This is Not a Food Blog, But...

My cousin Peng sent me an email saying he's just landed in Chicago and he's there for a cancer conference. So, being the sucker for foodie hype that I am, I googled a Ken Hom column that I saw in the FT a couple of days ago in whichHom mentioned a Singapore chef who's all the rage in Chicago right now. So, at some point, Peng'll be having dinner at Shanghai Terrace at the Peninsula Hotel.

I've been having some incredible food lately.

A week ago my friends and I stumbled into Yanqing's Shanghainese kitchen cuz the tables at Sun Japanese Restaurant next door were all filled. (No reservations on a Friday night? What was I SMOKING!) The service wasn't so hot. I think one of their gas burners was down so the food took forever. We were there for almost TWO HOURS. But the food was really, REALLY good. The xiaolong bao was soupy and delicate, and not oily. The steamed/ fried buns were fluffy, and the black pepper beef - which I used to think was a guai lo dish was really tender.

Then I spent most of last week in Beijing, where we had some really good food in Made In China at the Hyatt. it's kinda modern Chinese cuisine, with these semi-open kitchens. Kinda looked like Mezza9 at the Singapore Hyatt, but the food was 20 times better, at the same prices. Our favourite was the Beijing Duck.

My other favourite BJ Duck place in Beijing is Da Dong. My friend Yvonne took me there and we could only get into the 5 30pm slot. ("As long as you're out by 6 30pm"). I confess I haven't been to Chuan Ju De - which even the cab drivers were telling me about, but Da Dong had the best pancakes I've ever had...and a really crispy, yummy duck skin.

And finally, for dinner last Wednesday, we went to the Courtyard restaurant right next to Forbidden City. If you get a table next to the window, you can actually look into the moat surrounding the Forbideen City. My Filipino reporter told our waiter, in Mandarin, that he looked like Yao Ning. Our waiter responded in English that other diners have told him the same thing.

I also bumped into my friend Christina there. We worked together 10 years ago in Singapore, then she moved to HK and then to NY. Last time I saw her, in NY, we went to Gramercy Tavern. Christina now lives in NY but goes to BJ a lot.

So, I'm back home and I decided to cook my own lunch Saturday. There were chicken legs in the fridge, so I marinated them with five spice powder, salt and pepper. Then I fried an onion and some garlic, and fennel in an oven proof pan. Fried the chicken, skin on, on moderately high heat. After the skin browned, I added some sun dried tomatoes and baby asparaus. Put the entire thing into the oven at almost max heat for twenty minutes. It was actually quite yummy.

And now I've gotta go to the dishes. But first, there's some lychee martini ice cream from Daily Scoop calling my name.

Busy in Beijing

Been to Beijing twice since my last post. (Yes, I know it's been a while)

It's only on this most recent trip that I've been able to see more than just conference rooms and airports. And I'm getting close to changing my mind that Shanghai is the way cooler of the two.

Shanghai's overt. In your face. Shanghai is Jessica Rabbit in a cheongsam at a smoke-filled bar. Beijing's the quieter, more intellectual older sister that you've got to spend time to get to know. (I still prefer Shanghainese food. Also, Shanghainese guys dress better.)

So...I'm with a bunch of reporters from Asean and we've just had dinner around Hou Hai. So I get into the cab with them and tell the cabbie, in Mandarin, that I want to go to the Hyatt. I'm pretty sure I said jun yue jiu dian. But he's like going on and on about directions and stuff and says the address on the Hyatt card is too small for him to read, so I ring up the Hyatt on my cell and pass him the receptionist.

The cabbie's hangs up after speaking to her for a while and he's like "You mean JUN YUE. You said JIN YUAN. And now you're taking me out of my way and I'll never get a fare at the Hyatt at this time of evening." And on and on. I'm pretty sure I said jun yue...but anyway...we're talking and talking (and I'm trying to prove that I'm not really a banana and that I do speak half decent Chinese...) And he says to me I've got a Southern Chinese accent. Uh...OK...and when I tell him I'm Cantonese...that clinches it. Definitely a flawed Mandarin accent. Er...Ok. Whatever. So anyway, by the time we get to the hotel I feel so bad I gave him 30 kuai instead of 15.

The next day one of the reporters and I, after work, go on a hutong tour. OK so it's really touristy but it was the COOLEST non-work part of the trip. One of the hutong owners was of Manchurian descent. And he's turned his hutong into a B&B. Pretty cool. Think I'll stay there the next time I'm there with a free weekend. Later we went to a larger one and were told how traditionally, the oldest son got the choice East-facing bedroom, the younger son got the West facing one (harsh afternoon sun - what else). And the girls? Well...uh...they had the smaller back rooms with the flat roofs. They were only girls, after all.

One of the reporters summed the hutong visit this way, "I'd rather see the hutongs than the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City will still be around the next time I visit Beijing. But I'm not so sure about the hutongs."