On our third day in Beijing, after we had returned from our 11km trek across the Great Wall at the Mutianyu section, we cleaned up and headed out for dinner nearby. The hotel and our tour guide both recommended (without hesitation) the well known Da Dong restaurant which turned out to be very close to our hotel.
An expensive street, but nicely lit
Since the hotel and restaurant were both located in an expensive part of town, we were prepared for a potentially expensive (by Chinese standards) dinner. The restaurant occupies an entire floor (5th) of a very upmarket shopping mall just off Jinbao road. The stores inside were suitably up market enough to have us worried about our bank balance, before we’d seen a menu.
Still, without much hesitation we took the plunge. It was worth the effort. The restaurant indeed was first class all the way; even though we didn’t have a reservation we were able to obtain a table for two without any waiting. The restaurant was rather busy carrying out a brisk, but not impersonal trade. Initially the staff were a bit stiff, but they started to warm to us with our casual Aussie charm (and, no doubt, our use of rudimentary Mandarin).
Enjoying the meal
The menu was quite comprehensive, and contained many mouth watering delicacies. Not wanting to spend too much, we ordered somewhat conservatively but we didn’t want to miss some dining opportunities. In the end we ordered five dishes which was a little too excessive, it is sometimes hard to predict how large a dish will be.
We ordered Peking duck (what else to order in Beijing?) which was a house specialty and the basis of our dining at this particular restaurant in the first place. Our second main was a little more obscure – turtle in hot pot. Normally we wouldn’t.. honestly.. but this time we were curious, and we wondered when this might come up again as an option. It turned out to be just as interesting a dining experience as the rest of the meal.
Peking Duck / Eggplant Da Dong Style
Our other dishes included a house specialty eggplant (which was scrumptious), fried chilli with peanuts and a rather uninspired fried rice which was a little small and rather bland. No matter, if the rice is the worst dish then you have been well served! On to the dining experience..
First class all the way. The staff were attentive and polite, we had a chef come to the table side and personally (and expertly) slice every bit of meat off the duck. We also had a lovely table attendant who helped by explaining the protocol for eating Peking duck and preparing the meat for us. It was really a highlight of our meals thus far this month.
The Chef and I : A Love Affair of Food
Next came our turtle. I really should explain how the ordering experience came about. The turtle is priced by the half kilo (one jin) and when you select a dish such as we did, the staff will present for your inspection a potential candidate to be your dinner. Literally. Our dinner, live, was brought out in a metal bucket and we discussed pricing (750gms, thus 1.5 jin) and we watched as the poor guy tried to escape his metal enclosure.
We felt quite bad, but reasoned that someone would eventually select him, so it might as well be two sympathetic laowei such as ourselves. Toni refused to look the poor creature in the eye, and was quite embarrassed at the procedure. It was actually my first time ordering something fresh/live besides crabs and lobster (and those times I didn’t see the victim prior to cooking).
Anyhow, the next time we saw him, he’d been diced and cooked in a large enable bowl (hot pot) which is a style of cooking found a lot in northern China. One thing I’ll say about turtle is that it is somewhat boney, but also quite meaty. We had a hard time getting through the meal, as I think we over ordered slightly. In any case, with the exception of the rice, the food was excellently prepared and served; we enjoyed our dining adventure.
After the main dishes were cleared we were given complimentary taro desserts, a fruit plate and duck soup. The fruit plate was presented with a dose of dry ice underneath which gave it a very mystical appearance. Once we had finished up, we paid our bill (five dishes amounted to less than $100 AUD total) and headed back to the hotel.
Mystic Fruit Plate
Unfortunately, when crossing the only road between the restaurant and hotel, Toni was collected by an e-bike which almost literally came out of nowhere at a decent speed. The bike rider went down, but failed to knock Toni over. She sustained injuries to her left leg and oddly (or luckily?) to her left eye socket, above the eye – possibly avoiding a concussion and serious bruising.
We made it back to the hotel and she applied a cold can of Coke to her head, and refused to call it a night. She did not appear to have a concussion, and we rationalized that being in the outside (cold) air would be good for her recovery, we ventured out again to the subway. Our destination was the Beijing Olympic park area, and it took at least half an hour switching lines twice.
Olympic Boulevard
Despite the hour we must have arrived close to 9:30pm with the last subway train back leaving at 10:23pm. So we made a very quick trek from the subway station down to the main concourse between the stadium (the “Bird’s Nest”) and the aquatic center. As we expected, both venues were lit up brightly and we were able to take half-decent photos and video of both locations.
Aquatic Center / Toni outside the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium
As it was quite cold, we also managed the dual feat of testing out our preparations for Harbin’s cruel cold wind. We felt sufficiently confident during our night time journey that our jackets and ski pants would hold up to the colder climate up north. With some haste (lest we miss the last train) we made a bee line back to the station and the multi-station/multi-line return trip to the hotel.
We packed up and made last minute preparations for the checkout the following morning and our 9:30am flight to Harbin. We managed to leave the hotel at roughly the time we had planned, about 7:45am, and made it to the Airport Express line transfer at Dongzhimen station by 8:10am. There was the expected press of bodies on the subway line