CONTINUED…
My girlfriend's dad knew the GM of the
hotel we were staying in while in Beijing, and we ran into his wife quite
frequently in the lounge on the club floor. She recommended a dim sum place for
us to try while we were out at the Summer Palace. Unfortunately for us, it
wasn’t the form of meal we were really looking for. It was a fru fru, fancy dim
sum place in the Aman hotel. That being said, it didn’t prevent it from being
delicious. It just really was way fancier than we wanted and not the experience
we were looking to have. Dim sum is usually served in a state of chaos, with
large carts of food being rolled around a dining room, and customers choosing
things to eat off of the carts. But this food was plated, served one plate at a
time. It was incredibly delicious though. I tried a few things I had before,
and a few I hadn’t. We had some shrimp dumplings, some noodles, a papaya puff,
and another form of dumpling that I cant quite remember. It all tasted good,
but the portions were pretty tiny, and the food was very expensive for what it
was. I guess if you were looking for that kind of exclusive and quiet
experience it would have been great, but because we weren’t, it really didn’t
sit well with us.
The coolest food adventure we had in
Beijing was visiting the Wangfujing Snack Street. It is a street full of
vendors and they serve up all kinds of traditional Chinese snacks. They had
some of the weirdest things I have ever seen in my life. It definitely is the
type of place that you should go with a few people after having a few drinks so
you can dare each other to try different things. Many of the carts had the same
things, but some of them were a bit more exotic, carrying things like
tarantulas, centipedes, silkworms, snakes, sharks, scorpions, seahorses, sea
urchin, chicken testicles, and pretty much every other organ you can think of.
We went with my girlfriends parents and I was feeling a little adventurous, but
not quite drunk enough to eat a tarantula or a silk worm, so we decided on trying
a starfish. It got fried up in a wok, and served to us on a stick like a
starfish lollipop. We didn’t really know what to do with it. The lady that
cooked it for us could tell this, and she came over and showed us what to do.
She broke off one of the legs, and then cracked it open, revealing a greenish
colored meat inside. We dug in to the meat once it cooled a little bit, and
realized it was ok. I was very nervous about it, but it was pretty tasty. It
really tasted a lot like the ocean as most crustaceans do, so it was pretty
good. It would be cool to go back with a group of people after a few beers and
try other things they had. This is a must see place in Beijing so do not miss
it!
Beijing is a really cultural place and it is worth a visit to see the
sights. The food is tasty, but sometimes I definitely think an adventurous
appetite is needed. Hopefully one day I can go back in the future to see how it
has evolved. Cheers!
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