Oodles of Noodles

We did our fair share of fine dining in fancy restaurants in Beijing, but one of our favourite finds was the Noodle Bar. This unpretentious little place only seats twelve noodle slurpers at a time at its u-shaped counter, emulating a Japanese sushi bar with its fun communal dining in an intimate space.



In full view of the diners, the two chefs busy themselves tending to the large vats of soup and entertaining their guests with their impressive skills as they knead and hand-pull the noodles.





Large steaming bowls of noodles are served up within minutes of you making your order, and this doesn't take long it itself as the menu is rather limited – Beef noodle soup with a choice of brisket, tendon or tripe, and thin or thick noodles. They also had a special ‘noodle of the month’ when we visited – Noodles with Pork Ribs.



We checked out both the Pork Rib special and the Beef Brisket and… oh my goodness, this is possibly the best noodle soup I have ever tasted.



The broth was rich and flavoursome, the noodles just the right side of chewy and the meat just melting off the bone... For a noodle soup fan like me, this was pretty close to heaven let me tell you…

If you happen to find yourself in Beijing – do yourself a favour and get down to the Noodle Bar, and if you have to queue, then queue – it will be worth the wait, I promise.

The Noodle Bar, Beijing
1949 - The Hidden City. Courtyard 4, Gong Ti Bei Lu, Chaoyang District
(Opposite Pacific Century Place South gate)

Dinner in the Hutong

We were utterly exhausted after dragging ourselves round Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Beihei Park, Houhai Lake, and up the Drum Tower… so were delighted to reach the many bars of Nanluogu Xiang in the Dongcheng Hutong area to sit down and partake in a few Tsing Taos.

Once our feet had finally stopped throbbing and our thirst was eventually quenched, we set off down the dark backstreet alley of Banchang Hutong to find our dining destination of the evening – The Source. This cosy little restaurant is housed in a renovated traditional Qing Dynasty courtyard house, where private dining rooms surround the pomegranate trees of the outdoor courtyard area.

It being October, the weather was too cold for us to enjoy any alfresco dining action, so we made ourselves comfortable in the main dining area, where the antique style furnishings and strains of Peking Opera made us feel like guests in the home of some wealthy old Beijing family.



The staff too went out of their way to make us feel at home and showed us round the courtyard on arrival and checked our eating preferences – was there anything we didn’t eat? How spicy could we take our food? This being a Szechuan restaurant, we were slightly cautious but bravely told them it was ok, we enjoy the heat!

There followed a procession of delightful Szechuan specialties (dining is by set menu only at the Source), kicking off with some pickled green beans with chilli and peanuts, and some mushrooms with a spicy dip. These were closely followed by a chicken broth which was perfect for warming the bones on a cold Beijing evening.

Next up was a Cold Spicy Beef salad served with Salad Leaves in Vinegar



And then the main courses – a fiery Duck with Chillis and Beans



The sumptuously sweet and sticky Pretzels with Rolled Bacon



And Green Beans with those tongue numbing Szechuan Peppercorns.



This innovative selection of dishes were all delicious and, as you can see by the dose of chillis and peppercorns in the dishes, pretty darn spicy! But given that there is no heating in the Hutong, we were glad of the internal heat.

The friendly staff attitude didn’t end with the meal either… The chef came out to speak to us once we were finished to check we had enjoyed the meal (we had!) and to ensure us that if there was anything we didn’t like she could adapt the meal to suit us next time. And once we were ready to leave, those helpful folk at the Source insisted on walking us out down the alley to the main road and stayed with us until we’d managed to flag down a cab – now that’s service!

The Source, Beijing - http://www.yanclub.com/wwwsite/source/SOURCE.htm

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.