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Beijing, Shanghai and Surrounding Areas


amyknyc

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98 RMB is for the entire duck? Still sounds like a lot of money. What's the inflation rate in China lately?

More to the point: How much would a meal cost at a dumpling house popular with Beijin Ren, as a basis of comparison?

Edited by Pan (log)

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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98 RMB is for the entire duck? Still sounds like a lot of money. What's the inflation rate in China lately?

More to the point: How much would a meal cost at a dumpling house popular with Beijin Ren, as a basis of comparison?

98 RMB for the entire duck is actually pretty par for the course in Beijing. Da Dong is also 98 RMB per duck. You can probably find cheaper kao yas in Beijing, but probably at unkown neighbourhood joints. On the other hand, Quanjude is 168 RMB per duck, while Made in China is 198 RMB per duck.

I've had good meals at Liqun (four diners) where the bill will be about 200 RMB for the entire meal (one kao ya with several other main dishes).

By comparison, dinner at Li Jia Cai (Lee Family Restaurant) starts at 200 RMB per person, going up to 2,000 RMB per person.

Of course, dumpling dining can be pretty cheap. I just had dinner with a friend at a neighourhood dumpling restaurant for 30 RMB per person (two different types of boiled dumplings (egg and mushroom, and pork with cabbage), a mashed potato and eggplant dish, and a spareribs dish, plus drinks).

A dumpling meal at my favorite dumpling restaurant - Tiajin Bai Jiao Yuan (Tianjin Garden of a hundred dumplings; and it does appear to have over a hundred varieties) will cost more. But that's because I will order more seafood-based dumplings, including an incredible crab roe dumpling that is unctuously yummy.

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98 RMB is for the entire duck? Still sounds like a lot of money. What's the inflation rate in China lately?

[...]

I recently saw a picture of some street eats in Shanghai:

1 bowl of Beef noodle soup: 40 RMB

1 piece of potsticker: 4 RMB

1 cup of soya bean milk: 15 RMB

From this pricing, a Peking duck of 98 RMB (= 6 cups of soya bean milk, or 2+ bowls of beef noodle soup), the price does not seem outrageous. I will trade a peking duck for 6 cups of soya bean milk any time.

In my part of the world (a cowtown in the USA), I can get a Peking duck for US$17 on a special. Regularly they are sold for US$20 to $25.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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I recently saw a picture of some street eats in Shanghai:

1 bowl of Beef noodle soup:    40 RMB

1 piece of potsticker:    4 RMB

1 cup of soya bean milk:    15 RMB

From this pricing, a Peking duck of 98 RMB (= 6 cups of soya bean milk, or 2+ bowls of beef noodle soup), the price does not seem outrageous.  I will trade a peking duck for 6 cups of soya bean milk any time.

In my part of the world (a cowtown in the USA), I can get a Peking duck for US$17 on a special.  Regularly they are sold for US$20 to $25.

Ouch, those are outrageously expensive street eats! Do you know where in Shanghai were those street eats located (must avoid!)?

I haven't really eaten street grub in Shanghai (been there only on business), but here in Beijing, those items would be no where close to those prices. Even in air-conditioned fast food places (such as Yonghe Dawang), a cup of soya bean milk is at most 5 RMB, and a bowl of beef noodles would be 20 RMB or less. Prices at street-side stalls or the local canteens would be even lower.

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I've got this nagging note in my head which says the Quanjude duck was RMB164 back in 1997. Then again could have been 128 or 168. That was for the posher one where you went and picked your duck from the hanger and marked it with a brush before the roasted it

Either way doesn't look as if prices have moved much at all!

l8tr

J

ps, yeah RMB40 sounds like a *sh*tload* for a niuroumian. Heck that would get your three big mac meals right?

Edited by Jon Tseng (log)
More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
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When I was in Shanghai, I got the general sense that things tended to be somewhat more expensive than Beijing, on average. I think there's more wealth in Shanghai, or should I say more wealthier people? Anyway, I'm speculating that that can affect food prices. I should add, though, that my visits to both cities in 2004 lasted only a few days apiece.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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went to Li Qun in april this year. i think i paid RMB87 for the duck. on the last day i went to another roast duck place in the same neighbourhood, RMB67 [for the duck alone]. in Chengdu [early march this year] i paid RMB10 for dinner for 2 people: 2 different dishes, rice, and a beer. and next door another day RMB13 for 3 different dishes, rice, and 2 beers. they even took me to the very dim kitchen and let me pick out anything in endless baskets on the shelves. fabulous food and prices in Chengdu. never again will i go to Shanghai.

in the hutong [Peking] where my hotel/guesthouse is located the loveliest and simplest brekkie of wonton soup [with meat filling, real stock, dried tiny shrimpies and dried seaweed, 2 bowls] and a basket of little steamed buns [again, with meat filling] all cost RMB6 [RMB2 for each thing!]. the place has 3 little tables and 10 stools, and the kind faced young wife makes everything from scratch on a little table next to yours. my favourite street food in Peking must be the egg pancakes! tried a few places but narrowed down to one i liked most [RMB1 in the same hutong]. bbq mutton skewers RMB1 each as a snack or appetiser. i like Peking :wub:

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Ouch, those are outrageously expensive street eats!  Do you know where in Shanghai were those street eats located (must avoid!)?

Thank you for the tips. I have no idea where that was. I just saw a picture posted in some other blog sites. I haven't been to Shanghai for ages and have no idea what things have become. :wacko:

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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98 RMB is for the entire duck? Still sounds like a lot of money. What's the inflation rate in China lately?

More to the point: How much would a meal cost at a dumpling house popular with Beijin Ren, as a basis of comparison?

98 RMB for the entire duck is actually pretty par for the course in Beijing. Da Dong is also 98 RMB per duck. You can probably find cheaper kao yas in Beijing, but probably at unkown neighbourhood joints. On the other hand, Quanjude is 168 RMB per duck, while Made in China is 198 RMB per duck.

I've had good meals at Liqun (four diners) where the bill will be about 200 RMB for the entire meal (one kao ya with several other main dishes).

By comparison, dinner at Li Jia Cai (Lee Family Restaurant) starts at 200 RMB per person, going up to 2,000 RMB per person.

Hi everyone. I'm headed to China in a couple of months. What kind of food does Lee Family Restaurant serve? Pan mentioned that it was 3-Michelin star quality. Is it Chinese food?

I will look for a thread about it on the forum - does anyone know if it has a website?

u.e.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

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I think you're right - it was 98 RMB for the duck at Li Qun. We probably spent 200RMB on the whole meal.

That doesn't reflect all meals in Beijing. For one lunch, we had two bowls of jiajiang mein (cold noodles with julienne cucumber and bean sauce), 20 meat-stuffed buns (we thought they were going to be smaller) and a coke for 35 RMB.

Shanghai was not necessarily more expensive - I had a bowl of beef noodles that cost 8 RMB. And that was right off the People's Square with air conditioning and tables. In the mornings we hit up some food stalls near Yan An Xi Lu and picked up scallion breads, soy milk and dumplings to feed four people for 16 RMB total.

For dinner, we usually spent about 200 RMB per meal eating out, having a 7-course Chinese meal for four people, including chicken, seafood, etc. They were extravangant meals, probably not what you would eat all the time if you lived there.

Ice cream ranged from 1.50 RMB for a mochi ice cream bar to the outrageously expensive 10RMB scoop at the government-run souvenir store between Badaling and Beijing. Even the popsicle at the Forbidden City was only 5 RMB.

Edited by wonderbread (log)
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Anyone know of cooking classes in Shanghai?

Hi Mary,

Aga at Chinese Cooking Workshop (cookingworkshop@gmail.com tel:1370 1873 243) may be able to help you out. I havn't taken the courses but have heard of no others... that said I've only been here a week so...

They also have a website: http://www.chinesecookingworkshop.com/index.asp?cp=cu

Please let us know how/if it turns out.

M

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Anyone know of cooking classes in Shanghai?

You could try iMandarin (please note - I've no personal recommendation for this -it's just that in today's Shanghai Daily, they're advertising their cooking class:

Cooking Class

If I see anything else I will try and post it!

<a href='http://www.longfengwines.com' target='_blank'>Wine Tasting in the Big Beige of Beijing</a>

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Hi all,

Here are two photos to add to this post:

I just got back from a trip to Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou. The food was really different from the Cantonese food my mom cooked - Shanghai dishes have lots of very sweet sauces. Loved the array of cold appetizers.

For Peking Duck/Kao Ya in Beijing:We went to Li Qun in a hutong near Qian Men. Both English and Chinese guidebooks rave about it, it's a total hole in the wall, but the duck was really delicious. It had a lovely smoky fragrance. You can walk from the main street, it's well marked by spray paint, don't let the pedicab drivers convince you that you'll get lost looking for it. The duck is 200 RMB. We ordered the soup, but they forgot to bring it!

Also order the glass noodle fen pi appetizer and duck liver appetizers!

Shanghai:

I was surprised by how sweet the food was. A Shanghai appetizer my uncle (who lives there) kept ordering was a lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice soaked in honey then sliced and served cold. I really enjoyed the wide variety of cold dishes the Shanghainese serve - much more varied than the typical Cantonese charcuterie plate of hams. Lots of cucumber, pickled vegetables, tofu.  Smoked fish is a specialty in Shanghai but I didn't particularly like it. Again, too sweet. We also had the squirrel tail fish here, which I thought was also too sweet.

Mei Ling Guan, at Hotel 168 on Yan An Xi Lu near the intersection of Pan4 Yu2 Lu (the Shanghainese pronounce it Fan4 Yu2 Lu). The name comes from the original location, which was next to the U.S. Consulate. We loved the Fish Head Stew - in Cantonese we call it Saw Wo Yu Tou.

Ye Olde Station A convent turned restaurant. Here are the cold dishes from that meal. I didn't think the food was spectacular, but the setting was very cool and very 1930s. gallery_25085_2468_735546.jpg

Hot Spicy Crab, also on Yan An Xi Lu, just west of the Howard Johnson All-Suites Hotel at No. 1155, at the intersection of Fan4 Yu2 Lu. Look for the big crab stenciled on in the window and Vegas-style neon lights. It's not really called Hot Spicy Crab. That's just what we started calling it. This place is fantastic - they have hot pots built into each table - but we had the crab cooked for us. You order them by weight and they show up with a gigantic pot of it and stick it in the middle of the table, it has tons of chiles, scallions and some nian gao dumplings.

gallery_25085_2468_21080.jpg

M on the Bund. If you want to eat al fresco with a great view, this place has it. The food is ok, not killer, but the staff is great.

Grand Hyatt, High Tea. This is on the 54th floor of the Grand Hyatt on the Pudong side. They have a high tea dessert buffet from 3p to 5p for about 100RMB. Killer view if it's clear, and try to grab one of the very comfortable leather couches.

Suzhou:

Go to Shi Lu, the night eating market street. It's a smaller street on the edge of town.

There's a man who makes dragon beard candy at a table - ask for a fresh batch so you don't get stale ones in the premade boxes.

There are a lot of open stalls, but we ended up eating at an indoor restaurant because it started raining. I can't remember the name of it, but I'm sure they're all good. We had really good bullfrog - fried in a batter with chiles and scallions. The water snails are also a specialty.

Also, near the end of the street (far end from the stalls) there's a really good foot massage place. Very clean.

In addition to all the Chinese food, we ate ice cream every day to reward ourselves for sightseeing. I recommend the Magnum bars, the blue ones are coffee ice cream covered with chocolate. Mmmm.

Edited by wonderbread (log)
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  • 6 months later...

At last I have another eating trip to China, this one lined up for March/April.

We're planning the following itinerary, and would be very happy to get suggestions for restaurants, classic dishes, and things to avoid!

Here's the plan:

Beijing - 5 nights

Qingdao - 2 nights

Xian - 2 nights

Chengdu- 6 nights

Guilin - 2 nights

Shanghai- 3 nights

This should be fun.

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the word 'Chengdu' alone makes my mouth water. 8 days there weren't nearly enough but i'm hoping to return for more Sichuan food in the future. the most obvious thing to eat in Chengdu is of course hotpot. go for the red broth. the white broth is suitable for children. bon voyage.

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  • 2 weeks later...
At last I have another eating trip to China, this one lined up for March/April.

We're planning the following itinerary, and would be very happy to get suggestions for restaurants, classic dishes, and things to avoid!

Here's the plan:

Beijing  - 5 nights

Go to Loft for the One-Thread Noodles (一线面 or something like that). It is a totally amazing dish! Just one loooooooooooooong noodle that has a lovely texture and taste - I went last week and I'm goign back to experiment with a different sauce for it (we chose the preserved veg one - I want to try it with the aubergine one next time!).

The other noodles were also stellar - though the cat's ear noodles weren't as small and as delicate as I've had before.

There seems to be more and more branches of it - but we went to the one on Da Wang Lu.

I've also had a good roast duck (far better than Quanjude) at the BianYi Fang Roast duck restaurant and it was 88RMB- though the pancakes were not so good. They were a bit under-steamed.

Win some, lose some, I guess....

I don't like Liqun that much (but I guess people go there for the hutong atmosphere as well as the duck).

There's a few great snacking places near the Yonghe Gong (Lama Palace) as well)..(old Beijing snacks and all that). I need to go there soon to pick up some paperwork at the Police station, so will try and do some exploring! :smile:

<a href='http://www.longfengwines.com' target='_blank'>Wine Tasting in the Big Beige of Beijing</a>

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Nice pictures of ShengJianBaos. This is breakfast at least 3 times a week with a bowl of pork HunTUn.

Some of the best Shanghai foods are for the morning time!

Try the regular RouTangBao on the street. Each is steamed white and fluffly with big meat ball in the center floating in soup. Delicious! Or usually it is, if you find a good shop. There are many actually all on the sides of the streets.

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  • 1 month later...

We leave the day after tomorrow for three weeks.

I've got some great suggestions from Fengyi on Beijing. Anyone want to weigh in on Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Yangchao, or Shanghai?

So far, the Chaine connection is coming up with good rec's in Shanghai. Does anyone have any must eats in Chengdu or Guilin?

Yours in hunger,

Peter

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  • 1 month later...

My girlfriend is going to visit China in August. She will be visiting Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. As I won't be going I think the least she can do is bring me back something nice.

We're living in Ireland and I was thinking along the lines of spices (sichuan pepper) or anything not too bulky. I would just like something that is interesting and perhaps difficult to find on this side of the world.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

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Sichuan peppercorns. Definitely bring those back. If she tries one, and her face goes numb, she's got the right stuff.

Xi'an has a lot of good dried fruits and nuts at the market near the Muslim quarter. Plus, it's the only place we saw the Iraq's 52 Most Wanted playing cards for sale.

In Shanghai, the Shanghai First Food Store was fun.

Of course, you could get her to find you a nice bamboo rat.......

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Sichuan peppercorns.  Definitely bring those back.  If she tries one, and her face goes numb, she's got the right stuff.

Xi'an has a lot of good dried fruits and nuts at the market near the Muslim quarter.  Plus, it's the only place we saw the Iraq's 52 Most Wanted playing cards for sale.

In Shanghai, the Shanghai First Food Store was fun.

Of course, you could get her to find you a nice bamboo rat.......

Bamboo rat tastes like chicken.

I have a nice bottle of San Bian Pu Jiu (三鞭補酒) that I bought in Beijing. Good conversation piece.

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Sichuan peppercorns.  Definitely bring those back.  If she tries one, and her face goes numb, she's got the right stuff.

Xi'an has a lot of good dried fruits and nuts at the market near the Muslim quarter.  Plus, it's the only place we saw the Iraq's 52 Most Wanted playing cards for sale.

In Shanghai, the Shanghai First Food Store was fun.

Of course, you could get her to find you a nice bamboo rat.......

Bamboo rat tastes like chicken.

I have a nice bottle of San Bian Pu Jiu (三鞭補酒) that I bought in Beijing. Good conversation piece.

3 whip? what does it mean jo-mel? some animal inside I'm guessing :smile:

it's not the alcohol with lots of snakes inside is it? :huh:

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