I just spent a couple of days in Beijing, China, hanging out with Lillian Chou, a former food editor at Gourmet and current food editor of Beijing Time Out magazines. Food stylist Karen Shinto (above) has worked with me on my last two cookbooks. She had never been to China before and met me in Beijing.
The three of us gals kick started things with foot and body massages. When in China, cheap massages are de rigeur. After a day of transiting through airports or sightseeing, massages are perfect for relaxing and recharging.
Then we ate and shopped at local markets. Highlights included:
Going to Walmart: I love visiting these shopping supercenters in China. The inventory reflects what locals typically eat. Karen and I wandered the aisles for two hours. We were blown away by the charcuterie (smoky pork belly, various sizes and shapes of lop cheung, fish and pork heads).
Next week is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and there were small mountains of mooncakes greeting customers near the entrance to the food section. Nearby was a cold case filled with ready-to-eat Peking duck neatly packaged in gift bags. That seemed so wrong, after my various experiments and investigations into homemade Chinese roasted duck!
The pickles and prepared foods were beautiful. We selected about five items for a makeshift lunch, along with a small yellow watermelon. Unfortunately the pickles were super salty and we didn’t get any rice.
The produce section had fresh straw mushrooms, a rare find outside of Asia. The eggs were sold at room temperature in the fresh produce section and there were organic ones too. You can get quail eggs done up as salted eggs and thousand-year-old eggs. Talk about minis.
In the same building as the Walmart that we visited was a Kungfu cafe that used Bruce Lee's image to serve up fast Chinese food. That's how modern and cosmopolitan Beijing is.
Small snacks: On the street, we ate jianbing, a crepe snack filled with egg, lettuce, a delicately crisp piece of dough, and various savory-spicy sauces. Jianbing is among the quintessential cheap eats in Beijing. Karen and I shared one, eating it with other locals in a subway station waiting area. (See Beijing Haochi's site for a terrific low down on jianbing.)
We also watched street food vendors prepare stuffed pocket breads called roujiamo for eager customers. Each bread was split and filled with a mixture of porkbelly, egg, and tofu that had been simmered with soy and other seasonings. The photo at the top is of one of many roujiamo vendors in Beijing. See Appetite for China for a quick primer on the popular snack.
Lillian took us to eat Beijing dumplings and we filled the table with three kinds, as well vegetable dishes. Beijing food tends to be on the salty side but delicious nevertheless.
Getting around Beijing: The subway is modern and clean and the cost per ride is 2 yuan (25 cents!). Line 4 seems to hit many of the tourist highlights. Taxis are everywhere but you need to pronounce things well in Mandarin to arrive at your destination. Most buildings don’t have visible numbers and some buildings have no Romanization. However, taxis are dirt cheap. You can get places for about 15 to 30 yuan.
Friendly people: Beijingers are pretty helpful people. When Karen and I got lost finding Walmart (“waahr ehr maahr”), I went up to strangers to ask for directions and they obliged. Maybe we were odd tourists wanting a Walmart and not the Great Wall?
I loved orderly and clean Tokyo and Beijing has its edgy charm. There is super modern architecture (think of the stuff from the summer Olympics!) as well as old historic hutongs. Things aren’t as orderly as in Japan but they work. There are plenty of ATM machines, trash cans and public places to sit too for a rest.
Where did we stay? In Haidian district, the Silicon Valley of Beijing. It’s in the university area and we wanted to be conveniently close to Lillian living nearby. Karen and I shared a spacious double room at the Crowne Plaza Zhongguancun with 45 square meters (about 460 square feet) for about $130 a night.
This was a fast visit to the Chinese capital and what I took away was that Beijing is a super world-class cosmopolitan city. It's an exiting and delicious place that I look forward to returning to in the future.
Betty
I was in Beijing a few years ago and stayed for 6 months in rented apt I found online in San Francisco before I left. Couple who were owners of this condo in Jingmau Condo Complex was very nice. With supermarket below gym and park. That duck in your photo is what I had and thought at first it was Beijing duck wrong it was some what preserve duck that was salted.
Many places I went in Tongzhou dist.sold it and other food so different to me since I am Cantonese ABC. Enjoyed SanLi Snow Shopping Center and food court there and World Trade Center food court which was so huge and lower level more food cafes also near Ice rink.
Justin Chen
When you're in China, the massages are so cheap there's almost no reason not to get them everyday!
julie
love this post, andrea! i'm currently in beijing and excited to read about your experiences. i'm planning to trek out to carrefour at some point, which i used to frequent in france. and i still haven't tried jianbing or roujiamo -- thanks for the tips!
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I miss my hometown so much. I always tell my mates food it the part i missed most.
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they all look so yummy and unique love to try them one day
Diane
If I were a Beijing-er I wouldn't think you were crazy at all for wanting to go to Walmart. Every time I travel I try to go find a local market and wander. It's always my favorite thing!
Andrea Nguyen
Yep, visiting markets big and small is one of my favorite things to do when traveling. Glad this post inspired you to travel, eat, and remember.
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thank u for sharing such useful information:)
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This is something interesting information of Beijing.I came to know about Jianbing and roujiamo.Beijing seems a good place to visit in vacation and I would like to go there.
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Pickled cucumbers and prepared foods were beautiful. We chose five items to a makeshift lunch with a small yellow watermelon. Unfortunately pickles were great and we had no rice.
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Pickled cucumbers and prepared foods were beautiful. We chose five items to a makeshift lunch with a small yellow watermelon. Unfortunately pickles were great and we had no rice.
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Very good points you wrote here..Great stuff...I think you've made some truly interesting points.Keep up the good work.
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China is no doubt a country with rich history and lots of things to see. I travel back and forth from England to China work related and unfortunately haven't had the time to enjoy it but I'm considering going there on a vacation.Thank you for sharing. I've only been to Beijing so far and it's an amazing city.I really enjoy the food.And speaking of travel tips the only thing I don't like about it is that I often have problems with the last minute bookings and realized that I have to call to confirm my reservation. It might be pricey so I use a call service which provides cheap calls to China (http://www.briing.com/cheap-calls/china.php)Its fast, cheap and easy to use.
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Within Chinatown, self seems to forget that self is in USA , seeing that is Chinese characters , hearing is Chinese.
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You made my mouth water by posting such kind of blog.
A cool post indeed and got some nice eatery stuff to know from it.
Would have a great time only eating on the roadside if ever got a chance to visit the country.
Thanks for the bog and keep sharing your information.
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I travel back and forth from England to China work related and unfortunately haven't had the time to enjoy it but I'm considering going there on a vacation.Thank you for sharing.
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Wow, thank you for the post! My husband works with many people in China, and I can't wait to be able to go on a trip with him! I should take matters into my own hands and write his boss in China a letter asking him when its mine turn to go visit, now all I need is a form of document translation! 😉 Thanks again for the great post!
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A cool post indeed and got some nice eatery stuff to know from it.
Would have a great time only eating on the roadside if ever got a chance to visit the country.