Beijing Trip : Part 2 - Fried Scorpions.. Nyum..

Am currently munching on classic original Pringles. Yes, they're freshly opened by Moi, the ruthless muncher when it comes to chips.. or popcorn.. or anything else that tempt me along the way.. Anyway, the fact that I am utterly enjoying myself right now is going to be a little bit ironic compared to what I am about to write. I promised you this post will involve something 'not-so-good-looking' fiesta. I do also sincerely hope that this post won't scare or disgust you in any way.. That's why I am eating my Pringles just to prove you that it's not that horrible.. If you can't take it, maybe just scroll the page down a bit faster than your usual pace.. Deal? Okay.. Here we go..

WANG FU JING
Another famous shopping street that is not only swarmed with tourists, but the locals themselves as well. This street has been used since the Ming Dynasty. If we translated it, WangFuJing literally means Prince's Mansion Well, and yes, the well itself is still there. In the present day, the street itself is a host to many local famous Beijing brands, from tea houses to a photo studio that have lasted for generations.

The pedestrianized shopping street has special alleys that sell street food. From simple Tang Hu Lu (caramelized fruits on a stick) to Chuanr (Chinese kebabs).

Tang Hu Lu.. The strawberries are my favorite

Lamb Chuanr.. They sprinkle it with chili powder if you want it spicy..

Yes, they're yummy.. I have always loved Chuanr.. 

I am not even sure what this is..

Yumminess everywhereeeee

CHOU TOU FU a.k.a Smelly Tofu..

I am still not a fan. My brother claimed that the smelly tofu in the Northern China is very different with the one in the South. He said the one he had in Guang Zhou was super yummy..

 Then, after the normal food, you will definitely spot a rather crowded food stall. People are just flocking there and they seemed to be oh so fascinated and curious at the same time..

It's none other than the.. EXOTIC INSECT STALL... alive and kickin, ready to be cooked and served..

All the scorpions stick above are somehow still alive. They are still trying to break free, kicking their feet here and there..

Cocoons and crickets.. These one were dead though..

Very much alive and kickin.. Except the seahorse.. 

Starfishes are the most expensive treat compared to other insects or sea creatures.. I once watch Andrew Zimmern ate a starfish and he said it's like eating crab shells SO I decided not to go for it..

The choices.. Okay the big scorpions on the left scared me, I ate earthworms in my previous China trip before, seahorses are too damn cute to be eaten, starfish will taste like crab shells. Maybe the small scorpions will do..

So yes, this is my just freshly fried Scorpions.. Kiss em goodbye

Eaten in less than 3 minutes, less than 3 pictures. All the other tourists there were like staring at me, disgusted, as if I was this one crazy chick. One even recorded me eating it and then shrug off his own shoulders. The verdict :  It's crunchy. Tasted like a random earthy snack. The body is where the earthy smell came from. The rest was not a big deal. The earthworms are worse.. Now I have one thing to cross off of my list :)

Next Destination.. or maybe the next thing we had..

Had this in some random food court. Yes, you can choose whatever you want, they'll boil it for you with some mala sauce consisting Sichuan peppercorns. Careful not to bite the peppercorns, either way you'll feel your tongue go numb. On the side is MaJiang sauce, made of grounded sesame seed, WHICH I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH.. They're just savory, not as sweet as Indonesian's peanut sauce.  

Still not full, so we decided to grab a subway to go for sharing

There used to be one Subway stall in Plaza Senayan, Jakarta. I really wish it's still open..

My 6-inch Parmesan Oregano Subway Club.. Oh in case you're wandering, I ate this in a McDonald where my brother ate fried chicken wings.. In my defense, I only grabbed one.. 

SUPER DUPER YUMMINESS..

THE NEXT DAY

I just loveeeeee Chinese fresh peaches. They're very different from the American or the canned ones. The peach smells AMAZING, the fruit meat is lusciously tender and juicy. Super LOVE

COCO CURRY HOUSE

This curry chained restaurant lets you personalize your meal individually. You can choose how many grams of rice you want and what additional ingredients you would like to have..

My big sis was craving for Coco Curry for ever since she went back to Indonesia, so this was a must have for her.

Stir fried ginger-flavored pork curry (33yuan). It looked minimalist, well, because I ordered the smallest portion of rice with no additional ingredients. It looked rather empty. The stir fried pork somehow really has an infused ginger smell. It's like combining something so Chinese with a Japanese curry twist..

Pork Curry Cutlet (35Yuan). Additional ingredients : Tofu and ochra..

Another Pork Cutlet Curry with additional cheese. Oh the cheese made it so yummy. When my brother scooped it up, it turned into this half melted gooey ready to be eaten cheese..  

Coco Curry House
Sanyuanqiao 三元桥
B1, Duhui Tiandi Shang Chang, 1-3 Xinyuanli Nanlu, Chaoyang District
Website : www.ichibanya.com.cn

 WAGAS CAFE (again..)

This branch is definitely more spacious. Many foreigners indeed. Everybody's talking in English, it almost felt like I was at Singapore. Same concept in each branch. I still think it's very cozy. If they have Wagas in Indonesia, I'd definitely hang out there A LOT

Carrot Cake

Coconut Macaroon, not macaron

Again the cappuccino and iced coffee.. We need our dose of caffeine.. 

My brother striking a pose.. 

RANDOM PHOTO MOMENT

Okay, this is nothing related to food. This is the CCTV Building. Talking about crazy architecture, this is MADNESS COME TO LIFE.. Will you feel secure if your office is located in the very tip of that pillar-less, foundation-less part of the building..

MOVING ON..
If we have Breadtalk all over Indonesia, then the Chinese have 85°C Bakery. Not sure why it's called 85 degrees..

Everywhere I see this bakery, it's always this crowded. People keep squirming in for fresh baked breads and cakes

THIS IS THE REAL DEAL! I have been craving for more of these cute tiny soft cheesecakes. One box is worth 11 yuan.  It's like this little heavenly drop of perfect cheesecakes in your mouth.. SUPER LOVE

From puddings to milk teas..

The choices of bread are surprisingly very many compared to our local chained bakeries. They all somehow looked so tempting.. Well, I am a sucker for pastries.. 

CAKESSSSSS

Here is the view from outside. Look at the choices of the breads. And this is only the breads. 

Bro, sis, and her friend.. We bought the breads for tomorrow's early journey.. 

Okay.. This ends my Beijing Trip : Part 2 post.. I gotta hurry cause I am about to go out with my Mum.. Next post : more restaurants.. more northern Chinese feast.. more tourist spots.. and bears in the Great Wall.. *huh? come again?*

WELL, until next time.. Caooo

Beijing Trip : Part I

Yes yes yes.. Another episode of China Trip.. This time it's Beijing baby. The capital city of China, a place where I found so packed (well, everywhere is packed when it comes to China). We went from Shanghai to Beijing via High Speed Railway a.k.a the fastest train on earth. Not a single second did I rest my eyes, I was too excited.. But enough of that, I wanna share with you all about the FEAST... It has always been about the feast.. ;p

The first eating spot we aim right after we just arrived : it's all about the PEKING DUCK

Quan Ju De : The one and only.. The most famous place to get your Peking Duck.. The restaurant itself was founded in 1864, under the reign of Qing Dynasty. They have been serving their delicious roasted Peking duck for the imperial families. The restaurant has been using the same recipe ever since.

This is the second floor of the restaurant. Almost like a small ballroom.. 

Our beautiful duck.. Yes, they cut each duck in front of you.. 238 yuan for each piece of duck. Expensive indeed. But the restaurant has been serving their delicious duck for the imperials. I think it's logical, in a way, that they charge you with such a high price

Skillful precision in every slice..

Surprisingly, it didn't produce much. There were only three plates like these from one whole duck.. At first I was too scared to be 'duck-overloaded'. 

Of course the beautiful, thin, crispy, super yummy duck skin.. *drool own self*

To wrap your duck.. In a way, it's like fajitas in Chinese version.. 

Beef Teriyaki

This is the rest of the bones with bits of duck meat that they cooked with salt and pepper style. Even though there's almost no meat, it's so delicious that I was biting every inch of the bones.. 

Trying to be healthy, it's just so wrong to have all meat and no veggies on the table..

The duck head.. And those three strands of duck meat were said to be the most delicious part of the duck. I was like 'they all taste pretty damn delicious to me'

Oh yeah, not going to forget about this. They all have a commemoration card certificate for each duck. I bet it's to honor how delicious they all are. 

Our tummies were so full all right.. My siblings didn't even have any rice to eat the duck with. I was too hungry that I ordered a bowl of rice and soon regretted it after walking out the door.. But for what it's worth, I was full.. I was happy.. I was definitely tummy-satisfied..

QuanJuDe
No.30, Qianmen Street, Beijing 
website : www.quanjude.com.cn

SECOND PLACE WE AIM.. tourist spots.. HUTONG

Yes, it's another ancient city like alley ways, which I super duper love. I went there at night time when all the lights were lighted up, it was just so pretty and romantic (in an oriental kind of way..lol). I just love how they can preserve something so old and incorporated so many modern touches to it. Not only the place was packed with tourist, the locals were many as well. It was the 'it' spot with so many bars, different types of restaurants, different cute little souvenir shops that sell mostly anything you didn't even think they would sell it in the first place. And I was completely in love with the place. I didn't even care about how packed the place was, I was too busy doing my 'oh look at this.. oh look at that' tourist tackiness. It's somehow very nice and comforting to know that the youngsters can still hang out in a place that's so old..
I didn't buy any food there.. I just wanna show you how unique and how cute the shops are..

Pretty lights, pretty everything

Pretty lights EVERYWHERE

Traditional Chinese paintings ready to be sold.. 

This shop allows you to write to yourself for the future. Inside the shop, there were A LOT of people sitting down, writing seriously. My brother and I was the only one laughing all the way to the shop.. We were not even sure why we were laughing

I love how traditional they can get

They even have a wine shop.. 

THE NEXT DAY!

Breakfast at some random local fast food chain near UIBE because that's where our hotel was.. It tasted just fine and we just needed something to fill in our stomach before we venture on our journey.. Like any other fast food chain, they have breakfast set menus.. The one thing I will always love about China is how cheap the food can be and how big the portion can get.. Oh another thing I love about China, noodles.. NOODLES EVERYWHERE... Even for breakfast set menus.. The portion was quite big that we only ordered two dishes for the three of us and decided to share it together..

Wonton for breakfast

Noodle soup with veggies.. 

LUNCH!

Xue Jun : a small simple down to earth restaurant near UIBE, famous among the Indonesian students and yes, they serve delicious dishes.. Fell in love with it at first try. There's nothing special about the place really, but I can definitely see why the Indonesian students LOVE the food here. It's cheap, it's delicious and it serves you huge portions.. What can be so wrong about that? Another thing about this place, one of the staffs somehow miraculously looks like Nobita from Doraemon cartoon series. The Indonesian students in UIBE often call this restaurant Nobita's. And yes, I did see who they were all taking about and yes I have to admit, he looks like Nobita.. 

The menu

Japanese tofu with eggs in a hotplate (20 yuan). YUMMY! The picture says it all. I think I don't need to describe how it tasted like. You be my guest. Just picture the softness, still hot, saucy tofu melting in your mouth. Okay, I did describe it after all -____-"

Some PORK tender lovin. Slices of pork belly with green beans and little strands of lomie. It might not look huge in the picture, but believe me, it's huge! Only for 26 yuan. CHEAP MADNESS

Sweet and Sour Chicken (28yuan). I love how fragrant the green peppers are. It's just different from our peppers in Indonesia..

Okay, I think this is the end for the first Beijing Trip episode.. Stay tune for the next part. Caution alert : It will involve something crawling, stinging, not so pretty being.. ;p Till that time, I bit you all ado..