food recap

Rebecca posted this in Lonely Planet's Get Stuffed:

I feel inspired by my jet lag so here's a list of the best things we ate and a couple restaurants to try. Keep in mind that lots of stuff in the guide books is wrong. China is going through a lot of change and many things have just disappeared. You cannot rely on the guide books, not even the 2005 editions.

Worth mentioning is the fact that you can ask for a doggy bag and you usually need one.

Beijing:

Noodle King of Old Beijing (can someone tell me the name in Chinese?) It's a chain throughout the city but it is a traditional place and the food is good. Try and find one off the beaten path (we asked our cab driver and he let us off at a place in the middle of no where). A great experience not only for the food but also for the yelling and rushing around all around you as ou eat. The chicken wings are noteworthy - boned, fried and cooked in soy, sugar, anis seed and spicy pepper.

The restaurant in Dowager Empress' mansion - the card I have is in Chinese but if you're interested, I can get a translation - the food is "emperial' cuisine and very refined and elegant. We enjoyed the shrimp-stuffed tofu fried in a fish sauce.

The HuaJiayiyuan is in a nice setting - an old house. If you can't find the Empress' place go here. Get a jug of jujube juice to go with your meal. 3 Dangxiao Street in Chao Yang

Tianjin:
Baozis are the local speciality and are a nice change from regular dumplings. They are filling so don't order too many of them. he most famous place is Guobuli.

Datong:

There is a big restaurant just across from the Yunang hotel. The Peking Duck was delicious - started with the entire duck and ended with its soup. They also had terrific sichuan chicken.
To the left of the big restaurant is a little place where the aubergine was the best I've ever had. It was cooked in soy sauce and sugar and red pepper.

The restaurant to the left of the entrance to the Datong Hotel (used to be the hotel's restaurant) serves local "peasant" style food. Go for the knife cut noodles or hand rolled dumpling-like things (you can see them being prepared in front of you);

Kaifeng:
The night market! The noodles from the two noodle stands are delicious and entertaining to watch being prepared. Also try some of the various skewered things. The veggie skewers are delicious too - they cook them and put them in a pita pocket with spicy sauce. You can also eat locusts if you want.

Hangzhou:
The Chinese fondue place just next to the Overseas Chinese Hotel is good, but a little expensive. the spicy fondue was made with dried shrimp, lemon grass and red pepper.

Louwailou Caiguan, just on the lake, is good even if the decoration is a bit outdated. Try the West Lake Fish or the beggar's chicken. Avoid the Dong Po pork unless you like eating 2 inch slabs of pig fat.

Shanghai:

Guyi Hunan restaurant was divine. Thank yorkie bear for this suggestion. The smoked pork with preserved turnip was a delicious mix of smoke, sweet, spice.

There's a place on the corner of Fujian Nanlu and Jinling Donglu that was a find. Their specialty, black fish in a very spicy sauce, was delicious. They don't speak English but their menu has pictures.

The Xin Jishi was a nice place in the French Concession. They had some good shrimp dishes.

Hong Kong:

Any of the Indian places in Chung King Mansion is worth trying. don't be turned off by the dirty stairways or the cock roaches in the alley way. we had a delicious Garlic Paneer at the Taj Mahal.

There is some ok street food at the Temple Street night market but nothing as good as in Kaifeng.

There's a noodle shop on Des Voeux road called Ho Ho noodles (I think) - their shrimp wonton soup was yummy. Mr F got the special congee which was full of various organs but he quite liked it.

We didn't have much dim sum because we were sick of it by the time we got to Hong Kong. but I'm sure we missed out.

Macau:

Food was extraordinary....

O Porto Interior was delicious and a very nice place. The staff is really nice too and enjoyed watching us enjoy our food. We got king prawns Macao style and stuffed squid. The mango pudding was divine. Rua da Almirante Sergio 259-B, near the A-Ma temple.

African Chicken is delicious. I had some at Os Gatos, the restaurant in the Pousada de Sao Tiago where it was called Piri-Piri. Overpriced but nice setting.

Lemincello, an ice cream place on Travessa de Sao Domingo, has good flavors - ginger, durian, green tea, mango, sesame...and you can test them first.

We didn't get to Fernando's because it was pouring rain the whole time...too bad. It's supposed to be delicious.