Image: Taken 6/10/07 at the Quanjude Restaurant, Hepingmen location. The chef is cutting the roast duck into nice thin slices for us. The thinner he can cut it, the more skilled he is. As you can tell from the mask on the chef, this is a pretty upscale and sanitary place, even though my camera makes it look darker than it really is.
We were well fed in
Real
The genuine noodle joint in
Quanjude Roast Duck (6/10/07)
The Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant at Hepingmen was probably the best place we ate on the whole trip. It was clearly an upscale restaurant. Outside of the large five story building, the parking lot felt like an Audi showroom, and was packed with tons of black Audi A8s, the car of choice for the rich in
Dumpling Feast (6/14/07)
We got this dumpling feast added to our itinerary by special request. We were supposed to have to pay extra for it, but the wonderful tour agency just covered the extra cost for free. Each table setting included a small porcelain glass of a whitish liquid, which the waitress told us was rice wine. Chen Laoshi wanted the wine removed before we could intoxicate ourselves, but she was somehow convinced to chill and turn a blind eye to the “special-soda.” The wine was nice and sweet, but had a bit of powdery residue at the bottom. And as for all the panic about us being served alcohol, I have grapes in the back of my refrigerator with higher alcohol content than that wine. Anyway, the feature of the dumpling feast was the eating contest. However, the dumplings were served such that there was only one of each type per person, so it turned into more of an endurance contest. I, Jonathan Fung, pooped out after 12, (which I still assert was NOT the fewest number consumed in our group.) Lindsay Kosasa and Grace McLane both doubled me with a ridiculous 24 dumplings each. Chris “food disposal” Wong won, with a total of over 25 (by consuming the dumplings that I didn’t eat.) As for the dumplings themselves, we had a wide variety of fillings ranging from vegetables to squid to abalone to walnut to pork. There’s a Harry Potter reference somewhere here…. Anyway, the dumplings were often decorated to look like the fillings inside, so it was quite artistic. But man, only 12 dumplings…how embarrassing.
Hot Pots! (6/15/07)
The first task at the hot pot restaurant (aside from washing our hands) was to make our own dipping sauce. They had a table laid out with all kinds of ingredients for us to choose from. I don’t want to brag, but my sauce was awesome, fragrant, and had absolutely perfect taste. Simplicity wins: a soy-sauce base, with a dash of peppers for spice, a touch of sesame oil for fragrance, and just a pinch of green onions for fun. On the other hand, I don’t have any idea what Katie Cannell put in hers, but it smelled weird and tasted pretty funky. Then again, she would prove just how good of a cook she is, by cracking an egg into my hot pot…and getting a bit of shell in there as well. It looked even grosser when it started to cook with an uneven foamy texture. Anyhow, it was a good meal, and I ate a lot (unlike at the dumpling feast.) For dessert, we had these heavenly fried bread balls with condensed milk, although the girls (specific names will NOT be mentioned) hogged all the condensed milk for themselves. The surprise of the meal however, came when I accidentally lit my napkin on fire. We each had our own personal hot pot kept warm by our own little flame underneath. Suddenly, Marissa Sakoda starts pointing frantically at me. I looked to see if there was a giant spider crawling on my chest. Nope. The corner of my napkin had touched the flame keeping my hot-pot warm and had caught fire. Thinking quickly, I grabbed it and stuck it in the water of the hot pot. SAFE! Didn’t even need to stop drop and roll.
Tea House (6/17/07)
The tea house in
