Haidian Restaurants

On the suggestion of Sandra at Not that Desperate, and because my brain is too fried to do anything else, I am going to write a bit about restaurants in Beijing. Scratch that, I mean places and things to eat in my corner of Beijing. See, I rarely go to restaurants because I don't much like going by myself--it's culturally weirder here even than in the U.S.--and I'm mostly by myself. When I do go out with people, it's mostly expats who are craving American food. I know lots of good places to get American food in Beijing, but I doubt that interests you at all!

So anyway, given my lack of qualifications for the world restaurant project, I think I will not play by the chain-letter-type rules, if you don't mind. You can see them back on the original post here if you like. As for tagging others, anyone should feel encouraged to do this because it's fun and interesting, but I won't name names.

Restaurants, Beijing: here we go.

I live in the Northwest corner, known as Haidian. My favorite places to eat here are:

FINE DINING
Famous Chef from Jiangnan 江南厨子, located in the Disanji book building just off Haidian Bridge. Local food tends to be harshly spiced, but this place specializes in food from the more mild Jiangnan culinary tradition. Their dishes are beautiful and dependable. Their menu changes seasonally, and I have loved almost everything I've gotten there, though I tend to stay away from high-priced specialty items. The "ordinary" stuff is anything but ordinary--this time of year, for example, the cold vegetable dishes are wonderful. This is my "holiday" restaurant--see these posts about it from Thanksgiving and Christmas, which include photos. This is a really good place for vegetarians, as they have a wide variety of appealing options. Great value too: even if you order enough food to thoroughly stuff two people, plus beverages (beer, tea, fruit smoothies), you'll be hard pressed to spend much more than 200 RMB, about $25.

Hometown Relatives and Geese 家乡亲家乡鹅, on Suzhou St. a bit south of Haidian Bridge and a bit north of Renmin Daxue. Again, reliably delicious, with a slightly more casual atmosphere than the above, but still nice enough to make it feel like a special occasion. I was first taken there for a group birthday party (sorry, no picture there of the actual food), but went there again recently. Both times, the food was delicious. I particularly recommend the millet cooked in a whole pineapple (who'd've thought that'd be good, but it was totally delicious), the flavorful duck slices with lily bulb, and the pork roast, which tenderly falls of the bone. But really everything I had there was delicious, except maybe the whole goose heads. But those were just for a dare. Pretty, courtyard style building. Prices similar to the above.

MORE CASUAL
Fat Cow 华牢肥牛, also on Suzhou St., right next to the above. Yeah, okay, I'm lazy. But it's good to know what's in the neighborhood. This is fun place to get hot-pot, the Chinese version of sukiyaki. You order a plate of raw meat (they also have vegetarian stuff, tofu, mushrooms, vegetables, etc.), and cook it yourself in your own individual pot of flavorful soup over a flame. I especially recommend the "Sunshine Lamb" taiyang yang 太阳羊, which is a lot of meat for one (but I did polish one off once by myself), about right for two. There is a choice of broth, which is nice, and also fo dipping sauces. Make sure to ask for the (free!) sour plum juice. It's free, but they won't give it to you unless they ask. For a Westerner's budget, this place is so inexpensive it's hardly worth mentioning. Dinner for two weighs in at $5-6.

Good Medicine 善药, located on the Beida (Peking University) campus, right next to the tennis courts. This hole-in-the-wall restaurant can be a bit hit-or-miss, but they have one absolutely great dish, which is their "Iron Plate Tofu" tieban dofu 铁板豆腐. Tofu, onions, browned and flavorful crisp thin slices of potato and other things arrive sizzling on a black iron platter, and it's a really satisfying dish. I have had other really good things there as well. One worth mentioning is a dessert-dish, "Fried Buns" zha mantou 炸馒头, which doesn't sound that good, but trust me, it is. It comes with a dipping sauce of sweetened condensed milk, and is just a superb comfort food.

SNACKS
The street. I have had great luck with street food, I'm not kidding. Nothing around here has made me sick, though I admit that I have not eaten the hot dogs or sausages. Delicious street foods include jianbing, a cold noodle dish called liangpi with sesame paste and cucumber strips, delicious roasted sweet potatoes, fresh pineapple slices, drinkable yoghurt (called suannai), fried eggs wrapped in a soft chewy bread reminiscent of nan, melon slices, lamb kebabns (chuar), Chinese donuts, and bubble tea. None of these should cost more than 5 RMB (50-75 cents) and it's easy to make a whole meal of this kind of stuff. That's not just true of my neighborhood in fact--anywhere in Beijing you can find little stands selling this type of stuff. The sweet potatoes should be peeled carefully--don't eat the peels--and anything with meat or eggs in it should be cooked before your eyes. But otherwise, I would pronounce street food pretty darn safe, at least if you are fairly robust.

Darn it, now I'm hungry from thing about all this food...