Miss. Delicious #21: Tasting foods of the Imperial Courts of Beijing.
Dear Steemit friends:
Beijing cuisine is without a doubt, the primary choice for visitors wishing to taste Chinese food. As a historical capital city with a history of over 300 years, Beijing cuisine has developed a rich food culture of it's own, lasting through the Qing Dynasty with it's Han and Man ethnic groups, as well as being the food of choice in the Emperors court.
In my experience, Beijing Cuisine favours the Sweet and Sour tastes a little more. This of course means it's very appetising and opens the stomach up to the many subsequent courses. A touch of sesame oil and sesame seasoning really defines the unique characteristics of Beijing cuisine.
Stir fried Ginkgo with Lily
This dish is served with an actual Lily flower as decoration. The stir fried portion however contains Ginkgo, Lily and pomegranate seeds which together taste quite refreshing and cool. Lily's are said to moisten the Lungs and help relieve coughing. That's why this dish is particularly good during the dry autumns.
Chef Dongs Fried Prawn with Spicy Sauce
This dish has both pepper and hot pepper, but the surprising part is the slight taste of Lychee. Apparently this dish was chosen by Michelle Obama on one of her visits to Beijing.
Sweet and Sour Pork Chop
Sweet and Sour fish
The body of the fish has been made like a blossoming crysanthemum. It tastes only a little bit sweet, and it isn't too greasy either. The meat was very soft inside, very delicious!
Cold Dishes, Pork Liver and Shelled Peanuts
Sweet and Sour Fried Prawn Balls
Roast Duck
Tomato and Radish Pork Stone Bowl.
The Chinese version of Italian Noodles - Ants Climbing Trees.
This 'Ants Climbing Trees' dish is made with bean vermincelli, the vermincelli is like the branches of a tree, the green onion would be the leaves, and the ground meat are the ants. Very imaginative isn't it?
Mashed potato with Black Bean sauce and Spicey chilli oil
This dish is actually one of the few salty and spicy dishes you'll find in Beijing.
Spun Sugar Glazed Apple
Wire Drawn Spun Sugar dishes are a special kind of cooking method for cooking sweet dishes. It requires a-lot of skill from the chef. The chef would first deep fry the apples, then drizzle some syrup on the fried apples and tip them upside down to let the syrup coating cover the apple evenly. Then, whilst hot, the chef would draw threads of the syrup from the apples to form little sugar webs.
Candied fruits on bamboo skewers
Iced Strawberries and Lychee's. These are usually compilmentary from the restaurant
Below I'll recommend this restaurant showcasing Beijing's food delicacies as well as being in the prime location just outside the Imperial Palace. It's called : Siji Minfu Roast Duck Restaurant.
No. 11 Nanchizi Street， the east side of Imperial Palace.
(010)65267369
This restaurant is by the Forbidden City, sitting down in the restaurant, just peering out the window you'll be able to see the Forbidden City. This restaurant tries to emulate the tastes of the imperial court and the dining experience of a Chinese Emperor.
After you finish eating, weather permitting, you can go to the restaurants porch and survey the scenery from a raised position. If you like, you can even take a walk into the forbidden city itself.
Aside from Beijing's specialty of sweet and sour dishes, perhaps even more appealing are the way the dishes are presented and served. Beijing dishes like to have many different colours as well as imaginative presentations. Take for instance in the picture; dishes are served in a small tree, and within the leaves of the tree are the different dishes.
This little number i'm holding in my hand is called the Sugarcoated Fruit Dandelion, really it's just candy floss! I think it's very cute !
upvoted.
thanks :) which dish do you like the most??
Roast Duck.
Some of the dish are quite unique that I have not seen. I prefer something safer.
So, the sweet and sour fish or Fried Prawn Balls.
Good choice, sometimes there's a bit of 'skill' involved when eating some chinese dishes. Not straight forward like these sweet and sour fish or prawn balls.
Anything with chopsticks already require skill. Yes, for dim sum and more for xiao long bao. :-)
I upvoted, but I must inform you that we are now culinary enemies.
The best Chinese culinary style is Sicuan, followed by Hunan, everyone knows this. sigh.
beijingren.....
In jest, ;).
-Jake
I think Beijing food tends to be a bit more flashy, but not necessarily the best in terms of taste. You know how people in big cities are.. the superficial stuff is quite important!
Yummy, sticky, candyfloss!
my teeeeth haha
I would like to try this food ! Looks delicious !
The sweet and sour prawns are a good safe choice!
The sweet sour fish looks very similar to the fish I had in Shanghai and thought it was a local speciality.
There are slight differences, such as the kind of sweet and sour sauce used, or what type of fish. It might well be that the one you ate looks the same but tastes different!
Ah ok, thanks for clarification. Anyway that Beijing style fish looks really yummy.
I like the Stir fried Ginkgo with Lily. Growing up I never like the Stir Fry my mom made, but now I like it.
But home cooked food will always taste the best ! Atleast that's the case for me.. But good choice, it's the one with most nutritional benefit!
I did not know it had the most nutritional benefit, I know I like Stir Fry though, and it looks very tasty.
Thank you. Good post. I will folow you.
Thank you!