Foods in Beijing

There are a lot of interesting Chinese foods that you must try in Beijing. Well, actually, China is a good place of culinary lover since Chinese foods are so famous world wide.

I'm soo picky about food. It's not that i only eat certain types of food, because i'm definitely eat everything, but i only consider few types of food to be called "delicious".

I tried quite various kinds of Chinese foods here, so i can give you some must-try foods in Beijing. I've been thinking seriously to make this list, since they should be really good ones. So, here are they; Bon apetite!

1. Hotpot. It's really popular in Beijing, especially in winter. The concept is that you put meats, vegetables, tofu, etc, into a big pot with a boiling seasoned water inside and gas stove underneath. The aim is to make the food always warm. Please put attention to only choose hotpot in a fancy restaurant :p, i don't mean to be lavish, but i've eaten hotpot in a small restaurant (cost 35Y per person, located in Shaoyaouju), and it was disgusting. The soup was tasteless, so were the meat, vegetables, and other stuff. The sauces tasted awful. But then, i went to a fancy hotpot restaurant (cost more than 300Y for 4 people, treated by Mr. Wang ;D) and it was amazing. They put a lot of delicious mushroom and herbs into the soup so it had rich flavor, and was really delicious. The meats and vegetables were fresh, the sauces were great. Plus, they served it with delicious dumplings, stuffed buns, soy milk, and durian cake as desert. It was just amazing (apalagi gratis, mak nyuuss!)
2. Roasted Duck. For sure... Beijing Duck is really famous, world wide. Actually, until this note is written, i haven't been tasted a Beijing Roasted duck heheheheu. Well, it's so expensive for me. The whole part of the duck may cost you 200- 300Y. But still, i put it on the list since it's really famous. You can find many roasted duck restaurant all around Beijing. Have a try!
3. Dumpling. Or jiao zi. If you manage to find good, fresh, dumpling, it would be heavenly! Moreover, dumpling is the traditional food of Chinese. They used to make it at home during some festivals. I had dumpling stuffed with duck meat in a duck restaurant near Temple of Heaven, and it was really good (it's good if it's still juicy inside). Dumplings are not expensive. I paid about 26Y for a portion of really good, fresh dumpling.
4. Caramelized Fruit. Probably, if i have a chance, i'll start to sell this in Jl. Dago hehehe. Caramelized fruit is my favorite snack. They put various fruits in a long stick, usually grapes, oranges, mulberry, banana, kiwi, strawberry, apple, but sometimes they also put cherry tomatoes. You can find it sold by sreet vendors all around Beijing for 2-4Y, yum!
5. Insects. Well, i mean, when and where again you will try barbequed insects? you can find it in Wangfujing Food Street. They sell scorpions, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many more. The basic taste of the insects is crunchy, and a little bit juicy for scorpion. They might look disgusting, but they don't have really annoying taste, just give it a try! The price starts from 20Y per stick.

To try new foods is always a huge interesting part of traveling. Just free your self a little bit and let your appetite decide. The best cure for bad mood is tasty food. But also aware of food poisoning, make sure that you don't have any allergy of certain food and always bring medicine for stomachache and food poisoning with you.

Enjoy! :D