Beijing and Shanghai, as two of the world’s most famous cities with two distinct style attract the people throughout the world. In Beijing, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Hutong, Peking Opera, roast duck etc make you feel a strong cultural atmosphere here; but if you want to know China’s rapid development, the recent outcome of Shanghai’s science and technology, information technology, trade, financial will make you feel an international cultural exchange and integration in the bustling city.
Royal Cuisine (Gongting
Cai): As the name suggests, royal cuisine is
composed of the recipes and dishes of the imperial kitchens,
dating from the time of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Originating
from the regional cooking of the Manchu and Han people, the
cuisine pays as much attention to the quality of its ingredients
as to its design. Dishes that have survived retain much of the
culinary art of the royal kitchens, both lightly-flavored and
exquisite. They are now often served by descendants of chefs
who worked in the Imperial palace. The Man-Han Quanxi, a feast
of complete Manchu and Han courses, was
originally designed as a court banquet for the Manchu and
Han people. It included 108 dishes that had to be eaten over
three days.
Imperial Cuisine
(Guanfu Cai):Old Beijing had many high-ranking
officials who demanded that regional homemade cooking be served
to the imperial courts. Regional recipes were collected in the
capital and survived much historical tumult. The cuisine favours
natural ingredients, exquisite condiments, long cooking times
and intricate cooking utensil. Some of them are cooked at homes,
and reservations are necessary because of space limitations.the
Tanjia Restaurant is the best example of Beijing imperial cuisine
and provides a combination of Cantonese and Beijing cuisine
featuring seafood. After the
founding of the People Republic, Premier Zhou Enlai asked
that the restaurant move to Beijinghotel, the best hotel in
China at that time. Imperial cuisine is still available there
on the seventh floor of the hotel Building C.
Peking Duck:
Essential to your Beijing dinning experience is a brief tour
of the many establishments offering Peking roast duck ( Beijing
Kaoya), a delicious lightly smoked, rich meal complimented by
pancakes, dipping sauce, vegetable filling and irresistible
slivers of juicy meat and fat and crispy skin. After basting
in a secret concoction of sweetened sauces, the ducks are roasted
in ahanging fruit-tree oven for up to 50 minute. They come out
looking golden brown and juicy. A chef will then delicately
slice it up for you by your table, making sure each piece includes
at least a sliver of the ducks crispy skin. The
Chinese consider this the finest part of the duck. Every
duck is sliced into 100-120 pieces. Dishes made of different
parts of the duck are also worth trying.
The Quanjude Duck Restaurant leads the popular duck front in
Beijing. The Bianyifang Restaurant offers another way of roasting
duck that is also delicious.
A taste of Peking roast duck is every bit as important as a
visitor to Tiananmen Square during your stay in Beijing
Hotpot:when
autumn hits Beijing and the weather cools, hotpot (huoguo) is
a firm favorite.
With essentially two kinds of hotpot restaurants in Beijing,
Mongolian and Sichuan style dominate, the staple of both are
mutton.
Sichuan hotpot is spicy whereas the Mongolian hotpot tends to
rely on a clear soup and dipping sauces, such as sesame, such
as sesame. Many restaurants offer a split pot, half for those
who like very spicy fare, half for those who prefer something
tamer. Some Mongolian hotpots are not spicy at all. Standard
ingredients include beef and chicken in addition to the staple
mutton. Vegetables, mushrooms and various kinds of tofu are
also popular. The pot itself is traditionally made of brass,
with a central column that holds hot charcoal that boils the
stock. Once boiling, the stock is used to quickly cook a range
of ingredients. After a few seconds, the thinly sliced meats
and vegetables are ready to eat, often after being dipped in
a smooth sesame-sauce that is delicious and incredibly filling!
Dong Lai Shun is the most famous hotpot restaurant in the city.
Snacks:All
over China, snack foods are offered by the street-stalls and
restaurant dinning filling alternatives. Some caution may be
required for the uninitiated but in general, eating where everyone
else is eating is a good rule of thumb. You can have steamed
bread with bean filling; flour pancakes cooked with egg, coriander,
chili, and black onion seeds; pancakes stuffed with pork, egg
and vegetables. These gems can be bought from little glass cabinets
on the back of three-wheeled bicycles or from stands on street
corners, hidden down leafy hutongs..
Regional Chinese
Cuisines:Beijing is a culinary mirror held up
to various regional Chinese cuisines, including Cantonese, Sichuan,
Shandong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu cuisines and more. Cuisines from
minority ethnic group areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet can also
be found in the city.
Rich in natural resources and neighboring the sea, Cantonese
cuisine is dominated by a large range of seafood and the produce
of a semitropical climate. Spicy Sichun cuisine has becomes
very popular in China in recent years. Composed of regional
variations from Chendu, Chongqing and Zigong, it is
known for having more than 50 different cooking methods.
Shandong cuisine relies upon spring onions and garlic with
strong flavors. While Zhejiang and Jiangsu cuisines are delicately
seasoned, light-tasting mix of seafood and vegetables.Temple
vegetarian dishes are also a feature. Dinning in tranquil
and traditional Chinese courtyards is a most fashionable way
to enjoy an evening.
Drinking tea:Tea
has been an integral part of Chinese culture for centuries.
A rigid systerm has formed in making quality tea, including
growing, picking and frying. Beijing is China¡¯s most important
distribution center for tea, with a great selection of tea from
different parts of the country. For foreign tourist, the most
convenient place to buy quality tea in Beijing is at Wuyutai,
located beside KFC at the south end of Wangfujing Dajie.Long
ago, teahouse were the center of social activity and bubbled
with the chatter of people from all walks of life. In the old
teahouses, noblemen, imperial officials, touts and
peddlers chose their teas carefully and caught up on
the day¡¯s events. Today, teahouses in China still have the
same function but with not quite so much bustle.
In many teahouses in Beijing, tea rituals are taught by serene
ladies. In the Lao She Teahouse, Peking Opera and Face-changing
performances can also be enjoyed. Some teahouses are famous
for the dishes fried with tea, which have tea's fragrance.
Houhai pub street:If
you travel to Beijing, Please don¡¯t miss the HouHai Bar Street,
because in addition to the bustling lives, the architectural
and decoration represent Beijing custom. Excursion from YanDaiXieJie
where is the back of HouHai, authentic Beijing Hutong building
was converted into different styles of the bars. Dusk, red lanterns
hung high, melodious ditty, a kind of speechless Beijing Custom,
and entered the bar, you will find that each have their own
cultural theme. Along the HouHai Lake, dozens of avant-garde
decoration of the bars in the river, built style with Tibet,
Yunnan, post-
modern decoration, pop songs exciting downtown, and you
can also boat night. The Beijing Bar Street are combined the
old Beijing culture with the modern way of life, here is a
place for you to enjoy the ancient culture life.
Sanlitun pub street:How to describe Sanlitun? A whole host of opposing adjectives spring to mind, and in truth, most are apart.
Sanlitun is an area of contrasts, frequented by expats and foreign visitors. With a top-notch selection of Western and Asian restaurants, you will find anything your taste buds are looking for. Turn off one of the leafy, tree-lined streets fringed with guarded foreign embassies however, and you will find yourself on bar street, which is anything but guarded – a hubbub of nighlife and entertainment that continues into the
wee hours.
Early bar street residents such as Aperitivo, Bar Blu or Kai Club are still strong favorites where karaoke blares out. If it's something a little more subdued you're after (firstly avoid Bar Street). Head for the chilled out roof-top café and gardens of bars such as The Tree, which offers Mediterranean-style sidewalk tables, perfect for a quiet sip of something cool. A little “home away from home”, Sanlitun offers a taste of something you know, while never letting you forget you're in China!
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