Beijing Food

On our recent visit to Beijing I had an opportunity to make a new friend. We had decided to do both Tian'an men square and the Forbidden City in one day. I had already seen the latter, so I decided to tag along for the former (closed to us during our visit in March due mostly to protests in Tibet) and then had plans for the museum for the rest of the day.

We began by walking on the square and making our way to Mao's tomb. Visiting this tomb had not been high on my list, but I was there, and we had the time, so we gave all our bags to one of our group members, and queued up to go inside. The whole scene is a little creepy; no one speaks, every one shuffles through at the same pace, there is an absolutely huge line up of people waiting to go through, and Mao is a peculiar shade of yellow (like the butter here). On the other side we regrouped, and while we were just talking about where to go next, we were approached by Mark, a resident of Beijing who is studying to become a guide.

His English was pretty good but his knowledge of the nearby sites seemed even better. After a little haggling, we agreed to a price and we went straight to the Forbidden City (my plans to visit the museum were foiled- it is undergoing renovations that will be completed long after I have left this country- Actually this was an ongoing theme of this visit to the capital city- we tried two other places that were also affected by renovations). I'm not going to add any detail of the visit, since it was the same as last time.

After we were through with the City, we climbed the garden at the back for an overview of the core of Beijing. Due to the incredible fog/smog that day, visibility was a little low. However, Mark rescued the day by asking if we would consider visiting a restaurant with Beijing specialties. We quickly agreed and followed him down the street. One short bus ride later ( my first venture on city buses) we arrived at a very busy place.

We acted like locals and hovered for a free seat, while Mark and others looked over the food case and menu. Given the avid interest that we created with the patrons, I don't think that many foreigners have eaten there. Our food arrived and with some explanation, we began to sample the array of goodies. I took a photo so that I could share this with you- however, I did not do soon enough, and three of the items are missing.

I don't know any of the names of the food, so I will just describe them as they appear in the photo. In the front left hand side, in the bowl , is a corn meal mush. It came with a miso like gravy which Mark stirred in. It was a little bland but tasty and filling. Just above it are little sandwiches. Filled with lamb and cilantro, they were tasty and the best item on the tray, by group consensus. Just next to them, and are yellow square. Typical Chinese "sweets" these are made out of some sort of bean paste and are only moderately sweet. Next to them, and wrapped in the leaves, is a sticky rice "ball" with a sweet interior ( a small date)- there is a plate of sugar in front of it, but I no longer remember what we dipped in it. What is missing is a very thin soup that was grey in color; it did not really have any taste, but Mark said that this was integral to the Beijing summer diet as a way to cool down (it was a cold soup). We also had a noodle soup that was reported to be good, and one more sweet square. I had my eyes set on some of the fried donut like things in the case, but someone was looking out for my best interests, and the donuts were conspicuously absent at our table.

It was all pretty yummy all the same- and a great adventure- of the mild kind.