China Food Road - Sichuan

Our next stop in the "China Food Road" project is Sichuan.

Sichuan, the land of plenty, is a region of fertile plains fed by the Yangtze River and its tributaries. It is famous for its hot cuisine and the great variety of cooking styles. As the old saying goes: “One hundred dishes and one hundred flavours”. The main ingredients in Sichuanese cuisine are: whole chilli peppers (gan lajiao), which provide the spicy flavour (la); and Sichuan peppercorns (huajiao), a type of citrus berries that provide the ‘numbing’ flavour (ma). The presence of chillies and peppers awakens and stimulates the palate to enjoy other tastes.

Sichuan peppercorns in the wild

About Chillies, Peppers and different tastes

The further South you go in China, the spicier the food gets – according to traditional Chinese medicine, spicy food helps release the humidity in your body, it is particularly good in winter, when humidity is bad for the bones. Chillies, with their blood-red, vibrant colour and hot spiciness, are not indigenous to China. They were brought to Asia from South America by the Portuguese. The dusky-pink Sichuan pepper is the dried berry of a prickly ash tree. It has a fresh, citrus scent and it is the dominant spice in many dishes of this region. The Sichuan peppercorn is not related to the Western black and white pepper - it is hot and pungent, leaving a numbing sensation in the mouth. The combination of whole chilli, Sichuan peppers and ginger adds additional layers of heat. 

“Sichuan pepper makes your lips dance and tingle”. 

Fuchsia Dunlop

Other ingredients characteristic of this cuisine include: red oil (chilli oil), sesame oil, various bean pastes (very salty paste made from fermented broad beans) and vinegars; as well as nuts and sesame seeds. The Sichuanese have different classifications of tastes: hot and spicy, hot and sour (cuan la) such as in the fish soup, and a hot and numb (ma la), such as in the tofu dish ma po dofu, with its fiery sauce.

We visited Chuan Ban Restaurant, in the Sichuan Province government office in Beijing, reputedly the best Sichuanese restaurant in town. It was hard to find, the main entrance does not face the road and I can't read Chinese characters, but after asking many people, and with the help of Feian’s GPS/google map apps we managed. When we got there we met up with the rest of the group: Zara, Tony, Katherine and our expert, Grace, who was wonderful at ordering the food. She had done her research and deserved also a merit point for ordering in her home dialect.

The Menu

Bean curd sliced á la Julienne 豆腐丝  dou fu si - with a balanced sour, nutty dressing

Celery and lilly 西芹百合  xi qin bai he – celery stalks in a fresh sauce with beautiful, delicate, dainty lilly flowers (not pictured)

Pork’s lungs 夫妻肺片 fu qi fei pian, also known as ‘husband and wife’

Mushrooms in a pot干锅双菌 gan guo shuang jun a wide array of different types of mushrooms, served in a hot wok with a burner

Spicy Toufu 麻婆豆腐 ma po dou fu - one of Sichuan's most famous dishes

Spicy fish in red oil 水煮鱼  shui zhu yu - dead or alive? our chosen fish cooked to perfection, white meat, tender, boneless and tasty.

beancurd sliced á la Julienne with vinegar and sesame seeds

Husband and Wife - sliced pork's lungs (or was it tongue?)

sliced pork's lungs - a closer look

scrumptious pot with mushrooms

Dead or alive? Fish in oil with chillies

At one point, the waiter came round with a big bucket full of water so we could choose the fresh fish. Fresh indeed, still leaping in the water!

The ‘Husband and Wife’ dish: Legend has it that in the city of Chengdu during the 1920s and 1930s, a couple opened a small restaurant serving sliced ox lungs. The cold dish was so delicious and balanced in flavour and spices that it soon became famously known as ‘husband and wife’. The dish has now been adapted and it includes other cuts as well as lungs – in my opinion the meat they served us was sliced tongue and it was very delicious indeed.

Excellent food and service, I am not surprised this restaurant is considered the best venue for Sichuan food in Beijing.

Inside the restaurant, a busy kitchen and polite staff

The Adventurous Ones

Sichuan Provincial Government Office Restaurant - Chuanban

5 Gongyuan Toutiao, Jianguomennei Dajie,

Chaoyang District, Tel 6512 2277 ext. 6101

If you would like to read more about my adventures in Sichuan, go to:

Fifty Shades of Sichuan (here)

Panda love (here)

Children of Chengdu (here)

Chongqing, megacity of contrasts (here)

Beijing Street Food - Jianbing guo zi

Jian bing guo zi is one of Beijing's most popular snacks to eat on-the-go. It is a savoury pancake, sold in the morning and mid-day all over the city. You can usually buy them at mobile stalls built on the back of a bicycle, as seen on the photos and video clip.

On the street

Moi, buying jianbing on the street - it's the one in the plastic bag!

There is a little man just outside our local supermarket, who makes jianbing in a jiffy. But you really have to see it to believe it! Click on the video for a quick, amusing clip.

Two more happy customers purchasing a snack from the street vendor

At The Hutong (here)

I took a cooking class at The Hutong with Sophia, who always shows me how to make the most delicious Chinese food, as well as explaining about the benefits of each ingredient, the various traditional customs and anything you need to know to make wonderful Chinese dishes.

Jianbing is really inexpensive in the streets of Beijing - RMB 5, about 50p - but if you are not living in this capital, you can still make it yourself and although it takes a bit longer than the street vendors on the video clip, it is worth the effort!

After we made the batter, with wheat and mung-bean flours and water, Sophia's first recommendation was: "Patience, patience, patience". In order to be able to fold the jianbing four times, the pancake has to be - as Monty Python would say: "wafer-thin". And to avoid burning or breaking the batter, you have to start off with a cool pan, lightly brush with oil, and spread the batter as thin as you can - from the edges to the centre. On a very low heat, patiently wait until the batter slowly cooks. Sophia has practiced a million times, until she got the exact method to make it in a pancake pan. This jianbing will be smaller than the original street-version, but just as good, if not tastier!

deep fried, crunchy, crispy dough

a 'wafer-thin' pancake made at home

crack an egg on top

add toppings

flip over, fold and serve - this is the one I made, woohoo!

Once the pancake is slightly cooked on one side, you crack an egg on top, break it up a bit and let it cook evenly. Then comes my favourite part: flipping over the pancake - so much fun! Brush with hoi sin sauce (sweet wheat-flour paste),  chilli sauce and fermented red bean curd. Sprinkle with chopped green onions, a bit of coriander and some black sesame seeds. On the video clip, you can see the guy asking me if I want some chilli and I replied  'only a little bit, please' in my best Mandarin: "Errr". Add a small sheet of fried, crispy dough and break off with a spatula. When all the ingredients are in place, fold one side, then the other, then the top and finally the bottom, like a small parcel. If you don't have a big pan, the pancake will not be big enough to fold in four (a bit like the one I made at The Hutong), but it doesn't matter, it still tastes delicious! Serve on a plate - or in a plastic bag! And enjoy.

PS: Did someone say 'Food Hygiene at street food-stalls'? Errr, sorry, we don't know what that means :-)

Chi Fan for Charity Beijing

Last Saturday I was asked to take photos for Chi Fan For Charity (CFFC) in Beijing. 

I shot Brasserie Flo, Feast at East hotel and Switch! Cafe in Shunyi

I couldn't have been given a better choice of restaurants: varied in style, deco and eating options. If you ask me 'what is your perfect "Food Day Out" in Beijing' I would choose a combination of the three restaurants: Casual, American waffles with coffee and orange juice for breakfast at Switch! Cafe (review here); healthy lunch at sleak and trendy Feast (here) in 798 area; and sophisticated, French atmosphere for dinner at Brasserie Flo (here) in Sanyuanliqiao.

Here are some pics - hungry for more? Check out my article here

Executive Chef Rob Cunningham and his team at Feast

working head to head at Feast

Party with a Keg at Switch!

Sally Baxter and Chandler Jurinka of Slow Boat Brewery - this is what they had to say about the event (here)

Kathy Billy and Chandler

Pudding Precision

The Oo la lah! factor at Brasserie Flo

Food for charity

West Hunan, Xiangxi - China Food Road Project

I started this quest for the ultimate 'China Food Road' a little while ago, and my friend Kai has been wonderful, joining me with her good humour and stories of travels and adventures. Chinese food is meant to be shared and the more people at the table, the more dishes you can try, so we decided to extend our invitation to others who also have a passion for good Chinese food. Last Wednesday we visited the West Hunan Municipality restaurant. 

Staff wearing beautifully embroidered outfits, typical from Tujia ethnic minority

Getting to the restaurant was an adventure itself, which may or may not have involved some kind of bribery and special tipping. I don’t want to get the chap into trouble, but let’s say that parking was no problem. So we all managed to get there and it was a great outing.

Like most provincial eateries, this restaurant is located in the building where the provincial authorities have their offices in Beijing (in this case, the Xiangxi autonomous region, in west Hunan). At these restaurants you will find truly authentic, regional food; where the real locals who work in Beijing and visitors from the area eat; attended by many of those who feel homesick and crave for the foods they grew up with.

Xiangxi government restaurant has simple, unpretentious décor. In fact, it doesn’t look like a restaurant at all. Wooden tables and chairs, covered with thin, transparent-plastic tablecloths layered on top of each other, are peeled off, so to speak, as they get dirty with each group of guests.  The waiters – or fuyuan – are dressed in beautifully embroidered clothes, typical of the Tujia ethnic minority. Plain, white crockery; disposable, wooden chopsticks and a metal kettle for tea.

The restaurant is located on the 10^th floor and once you come off the lift, you will be forgiven for thinking that you are on the wrong floor. But if you carry on walking along the corridor (towards the left) you will reach the restaurant at the end of it. Trust me, and follow your nose.  The restaurant is very popular at lunch time. You can book a VIP private room for a min RMB600 consumption. But we wanted to enjoy the real thing, and soak up the atmosphere, so we went to the big room with all the other guests. In the end, we ordered seven dishes and drank local tea, it only cost RMB 50 each. It was very busy when we got there at 12pm. We were one of the last ones to leave and the place was almost empty at 1.30pm. Staff were more relaxed by then, and were smiling and agreed to have a photo taken. On the same corridor, right next to the restaurant there are offices, a sign that the building is fully operational as a regional authority representation.

Hunan cuisine is well known for its fiery spiciness. In the western district of Xiangxi  they love their smoked and cured meats and the most common accompaniments are: celery, leeks and green and red peppers. Salty, fermented black beans give dishes an extra zest.

The Menu

This is what we ordered (upon recommendation of our expert, Feian)

the menu

Farm-style pork with green peppers -Nongjia xiaochao rou’农家小炒肉. One of Hunan’s most popular and delicious dishes: Stir-fried long green peppers and thinly sliced pork belly, seasoned with garlic, black bean, soy sauce and rice wine.

farm-style pork with green peppers

Dry-wok chicken – guan guo ji 干锅鸡肉. This dish is like a small, dry hot-pot without the soupy broth. The chicken is served in a wok that is kept heated on a fondue-like tabletop burner.

dry-wok chicken, at the back

Plain rice – bai mi fan 白米饭, served in a wooden bucket, very picturesque.

rice by the buckets

Hunan stir-fried smoked bacon and beancurd - hun nan chao la rou 湖南炒腊肉

A rich combination of smoked bacon and bean-curd, leeks and chillies.

smoked bacon and bean-curd, my favourite

Grandma’s dish – wai po cai 外婆菜。 Personally recommended by the ‘fu yuan’, this is a typical dish of Hunan, which the regulars love so much and it only costs RMB 22: minced pork is stir-fried with preserved mustard greens and bird’s eye chillies. It has a very earthy taste, yet this version was slightly oily.

Grandma's dish

Dry-wok radish - gan guo luo bo 干锅萝卜 Another hotpot- style dish: Chinese radish, thinly sliced and served with lots and lots of dried, red chillies. Ordered on Kathryn's request, otherwise we would have forgotten to order vegetables.

dry-wok radish, everybody's favourite

Fried cucumber with Hunan basil – zi su huang gua 紫苏黄瓜. Who would have thought cucumbers can be fried? At home we only eat them in salads. The addition of basil makes it very refreshing, to cool the palate after all those these fiery dishes. OK, I know it is immersed in red chillies, but if they are too hot for you, you can move them to one side (like I did).

fried cucumber with basil

The food was excellent, and we all enjoyed it very much. Feian was surprised that the dishes used a lot of dried chillies, and she explained that in Hunan they would use fresh red chillies instead, but perhaps they are not so widely available here in Beijing. We all noticed that the food was saltier than we are used to, and this is probably because of the fermented black beans (and soy sauce). It made us very thirsty! We also noticed that the food didn’t have ginger, which would normally be used in Hunan food. But all the other ingredients were present and: Yes, Hunan food is very spicy and fiery, but if your palate can take the heat, it is very delicious.

A big thank you to Feian for all her help and advice selecting and ordering dishes, translating and interpreting and also typing food names in Mandarin.
If you would like to join me visiting provincial restaurants, contact me (leave a comment or by email). The more the merrier!
For an insight on how I made these images, check out this article here

These are the restaurant details, taken from Eileen Wen Mooney's "Beijing Eats" recommendations:

Xiangxi Autonomous Region

10/F, Xiangxi Daxia, 111 Taipingqiao Dajie, Xicheng District, Tel 6621 4788

湘西大厦10层 湘西土家族自治区驻京办 西城区 太平桥大街111号

The "China Food Road" Project

I love food. 

I love Chinese food. 

And there are so many places to try, that sometimes I don't know where to begin.

Inspired by a talk I had a while ago with my friend Mark, who has left Beijing now,

I thought that the best way would be to start by visiting one provincial government restaurant per week. But still, the list is long (almost 40) - so I decided to start with those most representative of the typical Chinese cuisine - usually divided into 8 types: Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guandong, Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian and Jiangsu (see more details on my previous entry here). 

This little piggy went to market
(at Little Donkey Organic Farm)

I didn't come up with that List of Eight randomly, Fuchsia Dunlop mentions it in her book "Shark Finn and Sichuan Pepper", as do the experts who gave a lecture on Chinese Cuisine at the China Culture Center (here) and Eileen Wen Mooney's book "Beijing Eats". I have various sources of inspiration: From Ken Hom's original books, to Fuchsia's fantastic tales, Jen Lin-Liu's "Serve the People" and BSK (here); Sophia, Sue and the wonderful team at The Hutong (here), WildChina (here) - who constantly encourage me by sending me to try new venues; my devoted Ayi Lu who brings home the most fabulous street food, and friends who share my passion for food and are willing to join me in my quest: "In Search of the Ultimate China Food Road". 

So this is how I am going to carry out this project: Every Wednesday lunchtime - unless something comes up - I will visit a new provincial restaurant in Beijing with those who would like to join me. I will decide which restaurant week by week, and I am open to suggestions. The list of restaurants is long and not very well organised, it takes time to find out where these restaurants are (I like to do a recce beforehand).

I have already been to three restaurants: Anhui, Xinjiang and Guandong - More write-ups coming soon. And some people have already been suggesting other ideas, so stay tuned.

Seafarer's Fare - Iceland

Iceland, the land just below the Earth’s summit, where winter becomes a six-month-long night, illuminated only by the moon and Aurora, and summer translates into an incredibly never-ending twilight.

Lobster soup with fresh bread and Icelandic butter

We stopped by on our way to the UK – a long detour, I know - and spent four amazing autumn days in this beautiful land. Not long enough to explore it all, but sufficient to whet our appetite for more – we must definitely come back.

Puffins at a gift-shop, Reykjavik old harbour

On our first evening in Reykjavik, still jetlagged from a long journey from Beijing, we went to the old harbour, where you can find fish restaurants and local food. Overlooked by the nearby, recently built, amazing Opera House, there are still working docks in the area and some of  the old warehouses have been converted into gift shops and restaurants, a very charming place.

We stopped at the Sea Baron (Neptune), or Sægreifinn in Icelandic. The place looks more like a fisherman’s cabin than a restaurant, but a sign offering lobster soup sounded very enticing. The restaurant was founded by Kjartan Halldórsson, a former sea cook who has turned his hand from feeding sailors to feeding visitors for the past 10 years. The Sea Baron first opened as a fish store, but then tourists started asking him to cook the fish for them. As you go in, there are some long, thin tables arranged for visitors, but you must go into the next room, the kitchen, to place your order; it is more like a home than a restaurant. At the beginning, we didn't understand how it was supposed to work, and we sat there for a few minutes waiting for someone to come and take our order; so if you have a chance to visit, remember that you have to go into the kitchen first. After a while, Mr Halldórsson appeared, with a big smile, checking that everybody had food and drinks. He was very kind, and although we didn't speak Icelandic and he didn't speak English, he looked very friendly and offered sweets to our little ones.

The Sea Baron

We were not too daring with our choice of food, so we tried the lobster soup, served with lots of delicious fresh bread and creamy butter, and the monkfish and halibut grilled kebab, with vegetables. The kebabs were incredibly expensive, as most food is in Iceland is - for European standards.

local beer, of course

The restaurant, or cabin, also serves “harðiskur” the dried stuff that locals seem to relish (available on request, but we didn’t try it). Other dishes include: eels, Icelandic cod, trout, salmon, lump-sucker, blue ling, lemon sole, marinated herring and other delicacies. More controversial foods: Minke whale meat (a legally caught and not endangered species), although in the summer there were demonstrators in the harbour dressed as whales with plackards reading “Meet Us, Don’t Eat Us”, apparently orders went up. Cormorant, puffin and shark are also on the menu.

For more on our family adventures in Iceland, check out various articles at www.chelinmiller.blogspot.com: Skogar sunrise, Icelandic horses (in Spanish, I am afraid, still worth looking at the images) and Iceland in  William Morris's eyes.