To start we had the cold dish of chopped tofu, mushroom and what I believed to be parsley, and perhaps one other green veg. We never really understood the purpose of this dish because it had no taste at all, so perhaps the green stuff wasn't parsley after all. If there was a dressing we couldn't tell at all. To make matters worse it's also very difficult to scoop up. We kept telling ourselves (while cursing at the bits falling off here and there) that it's healthy, yet we gave up half way.
The Shanghai Lion's Head meatball is one of those extra Shanghaiese specialities at the Beijing branch. I normally prefer the stewed version where the meatballs are served with a thick brown sweet and vinegary sauce but this version was not bad at all. The chicken broth was simple yet refreshingly tasty, made with real ingredients and not from stock cubes. The meatball was huge and not too fatty (although it could be leaner). I think traditionally the meat fat ratio should be 50/50! I can feel my arteries clogging up just thinking about it.
As usual we went for the fried pork fillet. While some were tender and tasty the majority of them were tough and chewy. The fillet is also a lot thinner then the Shanghai version. Disappointing!
I don't really remember much about the dumplings. I guess they were up to par (lets say if I had bitched about it I would have remembered it).
As usual we order and extra order of fried pork fillet with the rice. Unfortunately it was as chewy as the last one.
We liked the chicken soup with noodles though. The broth again was nicely prepared and the noodles were hand made. It was probably the best dish for the evening.
I think next time we should probably venture out of our comfort zone and try some Beijing specialities. I heard there are tons of Mongolian BBQ/hotpot joints in town!
22 Hujiayuan, Yibei Building, Dongcheng District, Beijing. (northwest of Yu Yang Hotel) Tel: 6462-4502
No comments:
Post a Comment