Anyway, she's making curry chicken for lunch. *NOT* a traditional Hui dish - but it's good for me!

Ha! ha! The very thought of my grandmother cooking has me in stitches! She came into kitchens only to scold the servants and to make sure they were making her exactly what she wanted.... In the days before the Communists, my granddad and she managed to 'get by' with about 4 cooks (including a White Russian whose sole job it was to bake bread and make chocolates and skewers of Shaslik!). After fleeing to Hong Kong, staffing levels went down but she still managed to avoid the kitchen even thought she was a great gourmet! Luckily, my mother spent most of her childhood hiding in the kitchen from her own set of servants She learned a lot!