City Lights: Night View from the Park Hyatt, Beijing

When in Chicago, I often take out-of-town guests to view the city lights at night from the restaurant and lounge in the Hancock Tower.  Not because its a great restaurant (sorry), but more for the view.  So I was excited to learn about this restaurant, The China Grill at the Park Hyatt, Beijing.

The China Grill at the Park Hyatt in Beijing is a similar to the Signature Room, in that you mainly come for the view because the food is only "good enough".  It wasn't bad, just about on par with a nice restaurant in any major city.  Although D noted that many of the restaurants on Beijing, even the nice ones, seem to be lacking in consistency of service and no one seemed to be able to understand how to time the arrival of dishes to the table. The saving grace for me were these two dishes:  the spicy/crispy calamari and a glass of citrus sorbet layered with frozen citrus slices, which served well to cut the oiliness of the rest of the meal.  

The view, however, is spectacular.  My pictures here cannot do adequate justice to the beauty of the city lights of Beijing at night.  Here is a video of this view, which I captured as best I could with my Flip Video.  Click here for the YouTube link.

Located on the 66th floor, its not as high at the Signature Lounge at the Hancock, but the China Grill is the highest restaurant in the city and has 360 degree views of Beijing. And the views couldn't be more different.  The lights in Beijing are much more colorful on the buildings as well as the signage and the streets curve in rings, rather than the grids of more modern cities.  Beautiful.

These pictures look like code from the Matrix, but if you look closely you can see that these are the windows of some of the smaller residential buildings and their reflections along with the brightly lit Chinese characters in the commercial signage.  Its like a painting.

Here are a few images of the interiors.  One of the stairs leading from the elevators near the lounge and one of the lobby interiors.

More to come ...

Donghua Men "Snack Street" (3): Food Challenge #2... Scorpions!

After the snake skin I wanted to try something a bit more challenging. But there are so many choices.  The starfish looked impressive, but I heard they can be a bit tough.  There is sea urchin, but I can get that in the states.  That offering to the right is, I think, some animal "maleness", if you know what I mean ...

Those are cicadas up above, but I've heard mixed reviews about those as well.  Maybe too much guts for my first bug. The crickets look appropriately intimidating, but maybe I want something a bit more sinister.  Like Scorpions!  

Yikes!  Do you have anything a little smaller?

That's better!  These look like just the right balance of scary and manageable!  One stick costs about 15 Yuan or a little over $2 USD.  Once ordered they are dropped into hot oil and salted, which can make almost anything palatable! How do they taste?

Surprisingly good!  I'd eat more right now if I could!  They taste salty and crunchy on the outside and meaty and a little nutty on the inside.  Not stingy at all ;)

Here is the video of me eating them and talking to some people in the crowd.  

Click here for the YouTube link.

Donghua Men "Snack Street" (2): Food Challenge #1... Snake Skin!

Sure, its a bit strange that in a place filled with ancient culture and historic treasures I am fixated on my food challenges, but I blame it on all the travel/food shows where they challenge the host to eat crazy stuff.  But I think that, if the local culture eats it, I'll give it a try.  Especially if it gives me a chance to shock the audience a bit ;)

The hardest part was choosing.  Here are some of the more tame offerings...

This looks a little more interesting.  Squid,  and ... are those crayfish? 

Beautiful and probably very tasty, but I had to choose carefully, since I only had a limited time here (my BF was not having as much fun with this as I was and it was very crowded).  But finally I saw my first choice...

Snake skin!  Aside from making creepy western wear, they can apparently be a good snack.  

Honestly, it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad.  It was very oily and a bit ... scaly, but overall not bad.  I figured I eat eel, so why not snake?

Here's how they cook it on the grill.  They press it under a hot iron, fanning it with a paper fan:

Posing with my snake skin kebab... and trusty Flip Video camera, on which I recorded this video of me eating the snake skin!

Click here for the YouTube video.

Donghua Men "Snack Street" (1), Beijing: Everything from Soup to Bugs...

I don't know what it says about me that, amidst ancient temples, Chinese opera and the Great Wall, one of the high points of my trip thus far is Donghua Men Street, where you can find every exotic snack from the mild (fruit kebabs) to the challenging (bugs)!

 I know that you are waiting to see me eat bugs, and I promise not to disappoint!  But for now, let's take a walk past each of the stalls and choose a snack...

Click here  for the YouTube link.

Beijing Food: Feeling Adventurous or Homesick? Or just sick?

Tired of eating jellyfish and rice?  There are options!  Although not as popular as KFC or Pizza Hut in Beijing, McDonald's is a close third place.  I have yet to eat at an American fast food place while overseas, except for that one time in Paris.  But in my defense, I only had a Diet Coke, so does that count?

Many people who are unwilling to eat fast food at home break their rules when overseas, usually out of sheer homesickess.  But if you are hungry for a piece of home, don't expect it to taste like it does in the States. 

Most places, like KFC, adapt their food to local tastes.  Which may be why its more popular.  In any case, you can usually count on McDonald's for a western style bathroom, which is a more welcome bit of home than you may realize!

Maybe you'd prefer Mexican food?  Churros seem to be pretty popular with the locals, probably because they are fried.  Who doesn't like fried food?

But why are there pictures of white people above the counter?

Burritos? Hmmm, does not seem as popular as the Churros stand.

Of course, if you are willing to be adventurous (isn't that why you travel?) you can challenge yourself (and your stomach lining) and eat local.  The question is, how local are you willing to get?

Hong Kong Food City, looks local, but maybe too touristy... too safe.

How about some "Homely Style Food"?  Its not ugly, just a little... homely. 

Would you be willing to eat an ear of corn cooked on the street?

Pick your own fish for lunch?

How about a nice home cooked meal here?

Because this is the kitchen.  Seriously:

But, of course, the ultimate food challenges are found on Donghua Men street, where squid would be the least obscure option.  Here you can find everything from starfish and scorpions to snake skin and silkworm larvae!  I won't give away too much more about this yet, but stay tuned ;)

Hunting Down the Elusive Prey: a restaurant that still exists.

As warned by the travel guides, restaurants come and go with such frequency that by the time of print, they may no longer be there.  Since D is old-school, and armed with a printed Time Out Beijing guide, I knew it would be hit or miss.  I tried to hedge out bets by cross-checking restaurants on the internet, but even that is not quick enough for the elusive prey... the Beijing restaurant.

We were initially looking for a restaurant called Hot Loft, which was said to have awesome hot-pot.  After a confusing cab ride, where even the driver had to ask for directions twice, we finally found the exact address... of where they had been.  In its place was a very brightly lit seafood place (why are so many restaurants here lit like hospital rooms?  trust me, you don;t always want to see you food in that detail).  Not what we had in mind.

On the way, however we passed some very pretty alternatives, so I convinced D to wander back on our path where we passed an intriguing single-malt scotch bar, which was nicely designed (and reminded me of the commercial scene with from Lost in Translation with Bill Murray). Then we came to The Green T House, hidden behind glowing green light, white curtains and an impossibly high thin door.  No windows and very secretive (you have to ring the bell for entry), it has a very exclusive ambiance.  It gets mixed reviews from locals,mainly due to bad service, but everyone agrees that its a feast for the eyes.

The restaurant was the creation of a woman named Zhang Jinjie, a chef, calligrapher, artist and musician (and now, restauranteur).  Apparently she is China's only female master chef and plays yang qin (Chinese Dulcimer) and gu zheng (Chinese table harp).  The design was very NY art loft and gorgeous (although showing a bit of wear and tear).  A long white room lit at the far end with cool green spot lights across a tangle of branches suspended from the ceiling. On one side, along the windows) there were tea-house style seating on white banquettes and in the center tall (like Alice in Wonderland tall) dark wood chairs seated around a communal table.  On the opposite wall they projected arty animations accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack that included everything from European classical music to Chinese classical music to jazzy electronica (which was a bit too loud at times, but cool).  Over all it was more stage set / performance art than restaurant, which made up for the "mama huhu" (so-so) service.  (See? I'm learning Chinese ! ;P)

Of course they don't allow you to take pictures there, or anywhere here other than public spaces (so you will have to look at their pretty flash images on their website).  I think because they are all paranoid about getting copied.  A valid fear given that this is the land of knock-offs.  But I managed to sneak a snap of D before the waitress told me to stop ;)  So aside from the pics I took of myself in the multi-mirrored ladies room (they cant stop me in there !) where I recreated (in my head) the closing scene from All About Eve, I am relegated to pulling pics of the interior from the internet.  

Food-wise it was yummy.  Even though they brought me the wrong dish (I am pointing on a menu, how hard can it be?), it was all still super yummy!  Being that it is a tea house, many of the dishes include tea leaves or tea oil, which has a lovely bitter and piquant aroma.  The table breads are served from a basket with chopsticks and are tiny little knots (I called them belly-buttons) of dough, they taste a bit like a profiterole or croissant dough, but not flaky, more doughy.  You dip them into a green tea pesto (I will definitely have to try making this at home!), yummy!

The drink list was printed on clear plastic, I ordered a non-alcoholic mocktail (a lot of mocktails here, I guess a lot of people don't drink), called Bitter Lemon, which was like a bitter lemonade over tea leaves. D refused to order my suggested drink for him (the "Beautiful Boy Martini", why not?) and had the Green T Martini.  Both cocktails were served in the kind of crockery you normally see tea or miso served in.  beautiful, hand made pottery and presented on a long tray with bamboo leaves, which was beautiful, but takes up a lot of room on a small table.

We started with these amazing little fennel (and tea leaf?) dumplings, steamed and briefly pan seared. The insides looked to be packed with leaves and that lovely bitter licorice aroma, so different from many dumplings with their mystery meat interiors ;).  The laowai (foreigner ;) behind D ordered a dish served on a bed of rose petals: veal with black sesame?

Then we were served, what turned out to be a dish called "Autumn leaves" which were like those Vietnamese lettuces rolls, a butter lettuce leaf filled with shredded vegetables, what could have been some kind of pickled vegetable or meat, fennel seeds and what might have been chrysanthemum petals.  It was yummy and we ate it even though I ordered something else.  They then brought another dish I hadn't ordered and this time D still felt the order mix up required some telling-off so he marched up there in stocking feet to straighten it out (we were sitting shoeless on the white banquette seating, like Bed in SoBe).

Whatever he said did the trick and they removed the dish and brought him the spare ribs he ordered which were super yummy, but so rich we had to fake-finish the last ones (only take a bit or so out of each).  No room for dessert! 




With all the rich food and huge portions, the only way I am not gaining weight here is due to all the walking, and walking, and walking...

Night Kites in Beijing

First night in Beijing:  Even though I was sleep deprived from a long (and complicated connecting) flight, I didn't want to waste any time.  Across the street from the hotel is a shopping mall that contains a surprisingly yummy Sichuan restaurant called South Beauty.  Surprising, because it is in a mall and apparently is part of a chain.  But yummy none the less :)

We had short ribs and sauteed greens to start, then I had an amazing snapper poached in spicy hot chili oil with sprouts, bamboo and fragrant peppercorns that crunched and released an almost perfume-y scent!  D had a thinly sliced pork sauteed with vegetables that was so flavorful it was almost bacon-like.  As expected, the portions were enormous and there was no way to finish it all (lord knows I tried).  I countered all that rich food with a glass of freshly crushed watermelon juice (yum!) and D had a TsingTsao (?) beer.

After all that I had to walk it off a bit, and being one of the cooler nights in Beijing recently (only in the 90's!) we walked down the main thoroughfare (6 lanes) and through some side streets.  Looking up I asked D what those strings of lights were in the sky?  He said they were enormously long kites strung with LED lights!  Look closely in the photo below of the street at night and see the kites strung with tiny lights!  I included a close up of the lights, best I could get so far.

I guess that is a nice alternative to the stars, which are never visible due to the smog.  I couldn't help but think that if you flew those over New Mexico you would get a rash of phone calls reporting UFO sightings! Hmm... future prank?