As I mentioned, we had tastes of both old and new Beijing. Dinner at Transit was a visit to new, modern Beijing. A very attractive restaurant, missing the bright lights we experienced almost everywhere else for dinner:






Transit calls itself a Szechuan restaurant, though perhaps catering to more westernized palates and delivering less heat than what you may expect from Szechuan cooking. But don't let the perhaps shy use of heat distract you from the major talent in the kitchen. The meal began with complementary spicy cucumbers w/ softened Szechuan peppercorns. These actually delivered some ma la, a nice crunch and were pretty addictive.






I really enjoyed the thinly sliced cold pork, which was filled with cucumber and was served with a fiery paste of garlic and hot peppers. This was the one dish that delivered some serious heat, not to mention some delicious, fatty yet impossibly tender pork.






I mentioned the crunch of the cucumber, the impossibly tender pork, but this only touches the surface of the talent in the kitchen, and there is some remarkable talent. What looks like strands of slightly thick pasta was actually chicken with avocado and grapefruit vinaigrette. In fact, it actually delivered the texture of al dente pasta, which I quite enjoyed. The sauce was a little sweet for my liking, but I still enjoyed the flavors and the texture of the chicken was remarkable. I think it would work extraordinarily well aside some spicier food.






More impressive was the baby squid with black beans & hot peppers. No concerns with sweetness here. It was somewhat spicy, but more important is that it was absolutely delicious and the squid was the most tender squid I've ever been served. And just look at how beautifully the kitchen cut the squid.






There is little I enjoy more than a good bowl of dan dan noodles. Transit's version was certainly the most beautiful I have ever seen. While it didn't quite deliver the heat I expected, it was still a delicious bowl.






The only dish that let me down was the yam and pea pods in XO sauce. The XO sauce was terrific, but the yam's texture was unpleasantly mealy.






Aside from the yam and pea pods, this was a terrific dinner and dare I say a little more civilized and relaxing than most of our meals. Service was terrific and after a ton of walking and a very hectic day of sightseeing in Beijing, Transit was a wonderful escape.

Far less successful in my mind was dinner at the highly acclaimed Buddhist vegetarian restaurant King's Joy. On the plus side was the beautiful restaurant.






But most of the flavors just failed to excite me. While I would love to bore you with every photograph from the meal, what started out as a nicely lit dining room became an extraordinarily dark room half-way through the meal, such that I could barely even find the food on my plate. What I don't reveal in pictures is probably listed on this menu though.






I'll at least show you some of the more successful dishes. One was this baked mushroom with cheese inside carbonized bamboo.






Fried black truffle with egg whites was also terrific.






And I also really enjoyed this fleeceflower root and walnut soup.






But I just found many of the flavors and textures to be the same and I thought the meal was just decent. The flavors in a traditional kaiseki meal tend to be more subtle, often exposing one's tastebuds to some of the purest flavors imaginable. Having loved the only two kaiseki meals I've had, I expected to similarly appreciate the flavors and textures at King's Joy. It didn't quite work out that way. But King's Joy earns some high praise so maybe my reaction is an aberration.




Lunches were always less glamorous affairs for us. One day we visited the Great Wall at Huanghuachang. We chose this section of the Wall understanding that it would be a little more challenging of a hike, more rustic and sightly less restored than other sections, and a bit more of a challenge in terms of the hike. In fact, in our four or so hours hiking here, we saw no more than 10 other people. This is a far cry from the more popular and closer areas of the Wall where you might be overrun by crowds. It was about a 90-minute car ride from our hotel in Beijing (we hired a driver), which is also a little farther than a couple of sections, explaining in part why it was not so crowded. And it was a challenging hike for sure, but rewarding and incredibly scenic.








Almost equally rewarding was the fantastic restaurant selected by our driver. We had let him know we would eat anything and that we just wanted him ("Bruce") to select somewhere special. He did just that. Don't ask me the name, but I'll share pictures so if you go (and visit the Huanghuachang section of the Wall), maybe you can eat here too.








It was set in a rural area and appeared to be a true farm to table restaurant. Plenty of eggs for sure:






The interior of the restaurant:







Most importantly, the food was fantastic. As time has passed, I've forgotten some of what we ate, but we shared four dishes. My favorite was a spicy cabbage dish that our driver Bruce selected. I think the meat was pork, but I can't recall. It was sensational (amazing how great a cabbage-based dish could be), and delivered some nice heat:






Think Lao Hunan jade tofu here, but cooked and hot and also terrific:






Pigeon/squab perhaps? I don't recall, except that I loved it. But before you fool yourself into believing that Chinese food lacks precise cuts and knife skills, just take a look at how everything is for the most part very uniformly diced/sliced/chopped:






Finally, one of two versions of zhajiang mian we tried in Beijing - wheat noodles, ground pork, soybean paste and cucumber, which you then mix together as you see fit. This was the only item we didn't finish as it was pretty average (just not their strength I suppose) -- our next version would be much better.






And here's Bruce, our driver, with one of the restaurant's residents:







We had zhajiang mian at another restaurant that came highly recommended by a concierge at the Hilton. I wish I could remember the attraction it was near but my notes are very vague. In any event, a much better version of this ubiquitous and very popular Beijing dish here, with peanuts, better and larger chunks of pork, better sauce, and radish in addition to cucumber:






We also enjoyed these terrific bean thread noodles:






Again, similar to jade tofu from Lao Hunan, and also fantastic:






We also had an excellent pork dish that didn't photograph so well. An excellent meal, if only I could remember exactly what and where it was in Beijing. But here's a look at the interior, which may help you if you ever should end up here:






Still more Beijing to come -- mostly street food, snack shops and the like -- before I transition to Xi'an.

Tnx BR!

It's been far tooo long for my memory, so I always forget the insistent use of cucumbers, in all sorts of dishes. They can be totally delicious in so many ways. Seems to me that this is an element of the cuisine that didn't get translated over here.

Your move to hire a car to go to the Great Wall is the only way to do it. Well done.

Your photos are really superb--what's your camera??

Geo

Thanks Geo! Camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T2i.

BR wrote:Thanks Geo! Camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T2i.

Have the same camera but my pix don't usually turn out so well -- lighting in the restaurant Bruce took you to looks perfect.

That last restaurant is so much more interesting to me than the fancier places, though the food throughout looks wonderful, and you're so fortunate that you had a driver who took your requests seriously (lots of times, I think local guys just guide me to some hygienic and boring place for Westerners rather than the real thing).

Thanks David. In terms of cuisine, I like it all . . . cheap and simple, more expensive and elaborate. I really like to experience the ends of the spectrum and everything between. Indeed, Chinese fine dining is something I really haven't experienced much elsewhere. And there was a large and growing fine dining scene and plenty of locals partaking. In fact, though you won't notice from my pictures, we saw only a couple of other westerners in both Transit and King's Joy.

As for the rest of Beijing, there's just so much to see (and eat). For instance, massive indoor shopping malls, several of them, each with an abundance of places to eat, and eat well:






There's the Hongqiao Pearl Market, where you can buy knock-offs of almost everything, from fake Rolex watches to supposed Apple products, you name it . . . even Chicago Blackhawk sweaters. That is, until you look at the real thing and realize why you were able to get it so cheap:






Speaking of knock-offs and China, I'll bet you can't tell what this restaurant is selling (hint: it's fried):





There's also a 7-11 type store everywhere that looks exactly like 7-11.

The 798 Art Zone is a bit out of the way, which is to say not conveniently located near other tourist attractions, but it is absolutely worth a visit. Block after block of outdoor and indoor public art, art galleries, coffee shops. It's just fantastic and a wonderful glimpse of the younger, hipper Beijing. Allow yourself a few hours to wander and relax. It's probably not on the itineraries of many tourists, but it should be.













Then there are the obvious tourist attractions. Here's the Temple of Heaven:





I particularly loved this view of school kids taking in the Temple of Heaven:







The magnificent Summer Palace:












The Forbidden City:












Tiananmen Square:






The Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest) and Aquatics Center (Cube):












There's plenty of modern architecture, and plenty of ongoing construction too. Sadly, many old buildings, old neighborhoods are being hastily bulldozed, skyscrapers rising. But I suspect you remember this modern building from the Olympics television coverage. And check out all of the construction cranes:






Shanghai and Beijing both featured phenomenal subway systems. Clean, modern stations. Quite trains and it seemed like you never waited more than a minute or two.






Unfortunately, Beijing also featured a lot of stairs . . . a lot!:






In case you were wondering, I still planned to get back to food, and what better place than the hutongs, those ancient, narrow roads/alleys that reflect the old, now bulldozed, Beijing. Most hutongs are now gone, but some remain, teeming with tourists. You'll probably visit the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower and the nearby Shichahai Lake (not too far from the Forbidden City) and that's where you probably want to mix in a visit to a hutong (or two). Mr. Shi's Dumplings is in one such hutong. Here's an entrance to one such hutong:






The hutongs are now mini-malls, with occasional plaques and reminders of what the hutongs used to be like. Plenty of stores with touristy trinkets; these Obamao shirts were quite prevalent:






Plenty of food too. I've never seen cotton candy like this -- seemed more Tokyo:






Candied fruit could be found throughout Beijing, and about every 20 feet in the hutongs.







Beijingers love their sausages. And while the vast majority look like and have the texture of hot dogs, the flavor is distinctly Chinese, similar to the slightly sweet, uniquely spiced sausages you'll find in dishes such as sticky rice. Walk around Beijing though and you'll find many, many people eating these hot dogs on sticks. I'm not quite sure what the other sausages are in the below picture.








I tried a several of these gorgeous cookies. Some were tasty, but most were a little dry for my liking:






At least one of the hutongs had a pretty large food court with some impressive offerings:








Not quite sure what this establishment offered, other than cocktails:





Aside from the hutongs, there was ample food to eat in Beijing, and all types. As Josephine showed in her series of posts, one such food is roasted sweet potatoes. I just didn't realize how prevalent they were:






And then the stores with jujubes, walnuts, etc.:






And as I mentioned before, the amazing Wangfujing Street night market, also known as the Donghuamen night market. We visited (or at least passed by) the market a few times as it was just around the corner from our Hilton. As Josephine noted, one section of the night market is intended to cause audible gasps and reactions. Well, as Bruce our driver to the Wall noted, it's really designed to make sure tourists visit. That's because of the many creepy crawlers offered . . . scorpions, tarantulas, starfish, silk worms, etc...not the things I was willing to eat with nearly two weeks to go on my trip. When I asked Bruce if the Chinese ate them, he laughed, repeatedly shook his head as if to express "no way," but suggested that sometimes people make dares to their friends. Anyway:














Then there were more ordinary foods. Beautiful crabs for starters:






Takoyaki being prepared on the left side of the picture below:






I had one of these rou jia mo and it was excellent (my first of three on the trip, another being in Xi'an, and amazingly a decent chicken version on one of our flights):






I also purchased one of these crawfish skewers, but I was disappointed with the temperature, and threw out after a couple of bites (safety first):






There were skewers and more skewers at the night market:






And do these birds look delicious, or what!






So as much as the night market is known for scorpions, tarantulas, silk worms and starfish, there's actually ample delicious food available for purchase (including the dumplings and SJB I posted about elsewhere in this thread).




Next up, a new thread on our very brief visit to Xi'an.

Wonderful photos and very interesting insight from Bruce that tarantulas, scorpions, etc., are mostly for tourists. There's so much shockingly gorgeous looking food there, I guess there's little reason to eat spiders and other less appetizing things. We'll be in Thailand for a few weeks this winter, and I've heard there are bugs in the markets there that must be eaten with a knife and fork (because they're so big and juicy) -- wonder if those, too, are mostly for farang seeking bragging rights.

Especially like the photos of people; I'm usually a little too shy and/or respectful (probably a little of both) to shoot pix of civilians on the street, but I have to get over that. Doesn't seem that the people in your pix either knew or cared that you were documenting them.

Thank you for the compliments David!

I recall bugs in Thailand (Chiang Mai in particular), though I think there are people in Thailand who rely upon certain bugs as an inexpensive protein source. Me -- I only tried an ant egg omelette. I'll try most anything, but I'll admit that there are a few items I just look at and can't get over the look (or the thought of eating it).

As for photos, I think in many instances the people don't care that I'm taking the photo because I make no attempt to be secretive. Of course, there are obviously instances where people are unaware I'm taking a photo (and I certainly don't want people posing), but I would not take (or post) pictures of anyone if I thought the picture would embarrass them. Of course, I recall one instance in Tanzania where someone butchering an animal resented the fact that I was taking a picture and brandished a knife in my direction (we left quickly):

BR wrote:As for photos, I think in many instances the people don't care that I'm taking the photo because I make no attempt to be secretive. Of course, there are obviously instances where people are unaware I'm taking a photo (and I certainly don't want people posing), but I would not take (or post) pictures of anyone if I thought the picture would embarrass them. Of course, I recall one instance in Tanzania where someone butchering an animal resented the fact that I was taking a picture and brandished a knife in my direction (we left quickly):

I see "back-off-dude" vibes coming from three directions. Sometimes it seems people resent the sense that they're exhibits, and I'm probably oversensitive to that. Probably best, as seems your style, to shoot first and accept resistance later.