In
order to judge how international a city is, look at
the variety of culinary options on offer. Beijing surely
qualifies as "an international city" as the
city offers its residents and visitors cuisine from
all over China and the world.
As
for cooking native to Beijing, the most popular methods
are roasting, frying, stewing, braising, and steaming.
A prime example of Beijing cuisine is the Beijing Roast
Duck. Follow the link for a virtual taste of this wonderful
dish. Another favorite Beijing meal is Shuanyangrou
or "hot pot", which is especially popular
in the cold Beijing winter months. Around the Chunjie
or Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, Beijingers make meat
dumplings called jiaozi that are a special part of Northern
Chinese Cuisine. Beijing's strong Muslim community with
both Beijing's local Muslims and others who migrate
from Xinjiang and other parts of China lends its own
flavors to the mix that is modern Beijing. Perhaps the
most unbeatable dining is to experience the cuisine
of the Imperial kitchen.
As
a great international city, Beijing also offers many
choices in western and non-Chinese cuisine and the range
of International cuisine here should satisfy even the
most westernised of palates. Beyond this, there are
plenty of fast food options, handy your shopping expeditions
or whenever you just need a cheeseburger. McDonalds
(Maidanglao), Kentucky Fried Chicken (Kendeji), Pizza
Hut (Bishengke), Starbuck's Coffee, Subway Subs and
Dunkin' Donuts have all established chain stores in
the city.
Beijing Roast Duck
Beijing Roast Duck dates back to the Ming Dynasty,
about 600 years ago. The two famous Beijing Roast Duck
restaurants in Beijing are Bianyifang (Shop of Convenience
and Pleasure) and Quanjude (Complete Collection of Virtues),
both having a history of 400 years. The original Bianyifang
was in the Rice Market Hutong while the original Quanjude
was in the Meat Market, both in the southern part of
the city. Now they both have many branches. Two main
branches of the Bianyifang are located at Qianmen (Front
Gate) Street and at Chongwenmen, while two of the largest
branches of Quanjude are at Hepingmen (Peace Gate) and
Wangfujing.
Almost every part of the duck (except the feathers)
can be made into hot or cold dishes, (for example, the
wings, webs, tongue, heart and liver). This is called
the "Complete Duck Feast". The duck head is cut in half
and served on a small plate with the tongue. The head
is usually for the guest of honour, but if you cannot
face it you do not have to eat it. The bones of the
duck are made into soup which is served near the end
of the feast.
Court Cuisine
Court Cuisine originates from the imperial kitchen which
cooked food for the emperor and his family. After the
fall of the Qing Dynasty, some chefs from the imperial
kitchen opened restaurants in the capital to introduce
the special food once only eaten by the imperial family.
Fangshan (Imperial-style) Restaurant sits on the island
in Beihai Park in a traditional courtyard facing the
lake. Apart from delicious dishes meticulously prepared
with rare and expensive foodstuffs such as birds nests
and sharks fins, the restaurant is also known for its
pastries, including pea-flour cakes, kidney bean-flour
rolls, miniature corn buns and sesame seed buns with
chopped meat filling.
A newly-opened branch of restaurant of Fangshan style,
Yushan Restaurant, is located a few hundred yards to
the west of the north gate of the Temple of Heaven in
the southern part of the city.
Tingliguan (Hall for Listening to the Orioles) Restaurant,
in the Summer Palace, serves more than 300 dishes and
pastries from the Qing and Ming imperial recipes. The
"All-fish Feast" is a speciality of the restaurant.
The fish is caught from the Kunming Lake and cooked
in a unique way. When the fish is served on the table,
its mouth is still opening and closing and its gills
flapping. Diners should not be frightened; it is falsely
alive. The secret lies in keeping the nerve certre of
the fish intact.
Tan Family Food
Famed as a home-style cooking, the Tan Family food
is liked by both southerners and northerners who eat
different staple foods. The most popular dishes include
the Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms and Duck with Crab
Meat.
Mongolian Hot-pot
Mongolian Hot-pot The hot-pot is a traditional brass
pot with a wide outer rim around a chimney and a charcoal-burner
underneath. Water is heated to boiling point in the
rim, and the diners dip thin slices of raw meat in the
water, where the meat cooks quickly. The cooked slices
are then dipped in to a sauce. The meat can be anything,
from lamb, veal, pork, chick, fish to prawn. There are
vegetables, bean noodles, mushrooms and bean curt to
be boiled in the rim as well. The sauce is prepared
personally by the diner by selecting from a few dozen
kinds to suit his/her own taste. You may want it hot,
sweet, or salty. People usually do not eat rice when
they have Mongolian Hot-pot. The traditional food to
accompany the hot-pot is buns or noodles.
Nowadays, some restaurants provide each diner a small
hot-pot with solid-alcohol fuel. They no longer look
like the traditional ones but are more hygienic. Some
people still prefer the traditional ones because they
think it gives a greater atmosphere of "gathering together".
Barbecued Meat
Barbecued Meat is a Manchu food which has become
very popular in Beijing. Meat, mainly beef or mutton,
is cut into thin strips or slices, and then soaked in
a mixture of soy sauce, crushed ginger, wine, shrimp
paste, sesame seed paste, rice vinegar and chopped coriander.
The meat is then barbecued over a highly-heated grill
before it is served.
The most famous restaurants of barbecued meat are Kaorouji
(Barbecued Meat Quarter) which was opened in 1848 and
is located on the bank of Shishahai Lake north of Beihai
Park, and Kaorouyuan (Barbecued Meat Garden) which is
also over a century old and is near Xuanwumen in the
southwestern part of the city. Nowadays, there are many
barbecued meat restaurants in the streets, but most
of them are Korean ones.
Snacks
Beijing snacks have their own specialilties, and combine
varieties from all over the country. A rough calculation
shows that there are at least 200 varieties of snacks
in Beijing.
The best known snacks in Beijing are:
Soya-bean milk (Douzhi); Fried rings (Jiaoquan); Pea-flour
cake (Wandou huang); Seasoned millet mush (Miancha);
Steamed rice cake with sweet filling (Aiwowo); Jellied
bean curd (Doufunao); bean-flour cake (Doumiangao).
Food made from wheat flour is served in most Beijing-style
restaurants, such as dumplings (Jiaozi), steamed bread
(Mantou) and noodles. In some restaurants, you will
see the chef demonstrating his skill in turning a lump
of wheat dough into very fine noodles all by hand.
You may have snacks in most restaurants, especially
those which open in the morning for breakfast. In the
evening, there are two food streets bristling with small
stalls selling various kinds of snacks. One is at Donghuamen
(East Flowery Gate), an east-west street crossing Wangfujing
and about a hundred yard west of the Palace Hotel. The
other is at Longfusi Market Street near Dongsi. If you
are tired of big meals in the hotels, you could go there
to have some light snacks.
Drinks
At the dinner table, drinks are essential whether you
are alcoholic or not-it is a tradition during Chinese
dinner. Unlike Westerners, the Chinese do not drink
unless there is food to accompany it. Restaurants provide
various kinds of drinks-soft drinks, beer, wine, Chinese
liquor, and Western spirits like Whisky, Brandy and
even XO Martini.
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