Beijing Food Trip - Part 1: Itinerary and Hotel

This latest series of articles is an account of our 6-Day Food Trip in Beijing, as the last segment of our 16-day overland journey across Northern China.



Being a food enthusiast with a particular interest on Asian cuisines, I've had Beijing on my to-do list for years. For months leading up to our departure my mouth would water at the thought of the crispiness of fruit-wood-roasted duck skin, the paper-thin slices of baby lamb in a hotpot, or the sweet spiciness of a whole deep-fried yellow fish. The allure of Beijing's sophisticated flavours and exotic ingredients prompted me to get serious on research and planning, in an attempt to fit the essential sights and flavours into our limited time and budget.



This article documents our trip-planning in summer 2011. We first came up with a list of the various categories of Beijing cuisine we considered essential for a full culinary experience, then consulted the grand daddy of China's food review sites, DianPing.com (in Chinese) for recommendations. Our list of top restaurants was then merged into our itinerary of essential Beijing sights.



Authentic Beijing flavours at reasonable prices were our main focus. Though many of the reviewed restaurants can be considered at or near the top of their categories, our average price per meal came to less than RMB 90 (CAD$14) per person.

Our short-list of candidate restaurants included:

Peking Duck
- Dadong (see review; highest review ratings according to locals)
- Bianyifang (see review; unique 600-year-old recipe)
- Quanjude (most famous of all Peking Duck restaurants)
- Liqun (atmospheric and popular with foreign tourists)

Lamb Hotpot (Shuan Yang Rou)
- Hongyuan (see review; highly recommended by locals)
- Jubaoyuan (highly recommended by locals; slightly inconvenient location)
- Tianyishun (specializes in lamb spines; very inconvenient location)
- Donglaishun (most famous of hotpot places; largely disregarded by locals)

Imperial Cuisine
- Najiaxiaoguan (see review; highly recommended by locals)
- Guoyaoxiaoju (also recommended by locals)
- Tanjiacai (famously expensive; mixed reviews by locals)

Peasant Food
- Huguosi Xiaochi (see review; highly recommended by locals)
- Heyizhai (see review; another breakfast spot near Ping'anli)
- Daoxiangcun (see review; 120-year-old Chinese bakery recipes)
- Tianfuhao (see review; 270-year-old pork elbow recipe)
- Baodu Zhang / Baodu Feng / Longshengming (famous for beef tripes)
- Jiumen Xiaochi (popular with tourists; largely disregarded by locals)

Other Beijing Cuisines
- Shaguoju (see review; 270-year-old clay-pot dishes)
- Duyichu (see review; 270-year-old Shaomai dumpling specialist)
- Tianjin Baijiaoyuan (see review; specializes in Jiaozi (ie. Gyoza))
- Beipinglou (Old restaurant and noodle house chain)
- Laohuji (famous for old Beijing recipes and noodles)
- Laobeijing Zhajiangmian (popular noodle house)
- Guijie Tongle Fanguan (late night dining for everything spicy)


Fitting our top restaurant choices into a tour of the essential Beijing sights, our itinerary became:


DAY 1: Arrive and Check-In – Dinner: Peking Duck @ Bianyifang (Metro Line 2 Chongwenmen) - After-dinner stroll at Olympic Park (Metro Line 8 Aotizhongxin)



DAY 2: Breakfast @ Huguosi Xiaochi - Dashilan Old Street (Metro Line 2 Qianmen) - Brunch: Shaomai Dumplings @ Duyichu - Tiananmen Square (Bus #Zhuan1) - Forbidden City (Bus #Zhuan1) - Dinner: Lamb Hotpot @ Hongyuan (Bus #5) - After-dinner stroll around Houhai



DAY 3: Breakfast @ Huguosi Xiaochi - Old Hutong Alleys at Luoguxiang (Bus#118) – Lunch: Jiaozi Dumplings @ Tianjin Baijiaoyuan (Metro Line 4 Xidan) - Summer Palace (Metro Line 4 Beigongmen) – Dinner: Imperial Cuisine @ Najiaxiaoguan (Bus 696)



DAY 4: Take-out breakfast @ Huguosi Xiaochi - Hike the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai (organized by Downtown Hostel) – Pack-Lunch: Chicken Wings from Tianfuhao – Dinner: Clay-pot Dishes @ Shaguoju (Metro Line 4 Lingjinghutong)



DAY 5: Breakfast @ Huguosi Xiaochi - Saturday Market at Panjiayuan (Metro Line 10 Jinsong) - Lunch: Quick meal @ Beipinglou or equivalent - Temple of Heaven (Metro Line 5 Tiantandongmen) - Last-minute Shopping at Wangfujing/Dongdan - Dinner: Peking Duck @ Dadong (Metro Line 2 Dongsishitiao) - Night Market at Donghuamen (Metro Line 1 Wangfujing) if legs permit

DAY 6: Brunch @ Huguosi Xiaochi or Heyizhai - Depart to Airport




HOTEL REVIEW

Searching for an authentic local experience as usual, we decided to skip formal hotels and stayed in one of Beijing's traditional Siheyuan courtyards, located within a tree-lined neighbourhood of Hutong alleys.


Hotel Review: YUEBINGE (Beijing Houhai Courtyard Inn)
Address: 89 Mianhua Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing
Price: RMB 200 for double room, private shower/toilet, summer 2011
Website/Map: Booking page from CTrip.com
Directions: Yuebinge is a 5-minute walk northeast of Ping'anli station. Exit the station's northeast entrance heading north, and turn right at the first street (Huguosi Street). Turn left on Miaohua Hutong (first 4-way intersection). Yuebinge is 100m down the street on the left side, with a red door.



Like Kyoto's Machiya-turned-guesthouses, Beijing's Siheyuan guesthouses have become a mainstream choice for travelers. Once the predominant form of housing over most of Northern China, only 20,000 of these courtyard houses remain within central Beijing, mostly located in older, peasant neighbourhoods where land prices have suddenly skyrocketed over the past 10 years.



And as property prices rise, most guesthouses converted from these courtyards command prices of RMB 400 to 1000 per night as of summer 2011. A small handful of guesthouses / hostels still offer double rooms with private bathrooms for RMB 200 or less, and we chose the one closest to a subway station. Known in Chinese as Yuebinge (aka. Beijing Houhai Courtyard Inn), the guesthouse was attractive to us for several reasons:
- 5-minute walk to a subway station (Ping'anli Station on Line 4)
- 3-minute walk to one of Beijing's best eateries for traditional breakfasts (Huguosi Xiaochi)
- 20-minute walk to the live music bars at Houhai lake



All guest rooms faced the centre courtyard in typical Siheyuan fashion. Rooms were simple but contained the essentials of air-conditioning, satellite TV, and a spacious shower and toilet. No fridge though, which meant no spoilable food in the room and walking to the neighbourhood store for cold beer. The owner seemed to be willing to rent out his washing machine for a nominal fee, but most guests simply hand-washed clothes and used the guesthouse's clotheslines to air-dry for free.



One more piece of Mantou bun please! The owner just brought home this little puppy three days before our arrival, and the little guy hilariously attemped climbing into our room over the Chinese door sill and got his belly stuck while on top of the sill. He also seemed to have a fondness for our take-out breakfast items from the locally popular Daoxiangcun bakery.

Yuebinge's location makes it a good base to experience life in a typical "Old Beijing" neighbourhood, providing that you're not too picky about in-room amenities. Subway is just a 5-minute walk away to reach Beijing's major sights. The little Hutong alley outside the guesthouse is full of barbers, watermelon-selling vans, funeral clothing for the dead, and other interesting peasant shops. And most importantly, some of the city's best breakfast fare is literally around the corner at the famous Huguosi Xiaochi. It simply doesn't get much more authentically Beijing than this.

Navigating Past Fake Monks at Wutaishan

A long time ago in a land far, far away ... there was a peaceful community of Buddhist monks nestled deep within a mountainous plateau in Northern China. Legends claimed the mountain's connection with a certain Bodhisattva, which sprang a little hamlet of secluded temples and monasteries below where the clear snow-fed river flowed. Well, at least that was the legend of how Wutaishan started.



But this is no fairytale, but a sad story of how money and greed destroyed the innocence of a remote thousand-year-old town. If you're planning a trip to Wutaishan, I encourage you to first do a little research about the town's current state. Despite all its past reputation as a genuine religious community and (or perhaps due to) its recent inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the new reality of the scams and schemes awaiting unsuspecting pilgrims may surprise you.



In fact the scamming is so rampant that many tourists, both domestic and foreign, get scammed before even arriving at Wutaishan. Many first-time visitors board taxis from nearby Datong, Taiyuan and Xinzhou and arrive at a small town with all the Wutaishan signages, hotels named Wutaishan Binguan or Wutaishan Fandian, and even an official train station named Wutaishan. Except this town was known as Shahe Zhen until a few years ago, and actually sits at the bottom of the mountain range, 50 km of treacherous mountain roads away from the monastic community. It would cost another RMB 40 on a 75 minute bus ride up the mountain.



The real destination is a mountain town known to locals as Taihuai Zhen, which sits in a lush green valley among the five sacred peaks (hence the term Wu Tai Shan, or literally Five Terrace Mounts). But before you arrive in town, the local government will charge a RMB 168 (actually RMB 218, as I'll explain) per-person toll for the privilege of passing through its gates, even if you're only stopping by for an afternoon. Fortunately China's oldest wooden structure (Nan Chan Si) is outside the gate, but expect to pay to see everything else.



And on top of the RMB 168, there is another compulsory RMB 50 to contribute to the town's environmental initiative of providing low-emission buses for all of its residents. Note that this fee is automatically added on top of the RMB 168 ticket, bringing the total cost of entrance to RMB 218 (CAD$33).



To make it even more confusing this RMB 50 fee applies even if you're driving your own car into Wutaishan and have no intention of using its buses! Once in town you will then enjoy "free," unlimited local transport on these green buses as you're now a local. According to one local we spoke with, the government made the mistake of purchasing a whole fleet of expensive new buses that no resident would pay to ride, and subsequently decided to turn it into a tourism cash grab.



Arriving is only the beginning. While it's true that prices at hotels and restaurants are typically two to three times the prices at the closest cities (Datong or Taiyuan), that's just a fact of supply and demand and should be expected in most popular tourist destinations. Taxis still prowl the street for any clueless tourist unaware of the "free" bus system, but that's not completely a scam either as they do have a service to sell. The real professionals though are the legions of fake monks, fortune-tellers and other scam artists too numerous to list.



It begins with trivial schemes in which individuals dress up in Buddhist monk attire to gain the sympathy of passers-by. Go to the steep uphill stairs on the paths towards Pusading and Dailuoding and watch the several monks with brooms. Look closely for a few minutes and you'll see that they will sweep the hardest when tourists walk by, even though there's really nothing to clean. Currently there's also a monk with one prosthetic leg crawling up the long stairs with tremendous difficulty, but when nobody is watching you'll see him on his one leg hopping around town. Not a bad way to earn wages better than many shop owners.



Higher up the food-chain are the fake monks and fortune-tellers who operate inside semi-legitimate temples such as the always crowded Wuyemiao (literally Temple of the Fifth Master-dragon). As one of the only temples on Wutaishan with no entrance fee, it has become a mandatory stop for domestic tour groups and thus receives thousands of visitors a day. Stand at a corner and you can watch these groups being herded into a small incense-filled courtyard behind closed doors. Incense boxes and the associated year-round prayers by resident monks are rumoured to cost up to of RMB 2000 each, though I fortunately cannot verify. If you speak any Chinese at all, this is a good place to pretend you don't.



But these intermediates only receive a commission out of the temple's huge profit. At the top of the food chain are professional entrepreneurs with their own fake temples, complete with their own dedicated teams of fake monks and other peripheral agents, each with their own specialized ... ahem ... expertise.



You may have watched a monk asking for a vacant seat at a restaurant table and striking up a conversation (which happened to the next table at our lunch spot). Or you may have met a random local who offered his own list of must-visit temples of Wutaishan. Domestic Chinese tourists often report stories of random monks offering words of wisdom, or blessings, or help to avoid some predestined calamity. Once the prey is led to a seemingly legitimate temple, the compulsory provision of service can come in the form of fortune-telling, spiritual guidance or the sale of personalized amulets. The lack of cash is no defense, as temples do have credit card readers.



That's not to say Wutaishan isn't worth a visit -- it has reached World Heritage Site status for good reasons and the architecture is stunning. But it's essential to do some minimal homework beforehand and plan out which temples to visit and which ones to avoid. Not all temples are scams and not all monks are fakes -- there are genuine monks who devote their entire lives to serve their religious and altruistic purposes in the community, and you can watch and talk to them (in Chinese) at legitimate temples.



The safest and most authoritative list of legitimate temples is the inventory of World Heritage buildings on the UNESCO website, which has a total of 9 temples listed: Xiantong Si, Tayuan Si, Pusading, Bishan Si, Shuxiang Si, Nanshan Si, Longquan Si, Jin'ge Si, and Foguang Si. Apart from Foguang Si, the other 8 are all located within the town of Taihuai (ie. within the tourist area requiring an entrance fee). Most temples charge a separate, nominal entrance fee of around RMB 5-10, though some smaller temples are free.

My own favorites include Xiantong Si (largest and oldest monastery complex in town), Tayuan Si (landmark white Stupa), Longquansi (spectacular carvings on a white marble Pailou gate at the entrance), Pusading (a.k.a. little Potala Palace). The long stairs to Nanshan Si and the popular Pusading offers nice sweeping views of the town, and if you're up for a stair-climbing exercise, skip the ropeway or the horses and climb the steep stairs up the Dailuoding hill.



Avoid questionable temples such as Wuyemiao (Temple of the Fifth Dragon-master) and Caishenmiao (Temple of the God of Wealth), or any other temple you haven't heard of for that matter. And don't buy goldfish or birds for release from vendors like this guy -- it only feeds his deep pockets and results in more birds being captured for this purpose.



HOTEL REVIEW

Hotel Review: XIN JING LUN (Wutaishan (Taihuai), Shanxi)
Address: Ming Qing Jie, Taihuai
Price: RMB 200 for double room, private shower/toilet, buffet breakfast, summer 2011
Website/Map: Booking page from CTrip.com
Directions: There is a chaotic open-air market on the side of the river, just south of and across the road from the major temple of Shuxiang Si. Walk south from the market into the quiet street of Mingqing Jie. Xin Jing Lun is the large hotel near the beginning of the street.


Unless you're content with staying at informal guesthouses with the rowdy Chinese travelers and pilgrims, you'll probably pay a small fortune for any proper hotel room within Taihuai town. In May 2011 the cheapest on CTrip.com for rooms within Taihuai town was the 3-star Xin Jing Lun. IMHO 3-star was really stretching it, but at least it was reasonably clean and the discounted RMB 200 price including a decent Chinese-style buffet breakfast was acceptable.


RESTAURANT REVIEWS

As a Buddhist community, Wutaishan is best known for two contrasting styles of cuisines: the Buddhist-inspired Sucai (vegetarian cuisine), and the peasant farmer's dishes known as Nongjiacai. Vegetarian cuisine is generally quite elaborate and mostly served at expensive specialty restaurants, while peasant dishes are often found in roadside eateries at more reasonable prices. In this article I'm reviewing one of each type.



Food Review: MIAO JI XIANG (Wutaishan (Taihuai), Shanxi)
Address: Ming Qing Jie, Taihuai
Hours: 11:00 to 21:00?
Website/Map: From Dianping.com
Directions: Find Xin Jing Lun hotel (reviewed above) on Mingqing Jie, and the restaurant is just half a block down the street.


We visited the original Wutaishan branch of the Miao Ji Xiang vegetarian restaurant chain that has now invaded Beijing. As in most Chinese vegetarian places, they specialize in dishes that look and taste like real meat but are made out of mostly bean curds and other vegetable products. While it's definitely not cheap, prices are reasonable as long as you stay clear of one local specialty -- a dried wild mushroom known as Taimo. (see next restaurant review below for Taimo)

The best dish was the above Hong Shao Yu (Red-Braised Fish), which actually tasted of seafood due to the clever use of seaweed to resemble fish skin. The meat, which was probably made out of mostly soy bean products, was surprisingly chewy and "meaty." The price of RMB 98 was not unreasonable, as long as you're used to the pricing of Shanghai or Hong Kong.



The ubiquitous Mogu Qingcai (Mushrooms and Greens, at RMB 26) cost about 50% more compared to the nearest cities of Datong or Taiyuan, but that's also expected as most fresh vegetables need to be trucked in from the bottom of the mountain. The mushrooms were thick, chewy and smothered in a good clear sauce, and we have no complaints.



Dao Xiao Mian, or Knife-Sliced Noodles, is probably Shanxi Province's most famous export to the rest of China aside from coal and vinegar. The noodles here were good and chewy, though it was also overpriced at RMB 12.



We originally wanted Zha You Gao (Fried Doughnuts) again after a memorable experience earlier that afternoon at Hengshan Fandian, but to our disappointment the doughnuts here had no fillings and we opted to order Nan Gua Bing (Pumpkin Cakes) instead. This also turned out pretty good.

You get the idea -- the food was actually decent for such a touristy town with little competition. Be warned though, that you should expect to pay Shanghai or Hong Kong prices.

Bill for Two Persons

Red-Braised Fish	RMB 98
Mushrooms and Greens	RMB 26
Knife-Sliced Noodles	RMB 12
Pumpkin Cakes	RMB 38
TOTAL	RMB 174(CAD$26.4)

Food Review: JIAN GUANG FAN DIAN (Wutaishan (Taihuai), Shanxi)
Address: Unknown
Hours: Unknown
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: On a North-South alley just north of the Shuxiang temple, on the way towards the Wuyemiao complex.


If you're a foodie and want a taste of Wutaishan's exorbitantly priced wild mushrooms, Taimo, at a reasonable price, you probably should hit one of these cheap, hole-in-the-wall peasant eateries serving Nongjiacai, or Farmhouse Cuisine. In fact I'm not even going to review the other dishes we had -- the exquisite Taimo mushroom was all we're after.



On our last night in Shanxi Province we again ordered its most famous dish, Guo You Ruo (Oil-Rinsed Pork), except this dish was made with Taimo in addition to the usual Yun'er mushrooms. It arrived with the refreshingly familiar smell of Aged Vinegar and a healthy heap of the reconstituted dried fungus. The same mushrooms were sold at souvenir shops for RMB 150 per 500g, and we were naturally curious about the taste.



To tell the truth it tasted remarkably similar to reconstituted Porcini mushrooms used extensively in Italy, with the same intense woody flavor that even the complex and strong Shanxi Aged Vinegar did not overpower. Even the unexceptional cooking (all the other dishes turned out too bland) here could not conceal the excellent aroma and flavors of the Taimo mushrooms. Average restaurant, but one excellent ingredient.

This little discovery wrapped up our culinary discovery of Shanxi Province and its uncanny parallels to Central Italian cuisine -- a wide variety of noodle / pasta shapes, the extensive usage of aged vinegar, and wild autumn mushrooms that taste amazingly alike. IMHO the Taimo mushroom is as good a reason to visit Wutaishan as any architectural or cultural attractions that the town's UNESCO resume may boast.

Bill for Two Persons

Oil-Rinsed Pork with Taimo Mushrooms	RMB 38
Homemade Tofu	RMB 14
Luohan Noodles (Large Bowl)	RMB 10
TOTAL	RMB 62 (CAD$9.4)

Camel Hoof and Other Delicacies - Datong Restaurant and Hotel Reviews

I must clarify that I do like camels, especially the fluffy double-hump kind typically seen in Northern China. It's just that wherever I travel, my desire for exotic local fare takes over ...



Before I go on about the taste of camel hoofs, here's an overview of the food you can expect if you're visiting Datong. Northern Chinese cooking is described by many as "Nong You Chi Jiang," or heavy on the use of oil and sauces. Shanxi Province adds its own twist with the liberal use of Aged Vinegar to balance the oiliness, and its unparalleled varieties of rustic pasta. The City of Datong in northern Shanxi, almost bordering the open steppes of Inner Mongolia, takes the flavour further by using exotic ingredients with a nomadic influence.



Having limited time in Datong and wanting the best, authentic local cuisine, we consulted local opinion on Dianping.com (in Chinese) as usual and fixed our sight on three possible candidates: Lin Lao Lao, Yong He Mei Shi Cheng, and Lao Ye Miao. We ended up picking Lin Lao Lao as this was our taxi driver Pei Shifu's own recommendation as well.







Food Review: LIN LAO LAO (Datong, Shanxi)

Address: Dong Feng Hou Jie, Datong

Hours: 11:00 to 22:00?

Website/Map: From Dianping.com (Note review is for a different branch)

Directions: Walking out of the Train Station, walk along the main road (Wei Du Da Dao) for 10 minutes and turn right at Dong Feng Dong Jie. Dong Feng Hou Jie is a side street on the left. Or if in doubt, just ask the locals for Lin Lao Lao.







This restaurant turned out to be an excellent choice, as to this date my wife is still raving about the above Nan Shao Qie Zi, or Southern-style Sauteed Eggplants. Though not exclusively a Shanxi dish, these slightly fried eggplants were perfectly crisp on the skin, melt-in-the-mouth soft in the flesh, and coated with a thick, slightly sweet brown sauce. And the budget-friendly price -- RMB 16 (CAD$2.4) -- made it even better.







Next on the list was probably the most famous Shanxi dish of all -- Guo You Rou, or literally Oil-Rinsed Pork. Behind its somewhat unappealing name was actually a refreshing dish of perfectly tender, flash-fried pork seasoned with the province's characteristic secret ingredient, the prized Shanxi Aged Vinegar. Any residual oiliness in the pork was completely counterbalanced by the dark vinegar's sharp acidity and complexity, and did not taste heavy at all. Only RMB 18 (CAD$2.7) for such a well executed meat entree – and at one of Datong's best-known restaurants – this was certainly one of the best deals of our trip. But there's more.



The incredibly cheap pricing of every dish gave us the incentive to splurge, and my eyes became fixated on a certain exotic, authentically northern delicacy on the expensive end of the menu. This would become one of my favourite memories of Datong ...







Camel Hoof in a Red-Braised Sauce (Hong Shao Tuo Zhang). I apologize to any reader who may feel offended by my dietary choice, but I just couldn't resist as 1) it was an authentic local dish, 2) it's not an endangered species, 3) the locals must use the rest of the camel aside from munching on the hoof, and 4) I trust that it was butchered in the same manner as the locals carve their beef or lamb.



Each camel hoof is said to yield only one small piece of meat and tendon, and as a result there were only a few in this dish with the cheaper and more common beef tendons filling the rest of the plate. The camel hoofs were easily distinguishable – these were the tendons with an oval-shaped piece of soft, bulbous meat attached at the bottom of the hoof, hence the Chinese name of Tuo Zhang (camel's palm). The cooking style adhered to the Nong You Chi Jiang approach characteristic of the North, with a deliciously thick, heavy brown sauce smothering the soft and chewy hoofs and tendons.



It was a huge dish and I don't remember how I managed to finish it all (and this was after the eggplants and pork), so this must have tasted very good. I can't quite make out the decorative characters, though they kind of look like Si Bai Nian (400 years). The price was another absolute bargain -- in Beijing I can't imagine this dish selling for anything less than RMB 200-300, but here in Datong it was an unbelievable RMB 68 (CAD$10.3). How's that for splurging?







Following the local tradition we did order one pasta dish, a refreshing bowl of cold noodles named Qiao Shou Ban You Mian (Skilfully Hand-blended Hulless Oat Noodles). Once again the focal point of the flavours was -- what else -- Shanxi's famous Aged Vinegar. This was a good choice after all the thick sauces earlier in the meal.







We found Lin Lao Lao to be an excellent restaurant for its price -- the same meal in Beijing, with an order of camel hoof at the centre of the feast, would have easily cost RMB 300-400. Our meal of excellent and authentic Datong cuisine with large enough portions for 3 people, at a proper restaurant recommended by a local taxi driver, ended up costing only RMB 124 (CAD$18.9). Combined with the excellent hotel deal (see review at end of article) this made Datong an inexpensive and definitely worthwhile destination for us en route from Pingyao to Beijing.



Bill for Two Persons

Red-Braised Camel Hoof	RMB 68
Oil-Rinsed Pork	RMB 18
Southern-style Sauteed Eggplants	RMB 16
Skilfully Hand-Blended Hulless Oat Noodles	RMB 12
Draft Beer (Qingdao)	RMB 10
TOTAL	RMB 124 (CAD$18.8)

Food Review: HENG SHAN FAN DIAN (Hunyuan, Shanxi)

Address: Heng Shan Bei Lu, Hunyuan

Hours: 10:00-21:00?

Website/Map: Official Website (in Chinese)

Directions: You're probably going to the Hanging Temple by taxi if you need to refer to this review. Just ask your driver to go to Heng Shan Fan Dian for lunch -- it's one of the biggest hotel in the area.





Here's another restaurant recommendation by yet another local taxi driver. If you're visiting the spectacular but remote Hanging Temple, you'll likely need a lunch spot in the Hengshan area like we did. Recommended by our driver Yu Shifu, this is a reasonably-priced restaurant located inside one of the town's bigger hotels.



We treated Yu Shifu to lunch as per the Chinese custom when renting a taxi for a day, and asked him for his recommendation on local dishes. After my wife picked a meat entree of her choice, Yu Shifu completed the ordering with three outstanding dishes that we frankly had never heard of.



My wife picked the above Hu Pi Jiao Ji Kuai, or Tiger-skinned Peppers with Chicken Chunks, which I suspect is a Sichuan dish. This actually turned out surprisingly good even according to Yu Shifu, with a slight hint of chili on the deep fried chicken and some thunderously crunchy peppers. These large, meaty chunks of peppers were oil-fried to a crispiness akin to thick-cut potato chips, and did not last long on our table.







After that it was all Yu Shifu's choices of Shanxi peasant fare, starting with a large bowl of dark, mildly bitter vegetable aptly named Ku Cai, or Bitter Greens. I'm quite used to the bitter melon of Southern China which, as Yu Shifu explained, served the same purpose as Ku Cai does for the people of Shanxi. The bitterness is utilized to achieve the effect of Xia Huo, or "lowering the heat," in the Yin and Yang of the human body. Good for the prevention of acne, sore throat and intestinal problems, as Traditional Chinese Medicine theories say.







Next came a bowl of Wan Dou Mian, or Green-pea-flour Noodles. Prior to this trip I had been so ignorant of culinary traditions of the North and had no idea that green peas could be grounded into flour to make noodles. These noodles were smooth-textured and just slightly chewy, and were mildly flavoured with the local favourite Shanxi Aged Vinegar. This is just one more of Shanxi's famously extensive varieties of pasta -- we've tried to order a different kind everyday but still only managed to try eight or nine different shapes.







But Yu Shifu saved his absolute best recommendation for last -- another rustic Shanxi dish known as Zha You Gao, or Fried Doughnuts. These deep-fried balls of yellow millet flour came with two different fillings, one sweet with a red date paste, and one savory with cabbages and mixed veggies. Both were excellent -- I preferred the cabbage while my wife preferred the red date -- as the dough was crunchy but not too oily. We order the same dish twice in Wutaishan later but those was nowhere as good as this dish here.



Our meal for three people cost a reasonable RMB 67 (CAD$10.1), more than half of which (RMB 38) was due to the one dish that we picked. We probably should have just left all the ordering up to Yu Shifu.



Bill for Three Persons

Tiger-Skinned Peppers and Chicken Chunks	RMB 38
Bitter Greens	RMB 8
Green-Pea-Flour Noodles	RMB 12
Fried Doughnuts (Half Order)	RMB 9
TOTAL	RMB 67 (CAD$10)

Hotel Review: DATONG JIAHE EXPRESS HOTEL

Address: 1 Zhanqian Jie, Datong

Price: RMB 190 for double room with private shower/toilet, summer 2011

Website/Map: Booking page at CTrip.com

Directions: You can't miss it -- it's just right in front of Datong train station.





We booked this excellent new business hotel located at Datong's most convenient location -- straight in front of the train station. New clean laminate flooring. New IKEA-ish furniture. New modern shower room. Excellent sound-proofing with no noise from the trains. Decent breakfast buffet. Something of this quality would easily charge RMB 300 in most major cities (and perhaps RMB 400 in Beijing), but because this was backwater Datong, they charged only RMB 200. And walk-ins can probably get an even better deal too.







And it's not only conveniently located for public transportation, but it's also within walking distance to the Lin Lao Lao restaurant reviewed above. And the bathroom was by far the cleanest we've seen in China for hotels costing less than RMB 200. If I ever return to Datong by train, I know exactly where I would book.







And as a bonus, some of the funniest Chinglish translations can be found in the room service guide. If you can read Chinese, cover the above picture and let's see if you can come up with the original Chinese terms for:

- Was Set

- Power Word

- Wool Fabric