This is the second of three articles on great Beijing restaurants in beautiful settings. The others are Duck de Chine and Green T. House Living.

Maison Boulud a Pekin

This is Daniel Boulud's latest restaurant and the first outside the US. The restaurant is in the old American Embassy in the newly renovated and very upscale Legation Quarter (it's also called the Ch'ien Men 23 area), once the location of foreign embassies, just off the east side of Tiananmen Square. (Here's the Wikipedia article on the historical Legation Quarter.)

As you would expect from a Boulud restaurant, the food was perfectly prepared and the service almost spot on (one waitress had to call another person over to understand my "dirty martini" order). Like at the China Grill, it almost didn't feel like we were in China. My tasting menu with wine pairings was excellent (and they kept refilling my glass -- a nice plus). It's a great place to dress up and get away from the commotion of China. It's maybe the perfect place before taking in a symphony or opera at the National Centre for the Performance Arts (aka "the Egg") nearby. They have English menus and speak English well.

We walked around the Legation Quarter after dinner and checked out some of the other bars and restaurants. They're mostly just opening up now (lots of soft openings) so the managers were happy to show us around. Looks like there will be some fun places.

Address: Number 23 Qianmen Dong Da Jie. +86-010-6559-9200

In the past few weeks, we've been to a few really amazing restaurants set in very different but beautiful locations. This is the first of three posts describing the restaurants. The others are Maison Boulud a Pekin and Green T. House Living.

Duck de Chine

This may be my favorite restaurant in Beijing now and is certainly the best Beijing duck place (IMHO). This gorgeous restaurant is part of the 1949 Hidden City complex -- a set of very cool bar/restaurants in an old factory complex in Chaoyang. The area has my favorite balance of swish yet comfortable.

I had the good fortune to meet the manager and chef on one visit; they gave us a tour of the kitchen and explained their process. They have very strict quality standards, using a particular kind of duck, fed a particular way, and harvested at exactly 39 days. The cook the ducks over a wood fire (and the wood is aged, etc.) and even make their own hoisin sauce. The chef is from Hong Kong, so he brings the more delicate Cantonese style to their Beijing cuisine. (Their slogan is the cheeky "One Duck, Two Systems" borrowed from the phrase that China uses to describe how they rule Hong Kong, "One Country, Two Systems".) The duck was lightly smoky, not dry at all and yet not fatty or oily. They presented slices of crispy skin-only, skin with meat, and just meat so each diner could choose their own balance. Simply perfection. The other dishes were well-prepared also. One mixed veggie dish is a good example. While it seemed simple, each of the different vegetables was perfectly done (even though they had different cooking times) and coated with exactly the right amount of the sauce; there was no extra sauce pooling on the bottom of the dish nor was anything under-covered.

According to Michelle, their lunchtime dim sum is among the very best dim sum she's ever had (and we've had some damn good dim sum before). The restaurant also has a good (if expensive) wine list, makes good cocktails (hard to find in Beijing), and has the first Bollinger champagne bar in Beijing. They have English menus, and the staff can manage some English. There are a few other places in the 1949 Hidden City I want to try including a noodle bar and taverna. They also have a private club called the 49 Club; we looked into it, but it was just an expensive way to get private dining rooms. Maybe good for people who do a lot of business entertaining, but not worth it for us. In any case, 1949 and Duck de Chine are definitely worth visiting.

I didn't take any good photos here, but my friend Richard got some good ones.

Address: Gong Ti Bei Lu behind the Pacific Century Place department store in Chaoyang.) +86 10 6501 8881.

We went to an Easter party at our neighborhood's club house yesterday. There was a well-intentioned Easter egg hunt plus other activities and booths. While were were there, the boys and I were interviewed by a reporter from the China Daily. Some of our quotes were included in the article in today's edition. The other family in the story lives down the street and have become good friends recently too. Kind of fun...

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-04/13/content_7670887.htm

Celebrating a special Easter

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-13 09:34

Families in Beijing's Shunyi district put all their eggs in one basket to celebrate Easter together yesterday - but they had to find them first.

The egg hunt organized by Beijing Dragon Bay Villa was accompanied by appearances by the Easter Bunny - both in the forms of a villa staff member clad in a giant pink rabbit suit and live baby bunnies - face painting and egg decorating.

"This is a family time, and children love (it)," says the villa's property manager Zheng Min.

Finding the hidden eggs and candy helped alleviate homesickness for 11-year-old Andrew Chor and his 8-year-old brother, whose family moved from the US to Beijing four months ago.

"We used to do this a lot at home, and at first, I thought we wouldn't be doing it in China," Andrew says, holding up his sack of eggs, candy and toothpaste. He proudly announces he found six eggs, and his brother found five.

The boys' father Tony says he's happy the kids were able to join the fun. "The kids were kind of unsure about moving to China overall, and something like this makes the transition easier," he says.

Scot Julie Hansen, whose family moved to China four months ago, believes joining the party helped keep her family's Easter traditions alive.

Hansen brought sons Patrick, 10, and Thomas, 6, to join the fun. "It helps us meet some of our neighbors and bring some European traditions to China," she says.

Everyone knows China is a big place, but how's this for a little perspective. Hainan (location of our recent vacation) is the smallest province in China. Even then, it's the size of Belgium, with a population that's only 20% less (8.18 million in Hainan vs. 10.7 miliion in Belgium). Crazy.

Last weekend, we took advantage of the boys' short spring break (two days off school -- shorter than normal this year because of the late start due after the Olympics) to take a quick jaunt down to Sanya, a city on the south coast of Hainan Island. Hainan is on the south coast of China in the South China Sea near Vietnam; it's often referred to as the "Hawaii of China." It's a popular resort destination for Chinese and expats, plus it's apparently a big draw for visitors from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. More interestingly, it's a huge favorite for Russian tourists. On our drive from the airport, we saw a lot of signs with Russian on them.

Contrary to my normal vacation mode where I want to see a lot things at our destination, this time we just wanted to sit around, soak up the warmth, and relax. To that end, we chose to stay at the Banyan Tree Resort in Sanya. The resort is away from the bustle of the more popular hotel areas, in a quiet section on Luhuitou Bay. We spent a lot of our time in and around the private pool in our two bedroom villa, going to the beach to play in the sand and warm water in the mornings when it was a bit cooler. The boys thought the midnight swims were especially cool.

(This is a Photosynth view of our villa. It's a composite image of a few hundred photos. You may need to install Photosynth first. BTW, Photosynth is a super cool technology by the big brain guys at Microsoft Live Labs. Worth checking out.)

 

 

I managed to sneak out to Luhuitou Golf Club for my first round in eighteen months. It turns out that not playing for a while doesn't help your game. Fortunately, I was playing alone save for my caddie, who was polite enough not to laugh, and the course was impeccably maintained with perfect greens (not that I could make a putt to save my life.)

The facilities were undeniably lovely and the service was very good (particularly by Chinese standards). The only real downer (and probably the thing that would encourage us to to try someplace else next time) was the food. It was very inconsistent, ranging from great to fair, and the menu was pretty limited. By the end of our fourth day, we were pretty bored with the selection. (Although I did have a pretty good Hainan Chicken Rice - always good to try a dish in the place of its origin.)

Still, it was great to get away from the dusty grey and brown air and ground of Beijing for warm, humid, clean air and lush tropical environs of Sanya. We all had a very enjoyable and relaxing time.

Given the swirling mass of cars, bikes, and scooters here, I guess it was bound to happen; I was in my first little car accident in China today. It was a totally minor thing where another car changed lanes into my car; we were stopped and the other car was moving about three miles per hour -- just enough to put a little dent in my left passenger door.

The more interesting thing was what happened next. After we got out of traffic, my driver and the other driver started chatting (mostly amicably). The other driver was new as was his car -- no plates or insurance yet (the plastic was still on his seats). A policeman who was directing traffic nearby came over. As I sat in the car, I watched some more chatting, a few phone calls, then the other driver handed my driver 400 RMB (about $60 USD). We then drove off.

Since the other driver didn't have insurance, everyone agreed to an on-the-spot cash payment. The estimate for our damage was about 300 RMB (about $45 USD) so my driver asked for 400 RMB to be sure. (It's amazing how cheap car repair is here. The same damage would easy have been $400 USD in the US and maybe more.)

I have to admit, it was pretty cool how quickly everything was resolved. There were no police forms, insurance claims guys, etc. Apparently, this kind of resolution is pretty common.

This is a picture of the gas station next to my office. Michelle pointed out the "fire equipment" at the station: three shovels and two buckets. I'm not sure how useful those shovels and buckets will be if that tanker truck goes up.

Today marks our 100th day since we moved to China. It's been a fun, if not always smooth ride so far. I alternate between how-did-we-wind-up-in-China days and I-totally-belong-here days. I think the vast majority are the latter, but sometimes it still feels like we're here on some kind of long vacation.

I think we were pretty well-prepared when we came, but of course there were still lots of little surprises. I thought I'd share a few of those surprises (in no particular order).

• The milk is really good. We moved on the heels of the milk scandal, so milk quality was a huge concern for us. We quickly discovered an local organic brand called Wondermilk. It tastes much "milkier" than the stuff back home. They even deliver to our house. The only downside is that it only comes in 500ml (just over a pint) containers, so we have a lot of package waste.
• The produce is really fantastic too. I love our co-op farm back in Seattle, with their delicious carrots, but the carrots and other fruits and veggies out here are even tastier. This is especially true when we go to local wet markets to buy our food. They have these little tangerines here, in particular, are really to die for. Most fruits and veggies in American groceries are pretty but tasteless by comparison.
• The brooms in stores are all really short here; I'm talking 3-4 feet high. It actually makes sweeping very hard. Fortunately, our ayi (the woman who helps around the house) does most of that (and she's shorter than I am.) The only American-sized brooms I've seen were silly expensive brooms imported from Germany.
• Not all foreigners here speak English. This seems obvious, of course, since there are a lot of Germans, Koreans, and others here. This fact means there are surprisingly good or even great German, Korean, Persian, etc. restaurants here. (No good Mexican food yet, though.)
• There is a big (40% I think) tax on most imported goods, so domestic stuff is usually a much better value. This is by design, of course, and very irritating.
• There are a lot of Crumpler (sling bags and backpacks) and Crocs (the nasty, ugly plastic shoes) shops here, usually together. It seems like every mall has them.
• On cold nights, Shunyi (our suburb) smells like a bag of charcoal briquettes. In the city, people heat their houses with low-emission coal, but outside the Fifth Ring Road (where we are), they can burn the cheaper normal coal. The result can be really bothersome and even visible, with a thick haze over the road. Thank goodness for our IQAir air purifiers.
• Many locals I've spoken with approve of the job the government is doing. I kind of expected everyone to be quietly itching for a more democratic government, but there seems to be a pretty common patience here and acknowledgement that China has some way to go before it's ready for democracy. I suspect as long as people have jobs, food, and a brighter future for their kids, they don't care much who is in charge.
• Even in the early 1980's, Beijing was mostly confined within the Second Ring Road. Today, the Central Business District (where the CCTV Tower and our temp housing was) is a bustling land of skyscrapers between the Second and Third Ring Roads. Less than thirty years ago, it was apparently little brick factories and farms (kind of like Shunyi today.) The city is pushing out past the Fifth Ring now and still going (there's already a Sixth Ring Road too). I had no idea the city grew so much so quickly.
• I often have to be pretty pushy to get what I want in restaurants. On my previous visits I used to think people were just rude to the staff, but it often seems to be the only way to get served.
• That said, service (outside of restaurants) can often be awesome. Lots of free delivery and other places where people will just do things for you.
• The water is nasty tasting (even when filtered) and is so hard it leaves white powder near the humidifier.
• There are a lot of dogs here, and, contrary to popular belief in the US, I don't mean on menus. It's very common, especially in the country, for people to have dogs as pets. For some reason, I didn't really think of China this way.
• A lot of people think the boys are twins. They do look a lot alike, but they're three years apart, and Andrew (11) is a head taller than Michael (8). I think it's because most Chinese families only have one child due to the single child policy, so their default answer when they see brothers is "twins".

Well, that's enough for now. I'm sure in a year or so, all of this stuff will just seem normal, but for now, I'm enjoying the differentness.

It's March 1 and spring is in the air (or is that just coal smoke?). One of the surprises for me about Beijing was how cold it really gets, especially since Beijing and San Francisco are roughly at the same latitude. Unlike in SF (or even Seattle), in Beijing, the lakes and rivers freeze over, and Beijingers head out onto the ice.

One popular place to play is Houhai, the lakes behind the Forbidden City. In addition to ice skating, the locals have other ways to enjoy the ice. One popular older form is to sit on ice chairs and propel themselves with sharp poles. According to our driver, they did this originally because many people couldn't afford skates.

A newer toy is the ice bike. I think the back wheel must have studs on it.

Nearby, vendors sold animals (usually ones from the Chinese zodiac) blown from blobs of sugary dough. (The art is called nie1 mian4 捏面 in Chinese, meaning "knead or pinch dough".) These were super cool, but they kind of sagged and melted when brought into the warm house. I've seen some people eat these, but I don't think that's advisable since the dude worked the dough with his hands and then blew into it the blob.

It was definitely a popular place and, like all fun things in Beijing, crowded. (The big tower in behind the lake is the Gulou or Drum Tower.)

We weren't dressed to play that day at Houhai, so I took the boys skating at a rink near our house. Well, Andrew (11) skated and Michael (8) ran around on the ice.

Eventually, Andrew dropped his skates and started ice bowling (with himself as the ball).

I can't remember the last time I skated or even walked on a frozen lake. It's definitely been 25-30 years (crap, I hate the way that sounds). Skating on the bumpy, grooved ice is definitely a different experience than smooth arena ice (go, Zamboni!) but we all had a great time.

While I'm looking forward to spring, I'm sad we didn't enjoy the ice more while we had it. We'll have to play more next winter.

Last night we went to a delicious and fun restaurant called The Noodle Loft. This restaurant is Shanxi-style and reflects that's province's fascination with noodles. They make a vast assortment of noodles there, all by hand, using a variety of techniques -- pulling, pinching, throwing, shaving with a knife, whacking off with a chopstick, and so on. We had four different types and barely scratched the surface.

One really cool preparation is where they make an entire serving of pasta from one very long noodle. The chef stands about 4-5 feet from the boiling water, pulls the dough from behind him and throws the single strand into the pot. He repeats this motion, pulling more yardage of noodle from the dough and throwing it. It's hard to describe but fun to watch. Here's a (bad) photo of the action. You can kind of see the long green noodle in motion.

On top of their good food, they had a show kitchen so you could see all the action. It had a bar around one edge with seats for a close-up view. The boys enjoyed watching everything and then got in on a the dough handling when one of the cooks gave them each a blob of dough. Andrew (11) declared that he might want to work there someday. (He's deciding between noodle chef, US Marine sniper, and Microsoft game developer. Pretty wide range.)

The Chinese name (面酷 - mian4 ku4) is way better than Noodle Loft. I think it can be translated as "Cool Noodles", "Extreme Noodles" or even "Cruel Noodles". Either way, it's a great place that we'll be headed back to.

(I've included a scan of both sides of their business card to help you find it. I'll try to do this going forward when the card has a map or other useful info.)