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.