Sunday, June 15, 2014

Oodles of Noodles



As you can imagine, noodles are a pretty big deal in asia. They love their noodles here. They've got steamed noodles, fried noodles, noodles in soup, cold noodles, hot noodles, noodles with chicken, noodles with pork, shrimp noodles, spicy noodles, rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, thick noodles, thin noodles, soft noodles, hard noodles, and every kind of noodle in between. 

If you want to eat decent and cheap and you don't mind a little carb intake, noodles are the way to go. Here, I will share some photos from a little visit I payed to a place called "flying noodle", which allegedly prepares dishes in the Shangxi style. As is usually the case, I was perusing through their maddeningly thick menu and having many WTF moments as I read. Some of them were pleasant WTFs, some were reviled, and some were just plain old WTF…here, see for yourself!
The normal noodles…except for the chicken giblets. 

The usual suspects in the veg section of a Chinese menu. 

Noodles with Spicy meat smell of urine…srsly…WTF!?

This one is out of focus, but these items are appealing enough, it's just not real clear what they are.

Homemade pork skin jelly… lowercase "wtf" for this one.

Mushrooms with halogen peanuts (whatever that means)…it looks good enough.
I'll chalk this one up to a translation error…the dish is actually quite good, although its name leaves something to be desired.

Vinegar Pickled Eggplant…haven't tried it, but it could be good!

WTF!? Probably very good though I assume…
So that's it for flying noodles. I ended up ordering the thick noodles with pork (that one's for you Ali Richardson!) and some thin noodles with oil and garlic…tasty!

Next, is a place I paid a visit to that's nearby the apartment. It has been a bit of a challenge to find a tasty eatery that is both reasonably priced and better quality than street food. I'm not sure what the name of the place is…it's got something to do with a mountain and a fish and a house haha…the fish character is missing off to the right. The sign below it says "cold noodles, welcome". 


I ended up ordering the eggplant with potatoes (left), something which is like sweet and sour chicken (top) and "Tan tan mien" (which I always say wrong) which is basically spicy noodles (right.) The eggplant and chicken were great. The noodles were WAY too spicy. 10 dollars US…not bad!


The next place is our favorite place in Beijing. It's called Mei Zhong Dong Po (I think). It is a Si Chaun style restaurant. The pictures here are a mere smattering of the fantastic variety of food you can get at this place. I also threw a fish dish in from a different Si Chuan place in the mall. 

Pureed mung beans (left), watermelon juice, and cold noodles tossed with chicken, scallions, soy sauce and LOTS of garlic. Fantastic!

Two steamed veggies, plum juice, and sweet pork buns that are open in the middle (cha xiao bao). 
Left Sliced Fish in cilantro sauce, middle Yu San Eggplant, Right Hong Kong style buns

Pumpkin bread with brown sugar molasses. 
This is sticky rice (glutinous rice) with dates. 


The mighty Kao Yu (from a different restaurant). Whole fish, splayed in the pan with many spices  and delicious additives.  IE, cilantro, black beans, spicy peppers, garlic, soy sauce, onion, scallions, tomato, cumin and I'm sure, MSG. Heavenly.


We came for breakfast to Mei Zhong Dong Po as well and had some more of their pastries.  We ordered some Oo Long Tea but didn't realize that the pot was 10 dollars US! It was some damn good tea though. To the right are buns filled with something like molasses.

I will be sure to retail you with more of my culinary tales of delight so that you may enjoy Beijing's cuisine vicariously through me. I will think of each one of you as I indulge!

-Sloppy



Sunday, June 8, 2014

Qinghuangdao

About a month or so before we went to the Forbidden City, we had a 3 day weekend. We were looking for a place to go that was close by where we could escape the oppressive air pollution and insanity of the Capital. 
The original plan was to go to Tsingdao, the place where they make the Chinese beer "Tsingdao"…a a beer praised for its highly original name. After hearing that the train ride was 5 hours long, I said "bump that", there has to be somewhere closer that we don't have to sit on a train with potentially really annoying country folk for 5 hours. 
Indeed there was! Just 2 hours east on the high speed rail, there is an ancient town called Qinghuangdao. It is the location of the "Heaven Sea Gate" and the place where the great wall meets the  ocean. It's got a lot to look at. I'm not going to say too much about it. I'll just show you the pictures.

Ahhh…the country!

It is good to get out of the concrete jungle!

Although I feared trading the train in China, the high speed rail is a newish line and it is quite nice and modern. No complaints!


After we arrived in Qinghuang, three wheeled truck!