BBQ at my place the other day

Amazing what a small metal square with charcoal can whip up. Paper plates from the 4th of July finally came in useful.

Today is Lantern Festival and it’s considered good luck to eat these things called “Yuan Xiao”

They are a rice dough with a filling inside, most popular is black sesame. They are then boiled and eagerly eaten with giggles and quips of “YUM!”

So let me break this down

Sichuan is a province in southwest China known for its spicy food. ‘Ren’ in chinese means people and it’s open 24 hours. This place was super good. Hot pot style, of course, with a multitude of dishes ranging from straight up meat, shrimp balls, an assortment of vegetables, and finished off with pickled cabbage and mushrooms. There was a spicy and non spicy broth with a mushroom soup in the circular middle bowl. Hot pot never fails to please.

Where should we go for dinner?

It’s a Sunday night and after agreeing to dinner with friends, you meet and begin pondering the age old question, “Where do you want to go?” Someone will mention pizza, as they always do, which is met with mumbles and someone is quick to ask “What else?” And so it goes until a mutually agreeable option is laid on the table and in Beijing, it’s usually “Chuan”. Cheap barbecued meat, cold beer, and some rice & vegetable dishes to suit those uninterested in grilled animal flesh. Someone always knows “The best” Chuan place and you take it on faith as you walk to the restaurant.

You are welcomed at the door and led to your table past a myriad of people as the smell of bbq and cigarettes teases your nostrils. The fúwùyuán (服务员） hands you a menu and stares at you while you ponder over its twenty pages, thankful that it has pictures. You have an urgency to tell the fúwùyuán to give you some time but it’s China, staring and waiting is custom. So you order. “Chicken wings, kimchi wrapped pork loin, sweet bbq pork, a banana, some part of a cow, a seasoned bun (mán tòu), fried rice with beef, spicy radishes in vinegar, grilled mushrooms, three cold beers, and lamb” the question in the back of everyone’s mind is “Will that be enough?”

Each person has their own mini-plate while the shish-kabob style Chuan is placed on a central community plate. Some Chuan has bone but don’t worry, when you’re finished you can just toss it on the table somewhere. This is China. As dinner wares on and the lingering spices continue to tease your tastebuds, you remember how goddamn tasty Chuan is. You’re also thankful that your friend didn’t take you to a place on the side of a road where the cook doesn’t know the difference between a rat and a chicken. So if ever in doubt as to what sounds good on a cold night in Beijing, go for Chuan, it’s almost better than pizza.

Pig brain at a hot pot place. It was… Not tasty

Noodles. A staple in many Chinese dishes, and often served as a main course, have always been an important aspect of Chinese cuisine

So, on a smoggy Wednesday my buddy tells me that he knows the best noodle place in Beijing. After stumbling upon it while drunk, he claims that this is the end all of noodle joints and that we HAVE to go. So on the outskirts of the hutongs we find it, a small place that seats maybe 25 people and smells of garlic, vinegar, and cigarettes. He orders for us, winking while he says, “Extra meat, like it’s a choice…” We pay the $7.50 grand total and casually take our seats as we are stared at for being the only foreigners in the place. We’re used to it. We watch the guy in the back masterfully work the dough as he strings it out and begins to boil our noodles. Served in a semi-spicy broth, these were hands down the best noodles I have eaten in Beijing. Shoutout goes to Jarrod for sharing this treasure of a restaurant.

Dinner the other night was awesome

Some fruit from a Chinese market

Half a watermelon for less than $1.50

Went on a bike ride after work and low and behold, I found a burrito place, ‘Lucky Lopez’. And yes, even in China, Guacamole is extra