Wangfujing Snack Street

Wangfujing Snack Street should be near the top of the to-do list of every food lover who visits Beijing. This narrow alleyway tucked off to the side of Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing’s main shopping thoroughfare, is bustling with hungry visitors elbowing their way through the crowds to check out the goodies on offer at the various street stalls.





Having missed lunch due to over-enthusiastic sightseeing, we dove straight into the masses and joined the search for something edible within. I say this because we passed an awful lot of stalls displaying what some (including yours truly) would be hard pushed to consider food:







I’m ashamed to say we avoided the bugs, grubs, scorpions and starfish and lamely opted for lamb on a stick… although it was very tasty…





A bit further on we tracked down a few more normal-looking items – freshly roasted sweetcorn



Chinese-style chicken doner kebab





And then came across this intriguing stall – where they were freshly preparing little balls in tins loaded with batter, cabbage and octopus, before firing them in the oven and then roasting them over hot coals. I have since discovered that this is Takoyaki, a popular Japanese snack, but it was new to us.





So we joined the queue and took delivery of our hot and sticky octopus balls – they even came in a fancy box… and these guys have their own website – not quite scorpion on a stick, but pretty tasty anyway.





We finished up with some Toffeed Capulin Cherries on a stick, as they seemed to be so popular with everyone else on the street,





before we elbowed our way back out of the throng and continued with our sightseeing.

Peking Duck

We’re just back from a 2 ½ week eating extravaganza around Beijing, Tokyo and Kyoto. We started off in Beijing, where we obviously had to kick off the holiday with some Peking Duck. Da Dong Restaurant is probably the most famous duck restaurant in Beijing, so we of course made that our first stop.

As far as I know, there are three branches of Da Dong Restaurant in Beijing. We opted for the one in Chaoyang as it was within walking distance from our hotel. If you fancy trying it but aren’t staying in the area – it’s right next to Gongtibeilu subway station, so it’s easy to get to.

They don’t take reservations after 6.30pm, so we had to join a queue. It was about a 40 minute wait, but those folk at Da Dong know how to keep their customers happy – we had a comfy seat in the windowed corridor with views out over the street and, more importantly, free drinks (soft drinks, tea and boxed wine) while we waited.

We were fairly famished by the time we were shown to our table and were eager to get immediately stuck into the duck. We ordered half a duck, but were soon distracted by the enormous menu full of other enticing goodies. As it was our first night, we were slightly over excited and, as usual, ordered a tableful of food for just the two of us.

We ended up with Prawns with a Spicy Sauce, which were sweet, spicy, sticky and scrumptious



Australian veal with shallots



And of course some vegetables for good measure.



The duck actually arrived last – presumably as it is the most ordered item on the menu, we had to wait in line. The chef carving our duck introduced himself to us and allowed us to inspect the bird before he set about dissecting it in front of us.



This he did deftly and quickly and the succulent slices were soon set out in front of us, together with the usual accompanying paraphernalia – pancakes, various sauces, and sliced radish, cucumber and spring onion.



It was delicious – well worth the wait and thankfully lived up to our expectations. What exceeded our expectations however, was the quality of the other dishes on the table, in particular those sticky sweet prawns – they were truly fantastic and presented beautifully.

If you do happen to find yourself in Beijing with a duck craving – I’d say you could do far worse than head to Da Dong.

Japanese Cravings

We’re heading to Tokyo and Kyoto in a couple of weeks and so I have been busy reading all the guide books recently. Predictably, the pages I have been concentrating on most are the Food & Drink ones, and as a consequence I have been craving Japanese food like you wouldn’t believe. Thankfully this afternoon, my craving was finally fulfilled during a very satisfying lunch with the girls at Sun with Moon at Wheelock.

One of the girls was running late, so the three of us who were there decided to order a few nibbles while we were waiting. Being a greedy bunch, the nibbles turned out to be rather larger than necessary, but they were all so fantastic, we were glad that we did.

We kicked off with some sushi rolls: Salmon Pink Dragon Rolls (crab and avocado topped with salmon),



and some California Rolls.



And then dug into some Yakiniku – sautéed sliced beef with raw egg, on a bowl of rice. As a secret fan of Yoshinoya’s beef bowls, I was delighted with this – a posher, more flavoursome version and completely delicious.



Once our friend joined us we then ordered some main courses – a Sushi Mori Combo, comprising Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail, Cooked Prawn, Grilled Eel, California Rolla and Japanese Omelette; and a Sushi Roll Combo, comprising Soft Shell Crab rolls, California rolls, Diced Grilled Eel rolls and Japanese Omelette.



As sets, these were served with a beautiful Miso Soup, Chawanmushi (a kind of savoury egg custard with chicken) and a choice of side dishes – we opted for the Hokkaido Miso Mini Ramen, which was so delicious we were fighting over the last few mouthfuls.



As if this weren’t enough we also added on a couple more side dishes, justifying this with the fact that we had just shared two main courses between three (and ignoring that we has already shared a few extras beforehand) – some Pork Gyoza



and a Satsuma Age (fish cake).



I’m sure you must be thinking what a completely gluttonous group of girls we are – and you’d be right! But we were also a completely satisfied group of girls when we left Sun with Moon, and will be looking forward to coming back again soon.


Sun with Moon, #03-15 Wheelock Place - http://www.sfbi.com.sg/index_e.html