…is next to impossible, I have discovered. It seems that when eating out during the next two weeks, you need to carry not only a ton of cash, but also a stiff jaw that doesn’t drop upon receiving the final bill. I understand prices always rise during such high-profile events, and I’m sure in Athens, [...]
Tag Archives | Restaurant
The Hedonist’s Sunday Brunch
When your significant other decides to extend your birthday by suggesting Sunday brunch at the Westin, it’s hard to refuse. Granted, I had a long-time hatred and distrust of buffets. In fact, I revulsed at the thought of them. Buffets reminded me of soul-sucking Vegas vacations and childhood meals out in suburban Massachusetts. My well-meaning [...]
Breaking the Restaurant Curse
(Thank you, Chuan Ban) Maybe it’s not just me. Maybe other people also go through a cursed period of dining out, when every restaurant meal makes you want to crawl back to the safety of your own kitchen. It started with a string of three Vietnamese restaurants. I had been avoiding Vietnamese here for lack-of-authenticity’s [...]
Pu’er Tea (Pu-erh), and Vegetarian Dining at Pure Lotus
Pu’er (sometimes spelled Pu-erh) is a complex tea with a huge following. It is the caipirinha of teas…drunken for centuries in its native land, and just now become ultra-popular to the outside world. The NYTimes recently had a good story on how farmers in Yunnan province are benefitting from the the rest of China and [...]
Peking Duck at Da Dong
Two nights ago one of J’s friends visited from Shanghai, and he was craving the nice succulent duck that virtually everyone craves after a long hiatus from Beijing. He had eaten Peking duck “hundreds of times” before, in Beijing and elsewhere, but laments that Shanghai has nothing close to what the capital offers. We laid [...]
Yunnan Goat Cheese at South Silk Road
You normally don’t think of “Chinese food” and “good cheese” in the same sentence. A fresh goat cheese called 乳饼 rǔbǐng, however, is one of the well-loved specialties of Yunnan cuisine. It comes from the Bai and Sani minorities of Yunnan province, and is made by heating fresh goat’s milk with a souring agent until [...]
Yunnan Cuisine in Beijing’s Xicheng
The Yunnan folk music playing in the restaurant was so soothing that the cricket noises blended right in. Then Jacob snapped me out of my daze and pointed to the middle of the room. A middle-aged couple was lovingly playing with their pet cricket, which was sitting on the table in a tiny glass jar. [...]
Chuan Bar on Guijie
In Beijing and many cities in the north, you frequently see street vendors grilling up deliciously fragrant kebabs, called 串 (chuan) in Chinese. Lamb is the most popular, but you’ll also find chicken, mushrooms, tofu, even squid. Take that concept indoors, and what you get is a chuan bar, or 串吧 (chuan ba), a restaurant [...]
