If you’ve read my writing for a while, you’d know that after doing my time, I thought I’d never go back to Beijing, I did just that this weekend. (My boyfriend having got a job there means I’ll be going back quite frequently, actually, when I can get visas.)
Though the air might not exactly be clean, and there are plenty of frustrating things about the place, one trump card Beijing does have it its food. This weekend, we tried a new—incredible—place in Beijing that was recently named by the Beijinger magazine as the best new restaurant in 2011. Located in a cute and well decorated hutong, Little Yunnan serves up some of the most unique Chinese foods I’ve ever had, specializing in the foods of southwestern Yunnan province. (Clearly I missed out on my Yunnan trip last year and will have to go back again on an eating tour.)
This was the hottest dish I’ve ever had in my life. I enjoy spicy foods and Indian vindaloo is one of my favorites, but this was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before (we couldn’t even eat more than a couple bites of it). It’s ground beef minced up and mixed with ground up spicy dried red peppers and so incredibly hot. It was good, and I wanted to eat it, but I just couldn’t. Take caution!
Second was a dish that really surprised me: pan-fried goat cheese, as cheese is typically never used in Chinese cuisine (indeed, many Chinese are lactose-intolerant). It had great texture and was served with a pile of sugar and a pile of mixed salt and peppers.
This is the only way you can get me to eat vegetables: Fry them up in a pan with bacon! The bacon was smoked and very high quality.
I couldn’t believe this was Chinese food because this dish seemed like something I would have cooked up at a Saturday morning tailgate in college: fried shredded-potato cakes. Basically its just a fried cake made of hashbrowns. (My typically American comment: Man, throw some cheddar cheese and bacon bits in this and you’d really have a dish!). They also had a mashed potato dish I wanted to try, but we decided two potatoes would have been too many.
After our failure on the spicy-hot ground beef dish, we also ordered a replacement, which I forgot to take a photo of: chicken with sour papaya. The papayas were a very interesting addition. They were indeed sour and reminded me of those Warhead candies we used to challenge each other to eat in elementary school (anyone?).
All this, plus three (large) beers was a steal at just 184 RMB ($28.30).
The menu was full of loads more options that sounded just as incredible, and I’m sure we’ll definitely be heading back to this joint again. If you ever find yourself in Beijing, be sure to check it out!
If you want to check it out:
Little Yunnan (小云南)
No. 28, Donghuang Chenggen Beijie, Dongcheng District
东城区皇城根北街28号
We didn’t do much of specific note while I was in Beijing; for once, it was nice to just pretend to be like a normal couple — to cook dinner, watch movies, etc. (and partly because it was so cold: never a day more than a degree or two above freezing).
We did manage to stop by a couple of temple fairs going on for Chinese New Year. I’d never been to one before, and the best way I can summarize them is to call them county fairs with Chinese characteristics.
