Ni hao! In todays blog I will tell you a little about food, eating and restaurants in Beijing 北京. Now Beijing food or Northern food is a combination of different areas varieties namely Hebei, Shangdong, Lower Yangzi River area, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. Methods of cooking:- Barbecuing, deep-boiling, roasting, smoking and braising. Local products such as garlic, ginger, leeks, pork, spring onions, bean sauce, different spices, chilies, vegetables, particularly the Northern white cabbage, together with duck, pork, chicken, seafood, beef, and lamb are used to make many varieties of gourmet dishes. Accompaniment to Meals Wheat products such as noodles, bread, and dumplings are eaten with meals. Examples of Dishes Beijing
Duck 北京烤鸭, Mongolian Hot Pot with Lamb or Beef, Sauteed Mutton with Scallion, Muslim Skewered Mutton, Shandong Chicken with Abalone and Cabbage, to mention but a few. As you would expect in such a large and varied country, there are many regional cuisines - and you can find them all in Beijing, plus Korean, Japanese, Thai and Western dishes. Tables for five or more people usually have a revolving center for the dishes. Hot Pot is a varied and interesting 'cook by yourself' experience. You choose what to eat and the ingredients are prepared and arrive ready to cook. The common ingredients are meat (mutton, chicken, beef) and 
fish, plus various types of Tofu, mushrooms, eggs, noodles and vegetables. These are cooked in a 'soup' that is heated by gas, electricity or flame. Meat is prepared by being thinly sliced while frozen. When added to the gently bubbling soup, it cooks in about 30 seconds. Leafy vegetables and thread noodles cook even quicker. However, starchy vegetables, such as potato and yam slices, need a few minutes. Tofu and mushrooms perhaps 2 minutes or so. Hot Pot comes in basically two styles - Sichuan and Mongolian. Both are commonly found in Beijing. Sichuan hotpot involves a sesame paste 'dip' made from ground sesame seeds (paste) and sesame oil. Other dip types are sometimes available. The sesame dip is often topped with coriander. Other condiments 
are also usually available, including garlic, spring onion and chilli oil, to add either to the soup or dip. The other distinction of Sichuan HotPot is that the soup is often spicy, or half spicy. By 'half spicy' is meant a pot divided in two, with a spicy half and a non-spicy half (yin-yang) which is ideal if two or more people are to share the pot. Mongolian Hot Pot has a simpler non-spicy soup, tradionally in a smaller but taller copper pot. Proud of the fine taste of its free range meats from Inner Mongolia, spices and dips are much less prevalent - the idea is to enjoy the natural taste of the ingredients. For example one can find Jiaozi (small boiled dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables) in many places throughout China, but if you travel to Beijing or Harbin in Heilingjiang province or anywhere in 
Northern China, you may find many more people eating Jiaozi and eating many more varieties of Jiaozi than elsewhere in south China. Now in Beijing you have so many restaurants that you would not know where to go. However there is 4 major areas or I should say streets where you can find your restaurant! Longfusi Snack Street. Here you can enjoy many delicacies while strolling leisurely. All snacks of China gather here. Snacks of authentic Beijing style come from no others but Baikui Laohao where offers authentic soymilk, fried dough, Luzhu and diversified barbecues. It´s a very typical Muslim restaurant getting more blossing when the night curtain falls. The 100m long snack stalls form a hot hot scene. Stall-keepers hawk one after another. 
Just buy some sausage or fried squid costing from 3 to 5 Yuan. Wangfujing Snack Street. As the curtain of night falls, diners gather here, among whom are a larger number of foreigners. Prices are not too low of course. Dazzling snacks from all corners of the land gather at here. If wanna have a seat to enjoy your food more comfortably, you might go to Sun Plaza Restaurant at 5th Floor as well. Gui Jie(Dongzhimen Nei Dajie). Don´t be frightened by this name. Actually, the name of this street originates from that it is a round-the-clock food street. More late at night, more hot here. If you are a night owl too, just come here. Take a seat and eat something while chatting to spend the long night as a strange visitor at a strange land. Stores here are not so large but suitable for several friends drinking together and chatting quite well. Though with dated
furnishing, they always have several dishes of everlasting aftertaste. Spicy Crab and Poached Fish in Pungent Sauce are eternally famous dishes yet. In summer, you can also go to the Yiyuan Restaurant. Under the umbrages in a Siheyuan with the moonlight overhead, it looks more like a grand party. Inside and outside of the restaurant flow courteous greetings of waiters and sweet smell of delicacies. Hungary at night ? Do not put yourself to a great inconvenience. Go to the Gui Jie directly by a taxi, and then, all is ok. Donghuamen Night Snack Street. Situated at the entrance of north street of Wangfujing, Donghuamen Night Snack Street is the most famous one in Beijing. It has very high reputation not only in Beijing, but also foreign visitors also enjoy it. 
Currently, stroll this street has been the reserved program. At night, the flavored foods and voice of huckster had been a bright spot in Beijing evening. There are also two more areas for me to mention. I think when going out at night in Beijing you have the Sunlitan Bar Street and Shi Sha Hai areas to consider for a good meal, drinking and listen to good music! As far as western restaurants you will also find many russian ones, as well as McDonald´s and Pizza Hut! They also have one Hard Rock Cafe! I also recommend Jing Wei Mian Da Wang 京味面大王 at 35 Xidajie, Di'anmen 地安门西大街35号 Tel.: 6405-6666 Open 10:30am-10:30pm. It is a traditional chinese style noodle restaurant near the Beihai Park. I myself prefer to walk 6 minutes to our nearest Gui Jie(Dongzhimen Nei Dajie) or to my local restaurant Club 19 at Dongzhimen Beixiao Dajie! Zai jian!
Peter
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