Eddie Tang's Blog: Some local food in Beijing

Eddie Tang's Blog: Some local food in Beijing: Beijing is never a place for food as each time when I was in Beijing, my friends will definitely bring me to try the Peking duck. I still re...

Some local food in Beijing

Beijing is never a place for food as each time when I was in Beijing, my friends will definitely bring me to try the Peking duck. I still recalled last year I visited Beijing for 3 days and I had 6 proper meals of Peking ducks. In my last trip to Beijing, I actually told my friends that I wanted to skip the Peking duck, the Beijing style steamboats and the roasted or stewed goat stuffs. I would very much wanted to try the local Beijing food.

The first reaction was they couldn't treat a VIP with that kind of food. It's meant for the Public. Wow, that is what we wanted to try when we are in a new place, right! Finally, I managed to convince them to take me to try the "ordinary stuffs".

My view on Beijing food have changed since then!

 Fermented hot soya bean, with a piece of dough like "char kueh" and some salted fermented vegetable. It was really a fear factor! haha. I decided to try since a wanted it and it was "acceptable". Most importantly, I had no sign of food poisoning that night!
Well, you guys can skip this! Really for the poor and old Beijing people.

This is their simple fastfood style of breakfast. Pumpkin porridge with a rolled bun or plain porridge with char kueh. I enjoyed this simple breakfast.

Minced beancurd in goat oil. This is a typical dish in Beijing. Certain places do not use goat oil. I love this dish with goat oil. I believe, cantonese like me will never ever touch this beancurd. Haha! Well, I can accept it.

This is also fermented bean sticks like jelly and spicy cabbage, both are cold dishes . The cabbage is spicier than kimchi. I enjoyed both dishes.

This is a mixed vegetable pot. A bit salty and I believe this is good for rice or even porridge. I will call it a healthy pot!

I really enjoyed this hotpot. Perhaps the place was so cold cos it was winter. Stewed  black mountain goat. The skin was real good and the meat was so juicy and tender. I enjoyed this pot very much!

Stewed goat stomach in hotpot. Not too spicy and it was really a delicacy. We actually had a second helping of this dish.

The dried noodle in Beijing style. I don't like this. Quite tasteless and the texture of the noodle is not good. I still missed the wet noodle in Suzhou.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the simple dishes and daily diet of the local Beijing people. Worthed trying and didn't cost much at all! So happy hunting if you are bored with Peking duck. Haha!

Qidong, the earliest dawn city in China & it's cuisine

Qidong is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Nantong, situated in the north of Yangtze River, the opposite of Shanghai.


In my previous trip to Shanghai, I dropby to have a glimpse of the city.

Dubbed "the earliest dawn" in China, Qidong is the most eastern city in China's eastern coast, facing Shanghai on the opposite of Yangtze River. Geographically, the land was formed by sediment of sand particles brought by the Yangtze River in a history of more than a thousand years.

After Christmas 2011, the bridge connecting Qidong and Shanghai has opened and it only take about an hour from Qidong to Pudong airport in Shanghai. Unfortunately, I was rushing to catch the ferry over to ChongMing island to connect back to Shanghai by road and that whole journey took me two an a half hour. I was there just 2 days earlier before they officially open the bridge.

What is good there? I don't know bout others but this place has very good seafood cos it is at the coast! Managed to have a wonderful lunch before I left for Shanghai.

Sliced abalone. Simple, fresh and nice.

At first I thot this is a plate of fried potatoes but surprised me, it tasted better than potatoes. A kind of roots, local product.

Drunkened prawn. I have not tasted this for a long time. The prawns here were slightly bigger and they soaked them into the brown liquor and served raw. Since that was my last day in China, I decided to take! No regret cos it was so sweet and hooray, no stomach upset!

A kind of local sliced fish meat cook with garlic and special sauce. Great taste.

Prawn soup. Simple and refeshing.

Braised fish skin. Sounded weird? but tasted great! Haha. I enjoyed this dish.

Surprised to see this dish here. The small white /yellow fishes. I tasted that in Yangzhou. Apparently, they shipped to Yangzhou daily. This is very nice.

I have been hunting for this vegetable during this winter season. Missed that for a year. Finally I had the chance to enjoy it on my last day of the trip. Haha. They did it in soup form, very much cantonese style. If this is done in Shanghai, it will be cooked with a mixture of white liquor. The small tou vegetable.

Surprised to see a sea fish, pomphret. I didn't take at all. Hehe, too normal in our country!

Another highlight of the lunch is this baby yam. This is shipped out to the whole China and a delicacy in this small town, eventhou they called it city! Well, I took one and it was really good.

All the seafood that we consumed were catch of the day. That made this small place very special and with the connection of the bridge, U will expect the town to boom cos people will come over for seafood!

Happy trying.

Shanghai Golden Anchor Restaurant

I am very loyal to a few restaurants in Shanghai and I have to say that my number one favourite is still the Old Jes Se (http://tangeddie.blogspot.com/2011/12/favourite-old-shanghai-restaurant-in.html). However, each time if I could not get a place there, I will opt for this restaurant, Golden Anchor (0086 5258 1097) located at Xin Hua Building, Xin Hua Road, Changning Dist.

This is a very much newer restaurant and the food is great too. Mixture of old and new Shanghainese food. By the way, u still need to book to avoid disappointment!

During my recent trip to Shanghai, I dropby again to this restaurant and we had a great time. So much food were wasted, the typical china man style.

Steamed chicken in chinese wine is a must order dish here. Perfect heat and the stock was really so tasty. Indeed, this is my favourite dish here.

Steamed chicken in chinese liquer 

We had a few starters, among which the cold duck marinated in a special sauce is extremely nice.

Duck tongue is normally a starter. Unfortunately, they run out of the braised type which is my favourite. This style is simple and have to say that it is so-so only.

My friend ordered this crab meat dish as we were a bit lazy to have the whole hairy crab. Slightly difference from Jes Se and this is being modernised. Taste great cos it is the hairy crab season now! I enjoyed it with a little vinegar on top.

The cold fish is just so so only.

I enjoyed the spare ribs more. Simple and nice but a little too sweet for me. Well, Shanghainese has sweet tooth!

I have forgotten the name of this fish, could be kwee fish but this is really good. U can only find it in Shanghai.

Since we have ordered the steamed chicken, we decided to opt for the fishball soup. The fishballs were hugh but a little soft for our standards. Anyway, no complains cos this is their style.

We were so full and most of the dishes were half or partially finished. However, this crazy friend of mind ordered a few desserts too.

The glutinous rice cake is very nice and we still take one each eventhou we were so full.

Pan fried bun is a special dimsum in Shanghai and this place did this very well. Again, we gobbled one each.

As my friend knew that I like pumpkin soup, he actually ordered it eventhou we all have pulled up our white flags. Anyway, the pumpkin soup is very good and I enjoyed a small bowl.

It sounded like a torture but I assured u that we had a wonderful time. A little heartache cos there were so much leftovers. I think we need to educate the Chinamen not to waste food. This has becoming a very bad culture for decades.

Prices are quite reasonable and much cheaper than Old Jes Se.

Happy hunting if u r in Shanghai.

Basic dishes from Suzhou

Recently I tried to backpack and move from Shanghai to Suzhou for a few days for a short vacation. Anyway, didn't manage to do in a low key manner cos my friends in Suzhou got to know and wanted to show me around. 

Indeed it is a very beautiful place. If U watched the history of the "Three Kingdom", Suzhou is actually the capital of Dung Wu, city surrounded by water. I love the place especially the night view!!!

 Golden Chicken town.

 

As usual, I am more interested in food and my friends took me to an authentic Suzhou restaurant. No regret cos the food was really great!

Cold dish - grilled fish. Surprisingly, the fish was served warm and tasted great.

Cold dish - vegetable. This is quite common in Jiangsu area.

Cold dish - red dates. Slightly different from Shanghai style of which Shanghainese have glutinous rice in it. This is pure plain date. I luv the Shanghai style!

Lion head

I was so happy to see a bowl of soup. My friend claimed that this is Suzhou dish but I thot this origins from Yangzhou. Anyway, "lion head" is very common also in Jiangsu area. The soup was great. The sweetness from the meat was enough to make you finished the whole bowl! WOW!

This is also my favourite dish. Stewed radish. So nice.

Suzhou has 3 main must order dishes. "3 whites" White fish, white prawn and small white fish. I find it very simple but nice.

One of the 3 most polular dish in Suzhou, the crystal white prawn. Well, so-so only eventhough they took a great pride of the dish (the 1st white dish)!

 

Another dish that is among the "3 whites". This is really good. They can do it in a few style.

The 3rd white - White ikan bilis, haha! This is nice.

I luv this dessert. It has radish fillings and served hot.

Generally, the food around Jiangsu are quite similar. Suzhou's food is lighter as compared to Shanghai. A lot of sweet items too but I still find that is not as sweet as Shanghai dishes.

Try order some of them when U r in Suzhou. Happy trying!

 

 

Favourite old Shanghai Restaurant in Shanghai

Shanghai has a lot of great restaurants. However, I particularly like Jes Se Old Shanghai Restaurant at 41, Tian Ping Road in Shanghai. (Tel : 0086 6282 9260) This is my 1st choice in Shanghai if we have enough time for a great feast! Normally, you need to have at least 2 days advanced booking as the restaurant does not have many tables.

It serves the most authentic Shanghainese food and you just want for more. However, got to warn you guys that Shanghainese food is very sweet and used a lot of brown and white liquer in their cooking.

Just to highlight a few of their specialities:

Raw crab in brown liquer. Not many of u will dare to try this dish but it is one of my favourite. The meat is so sweet and succumb into the brown liquer! Yummy!!!

Sweet dried beancurd.

Stewed spare ribs. But also sweet!

Red dates stuffed with glutinous rice! My favourite too. Yummy.

Highlight of the day! Smelly beancurd wrapped with beancurd skin and deep fried. This is really great and totally different from Hong Kong style. Really stink!!! but great taste with chilli sauce. Haha!!!!!

U hardly see prawns in that size in China. So better enjoy them.

Stewed pork. Sweet and nice.

Not too sure what kind of crabs, but tasted ok! Tasted like our marmite sauce but it is not.

 My favourite soup in Shanghai. Chicken fish with seafood soup and this is not colouring. This fish will dispose of the creamy stuff into the soup. Authentic!

Shi fish is a very river fish and very expensive. Again, this place has perfected it! U just enjoy this without question!

This restaurant has a lot more great dishes and I have introduced their specialities but I will be going back for more! So happy trying.

Pricing is a bit high cos U the place is flooded by Hong Kongers and food lovers like me! Haha. So enjoy.