All entries in the 'China' Category
Dong Lai Shun in Beijing
Dong Lai Shun is the most famous and oldest traditional Muslim restaurant serving Mongolian hot pot in Beijing. With 102 years experience, Dong Lai Shun is famous for their mutton dishes.
The restaurant uses a big traditional copper pot heated by charcoal. At first I didn’t know what was the internal heat source until I asked the waitress to show me. The charcoal provides a higher temperature cooking the meat more evenly.
Din Tai Fung in Shanghai
Din Tai Fung is an award-winning restaurant of Taiwanese origin and known internationally for its Xiaolongbao. It was ranked as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants in 1993 by The New York Times. I have visited the Hong Kong and Shanghai branches before.
It has also been voted as the most favored dining place by political and commercial celebrities and is one of the must-see places for national and international stars. There was a mural of Asian celebrities on the wall. If you look carefully, the celebrity which has visited this branch has autographed their mural.
November 1, 2009 | Danny | Comments 1Wang Bao He in Shanghai
Wang Bao He claims to be Shanghai’s oldest restaurant with a history dating back to 1936. This brightly lit restaurant has a traditional Chinese decor. Its another place you should not go without reservations. They are famous for making rice wine and cooking Shanghai’s famous hairy crab. Crab dominates the menu, almost every dish in the menu utilizes crab as an ingredient.
I always make it a habit to have the hairy crabs when I’m in Shanghai. The hairy crabs are smaller than our Pacific Northwest Dungeness crabs. As you can see from the photo, they are not called hairy crab for nothing. This delicacy is in season during September to January. Actually, the crabs do not have much meat, but they are prized for their roe.
Donganmen Night Market’s Street Food of Wangfujing in Beijing
Around 6PM, this street turns lively and vibrant because the Donganmen Night Market opens. The street transforms into a tidy row of food stalls. I’m guessing that there must be more than 100 stalls. Surprisingly, the food stalls are lined up very straight, clean, and lit very well. They offer a big variety of street food. I recommend trying their local specialties!
Jade Garden in Shanghai
Jade Garden is part of a chain of restaurants owned by the Maxims Group. Other establishments in the group include Sichuan Garden, Shanghai Garden, Chiu Chow Garden, and Peking Garden. Jade Garden is a popular Shanghai eatery that offers signature local dishes as well as Hong Kong style dim sum in a classy and refined setting. The place was decorated with high ceilings, translucent unadorned glass, marble floors and subtle lighting. It was a memorable experience because of the great service and graceful atmosphere. I always wanted to try their signature Steamed Reeves Shad (Yangtze River Herring) and Jardin de Jade Jasmin Tea Smoked Duck.
We started off our dinner with a couple of dim sum dishes - Spring Rolls with Pork and Deep Fried Turnip Pastries. The spring rolls had an unique texture that I have not experience before. After a close examination, I noticed that unique texture came from the ingredients cut into strands and assembly length wise inside the spring roll. Every bite of the spring roll has a very evenly distributed amount of filling.
This was my second time having deep fried turnip pastries; I loved the crispy and flaky texture of the pastry coupled with very flavorful shredded turnip inside.
September 30, 2009 | Danny | Comments 0
