HALLOFUS: Beijing: Winter Series I

December @Beijing Part I_Stay & Food

Beijing (8 - 14 December 2011)

It is winter in Beijing, we need a place that's comfortable to stay and yet we could have a good overview of Beijing culture and lifestyle. And of course, a food adventure too!

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THE STAY

Hotel Kapok - 北京华京木棉花酒店
北京市东华门大街16号邮编：100006

The exterior of this boutique hotel is made of grills, supposed to represent a fusion of modernity and Chinese tradition (as the grills look like lanterns lit up from far). Despite having such a peculiar name, what won us over is its clean and modern feel, and it is just by the corner of Tiananmen. And also a 10-15mins walking distance away from the popular shopping streets, Wangfujing St.

The room is spacious, clean and well-equipped. Breakfast was not included in our booking, but there are many eateries just across the road where we could find cheap soybean, wanton/ beef noodles, rice & buns. There is also a convenience store located beside the hotel where I got my Nescafe coffee. I should have brought my own coffee, forgot that the Chinese prefers their tea to coffee.

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Imperial Courtyard - 花园16号酒店

北京市东城区安定门花园东巷16号100009

Moving away from the Tiananmen center, Wen found this hotel which is located in the middle of a Hutong (胡同) District - narrow alleys with traditional courtyard residences.

Being in a Hutong, it was a little inconvenient to find this place. The taxi did not want to enter the alley, and we had to lug our luggages to this place. It took us quite awhile to find the place, but after knowing the proper direction, it is actually quite close to the nearest train station. Walking into the hotel, it feels like you are in Ancient China.
Because of the low peak season, the rooms were not filled, and we were given the bigger room on the second floor. Interesting rooms...

In terms of its amenities, it was pretty much a 3 star. Unlike Hotel Kapok where we used almost everything they had, over here, we used the things we brought. I kind of expected this. :)
But all in all, the beds were comfortable and clean. And there seat warmer for the toilet seat!

Breakfast is also provided... :) Simple western breakfast which consists of bread, butter, jam, eggs, sausages, hashbrown & coffee/tea.

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Langham Place Hotel, Beijing Capital Hotel- 北京首都机场朗豪酒店
http://beijingairport.langhamplacehotels.com/

This was given as the free night stay, in compensation for the delayed flight.
It was a 5 star hotel opened in November 2011, it felt as if everything is brand new! The chairs at the lobby lounge were still wrapped up when we walked past it. The shower amenities, coffee machine, kettle, towels, bathrobes, bed, pillows, i love all of them! Was busy taking pictures and checking out everything in the room, it was almost 2am and i didn't even realise! Wen got hungry and helped himself to the tea provided and the bread Papa we bought from Di'an Men Wai.

Morning call was given at 8am to our room, came with a soothing music on its answering end.
Buffet breakfast was provided with compliments and we helped ourselves to its wide selection.

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THE FOOD

I am not too sure if it was because of the weather, every food in Beijing is meat. Beef & mutton were the common ones. They do have chicken on their menus, but not popular with the locals.

Chinese Crepes 煎饼

This is commonly found at the entrance of most train stations. You need to try this!

It is served hot, and with that cracker wrapped with sausages and the sweet sauce, this tasted really good!

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The Street Stalls

Popular at Wangfujing St, it was like a Pasar Malam.

Guo Qiao Mian 过桥面- a bowl of hot pipping noodles soup, served by a very amicable and cheerful elderly man.

Grilled soft shell crabs! A Must Try!!

BBQ Starfish! ~ Wen would have eaten it whole if not for the seller who broke the arm of the starfish and cracked it half, revealing the 'flesh' of the starfish. It tasted like prawns roe/ diced crabmeat. We were so happy that it tasted better than we thought!

And other exotic grilled sticks...

We were not so keen in them. Only for pictures.

冰糖葫芦 (Bing Tang Hu Lu - Candied Haw in a Stick)

I dont really want to try the haw fruit, we went for a strawberry version instead!

A very very sweet snack, you are literary biting into solidified sugar syrup. A nice treat, the strawberries were fresh but it was too sweet for me. One stick is enough for sharing.

Bao Du 爆肚 (Boiled Lamb Tripes)

This is a popular treat in Beijing. Good if you like to eat animals' organs & stuff..

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Hot Pot Steamboats

Good for the winter cold, we tried 2 steamboats during the trip

~ Mutton Hotpot (涮羊肉火锅)

The below is goat's tail. It tasted too raw for us, yeeks.

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Hotpot @ Gui Jie 鬼街

With rows and rows of red lanterns, the streets looked striking at night, hard to miss.

Not sure why they called it the Ghost Streets, but on both sides of the streets, you can find many restaurants that serve hotpot/ casual chinese menu.

One thing that made me felt disgustingly ghostly and eerie was this! They serve rabbits!!!

The below reads 'drunken live rabbit'! How sick!

We dropped into a hotpot restaurant and was led to our table which has a huge television screen. It's not for ordering food, you can actually watch TV channels here!

Shui Zhu Yu (水煮魚) ~ A signature Sichuan dish, it had lots of chilli peppers and large amount of vegetable oil. You are practically drinking oil. I tried once in Shanghai and as Wen had not tried it before, we order a hotpot for this. Our tongues went numb after finishing the fish slices.

After finishing the fish, we continued the steamboat with the regular hotpot dishes. Quite a nice place.

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Xiao Wang Fu 小王府 @ Ritan Park

Opened by a Caucasian man at a somewhat Western district of Beijing, this restaurant was located at Ritan Park. We found our way there and was served very good contemporary Chinese cuisine.

I like the contemporary interior, especially the purple chairs!

Popular roasted pork ribs - A little on the salty side, the meat was tender and came right off the bone. Stewed cabbage, Diced chicken (Gong Bao Ji Ding) - Servings were huge, went really well with rice.

Tea can be quite expensive in restaurants, they cost approx SGD20 for a pot.

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Beijing Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant - Changhong Qiao branch

If you are ok for a splurge, this is the place to go for good Peking duck. Recommended in Lonely Planet, recommended by my colleagues, and even colleagues from Beijing.

See the many awards framed on the wall of their reception.

It is recommended for weekend diners to make reservations as this place could get really crowded. We were there on a weekday, and even then, we had to leave our names and wait for an available table. Interestingly, you can help yourself to the soft drinks and tea at the reception while waiting. And look, even to the wine!! Wen helped himself to a few glasses.

We got to our table after about 15mins, and see this cute chopstick stand!

Our order came as follows:

Seahorse soup (it was wrapped like a x'mas present!)- tasty soup, but I didn't take another sip when Wen dug out that seahorse. He was eager to find it so as to prove its worth! He ate it and said it felt like he was biting onto little fish bones. Not nice, he said. But I think it has some medicinal benefits, you normally find dried seahorses in those TCM shops.

Big pot of vegetable stew with century eggs (it was supposed to be a S size).

Cute diced duck meat with wolfberries -shaped of a bird nest. How artistic!

Bullfrog legs

Very crispy and tasty!

Peking Duck (北京烤鸭) - served with thin pancakes, plum sauce (甜面酱) - popular for its leaner ducks, the taste was good and we had several helpings until we finished the stacks of thin pancakes which must have been almost 15-20 pieces!