The holiday's officially over and now we're supposed to get back on with our lives. Many people, however, chose not to join in the annual migratory madness that is chun-yun; perhaps they couldn't afford to or perhaps their families were in Beijing. For those of us who failed to make a getaway, or who just feel that two weeks is not enough, Lifestyle has prepared a quick trip of the tastebuds round the palate of China. Now, the words "local delicacy" (especially spoken at a banquet) can be enough to make a grown foreigner cry but Lifestyle assures you such fears can be safely set aside when visiting our recommendations. So begone, post-holiday syndrome; make way for the first part of our Spring vacation where you don't even have to leave the city (the trip finishes next week). Tibet: yakety yak Ah, Tibet! How we yearn for your snow-capped peaks, your peaceful monks, your clear blue lakes, green grassland – and your tasty yak meat. That 4,000 meter-high altitude sure makes for some mysterious specialties. Feast Medong was founded by owner Gao Junfeng, who fell in love with lulang stone pot cuisine on his visit to the Tibetan autonomous region. He's attempted to bring the vibe back with his restaurant's architecture, which features sloping walls, cornices, hand-painted murals and tadaka incense-burning and the chance to enjoy Tibetan music while eaten stone pot-cooked chicken. Alternatively, try Makye Ame which also strives for authenticity with its Buddha statues, carved wood beams and patterned tablecloths while chucking in a shiny bar for a bit of a modern glitz among all the nods to Tibetan artisanship. Ingredients like yak butter tea and yak meat are imported from their namesake in Lhasa. Authentic dishes you could try include Khampa Guy (which is lamb leg roasted and served with a traditional Khampa knife rather than dead Western hiker) or Khampa lamb ribs, well-spiced Tibetan roasted natural mushroom or beef slices with pickled radish wrapped in chapatai, a Lasa specialty. This region's food tends to the rich and nutritious, spiced rather than spicy. Instead of hot water or Tsingtao, ask for home-brewed highland-barley wine, homemade pure yogurt, Tibetan barley spirit, Lhasa beer, yak butter tea (if you're feeling adventurous) or sweet milk tea (if you're not). Feast Medog Tibet stone pot cuisine Address: No. 36, Shanglong Xi Li, Anwai Street, Dongcheng District Tel: 8413-2365 Price: 60-80 yuan each Makye Ame Restaurant Address: F2, Golden Lake Garden Club, No. 23, Baijiazhuang Dong Li, Chaoyang District Tel: 6506-9616 Price: 100 yuan each Sichuan: feeling hot, hot, hot The so-called "spicy province" is famous for girls as hot as its dishes (apparently) but there's nothing quite like a trip to a Sichuanese eatery to provide a wake-up call for the belly. Hot pot is the classic choice and Yu Freshwater Restaurant is a good one for spicy soup addicts. The pickled peppers, Sichuan preserved pickle and picked ginger for the soup base are shipped directly from Sichuan, along with their rapeseed oil with "fragrant smell." Yi Ma Yi La is famous for its hotpot, and offers six levels of spice flavor for diners to choose while the "cold pot fish" in San Zhi ER is worth visiting for this unusual dish alone, so called because the fish is first cooked and served to the customer separately. The customer then fires up a separate pot to heat up the soup and add vegetables; it's a good way of ensuring the main attraction, the fish, is cooked perfectly. That's more than enough hot pot – if you're interested in trying something more solid, try one of the several excellent Spirit and Spice restaurants, which specialize in mouth-numbing Sichuanese and provide both a modern atmosphere and an admirable eye for presentation. One caveat, though, is that some of their dishes have been known to overwhelm even hardcore chilli-philes, with two dishes memorably being sent back twice to the kitchen for cooling by our table of weeping spice addicts. Jia Yu Freshwater Fish Restaurant Address: No. 54, East Third Ring South Road, Chaoyang District Tel: 8779-5955 Price: 100 yuan each Yi Ma Yi La, Yayuncun shop Address: No. 5, An Yuan, Anhui Bei Li, Chaoyang District Tel: 6495-3660 Price: 60 yuan each San Zhi ER Address: No. 1 building, No. 9, Pufang Road, Fangzhuang, Fengtai District Tel: 5807-0888 Price for one: 60 yuan each Jiangnan: a romantic kind of place Jiangnan's quiet towns and lakes, south of the Yangtze River, are scenes straight out of an ink painting and at 800 square meters, Keli Huaiyang Village, Yong'an gives plenty of Jiangnan-style food for thought. The traditional sense of a landscape untouched by time is evoked by performances on the zither and dulcimer (an instrument played by hitting metal strings with two hammers) by beautiful, delicately featured women. Regarding the latter, small and delicate is thought to be a Jiangnan trait, and for this reason, the restaurant boasts private, intimate wooden dining rooms that sit only two people in a romantic setting. The classic "Huaiyangese" dish (the word is a compound of the Jiangnan cities of Huai'an and Yangzhou, and has come to stand for the district's cooking style) here, transliterated as "chicken soup boiling Huaiyang dried bean curd slice," is a thin-sliced cut of soybean curd that's been slowly simmered in a flavorsome chicken soup until its is soft and fresh-tasting. At the moment, the restaurant is pushing its new range of high-end sea cucumber dishes (with the sea-based slugs imported from Iceland). The curiously dull delicacy has never caught on with foreigners generally, but there's one here cooked in barley kernel soup that the restaurant tells us is extremely popular for its "delicious and mellow taste." Keli Huaiyang Village Yong'an branch restaurant Address: F2, Yong'an Hotel, A5, Nongzhanguan North Road, Chaoyang District Tel: 6501-1188 Price for one: 100 yuan each Source: Global Times (March 9 2010) |
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