“As a foodie who lives in Beijing, I can’t believe that I’ve never visited Yong He Palace.” This sentence may not make much sense to you, as Yong He Palace is not the number one place that people tend to run to when looking for food. However, this sentence has been in my head all day yesterday. Let me explain.
Yesterday, I paid my first visit to Yong He Palace not as a tourist, but as a foodie. Being so close to the subway station, the first food joint to catch my eye was a dessert place called Nan Shuang Bei Cheese. This “cheese” isn’t the kind of solid, huge slabs that people outside of China refer to as “cheese”, but rather a much more delicate form that resembles a light pudding. This is a traditional Chinese dessert that was served in palaces in the old days, and it is very popular nowadays as well.
I ordered the traditional cheese because it was obviously the signature dish. A picture of a durian sago pudding also caught my eye, so I ordered that as well. Finally, I ordered a Hong Kong “stocking
” milk tea to wash everything down. If you’re wondering about the “stocking” milk tea, it is a milk tea that has supposedly been poured through the fabric of silk stockings to ensure its incredibly smooth, velvety texture.
The signature cheese was actually pretty disappointing. It lacked the fragrance of cheese, and did not have thick enough of a consistency to be considered as pudding. To be honest, the whole thing resembled yogurt more than anything else. This might be good news for the health freaks out there, but for the price of 12RMB, this was some expensive yogurt.
SCORE (cheese): 3/10
The durian sago pudding (22RMB) was the best of the lot. In fact, it was easily the best durian sago pudding that I’ve had in Beijing so far. The consistency of the pudding was incredibly thick and smooth, yet each spoonful still managed to melt on my tongue. Unlike most durian desserts in Beijing, the durian flavour really came through, and was super fresh, just like the real fruit. “What makes this pudding so fresh?” I wondered as I dug through the golden dessert. I found the answer when my spoon scraped the bottom of the container, and came up with an entire mouthful of fresh durian fruit. In fact, the entire bottom was coated with a layer of real durian. The sago was scattered consistently throughout the pudding, and offered an interesting texture to contrast with the smoothness of the pudding. I was disappointed when I had
scraped every glob of the pudding from the container and could find no more.
SCORE (pudding): 10/10
The milk tea (10RMB) was not bitter enough to resemble a real Hong Kong “stocking” milk tea, but it was alright. Just your average milk tea in Beijing.
SCORE (milk tea): 7/10
All in all, Nan Shuang Bei Cheese is a cozy place to stop for a snack. And when I say snack, I mean “get the durian sago pudding”.
ADDRESS: Xicheng District, #185 De Sheng Men Nei Street
The first dish that I tried was called “MenZi”, which when directly translated to English means “cooked in a covered vessel”. These are made with pressed flour, and are put on huge stoves. When you order a bowl, the vendor shovels some into a small bowl, garnishes it with some sesame sauce, and hands it to you along with a spoon. I didn’t quite like the bland taste combined with the squishy texture, but perhaps this dish is made better in Dalian, where it originated from.
The second food item that I tried was a Beijing traditional dessert called “LvDaGun”, which literally means “rolling donkey”. Thankfully, there is no donkey meat in this dish. However, donkey sandwiches is a popular dish in Beijing, but that’s another story. Back to the rolling donkey. This dessert is made with a base of glutinous rice, which is rolled up with a sweet red bean filling. The whole thing is then rolled in bean crumbs. I loved the chewy, bouncy texture of the dessert, and how it wasn’t overly wet or sticky. The red bean paste is obviously freshly made, as I can still taste the fragrance of the beans. The paste also has a satisfyingly thick consistency and wasn’t overly watery. The fragrant, melt-in-your-mouth bean crumbs complimented the entire dessert extremely well, and the dry texture also helped to balance out the stickiness of the glutinous rice.
At the same venue where I got the donkey roll, I got another Beijing traditional dessert called “TangErDuo”, meaning “sugar ears”. This resembles a MaHua with its twisted shape, but is more oily and less crunchy. My mom says that this should be oozing with honey when I bite into it, but that sadly didn’t happen. The texture was also too hard, slightly resembling plastic.
After the desserts, I set my attention on a dish that didn’t originate from Beijing. Its name is “ZhuTongFan”, which means “rice cooked in bamboo”. This dish was extremely cute with its bamboo container, and the vendor claimed that it had “six different ingredients” hidden on the inside. However, the rice was a letdown with no ingredients besides rice and beans to be found. The taste was rather bland, and the rice itself was hard and overcooked.
The last dish that I tried was called “LuZhuHuoShao”, and was downright scary. This dish consists of whole pig’s lungs, liver, intestines, and stomach cooked along with Chinese pita in a pot. Sounds appetising, I know. When I ordered a serving, the vendor pulled out an entire lung, a lengthy bit of intestine and huge chunks of stomach and liver right out and chopped them up. He then chopped up some pita and piled everything in a bowl, remembering to ladle in some soup from the pot as well. I was scared to try this dish at first, but after I got over the fact that there were pig organs in my bowl, the dish was decent. The organs all have distinct textures, the liver melt-in-your-mouth, the intestines chewy, the stomach slippery, and the lungs like normal meat. The pita absorbed flavours from the meat, but was a little too mushy. The soup had a distinct, meaty flavour, but was a bit too thick in its consistency for my liking. Overall, this was a great dish for helping me understand Beijing culture, but I wouldn’t choose to eat this every day.
The spicy lamb skewers (4RMB) were not the biggest skewers in the world. Frankly, they were so small that I could eat each skewer in one bite. Believe me, skewers are not supposed to be that small. The distribution of the fat and lean meat was good, with two lean pieces and one fat piece for each skewer. However, this seemed kind of unnatural, because fat and lean meat obviously do not grow in separate lumps. The meat was quite juicy, but it was a bit chewy and I couldn’t taste the natural aroma of the meat because it was so salty.
The potato chips (12RMB) were not so much chips as they were just pieces. They were chewy instead of crispy and didn’t have enough flavour except for salt. Enough said.
Now for the “legendary” chicken wings (8RMB). They were pretty pathetic. They were overcooked and dry, and the skin was crusted with sauce. That’s probably why they were so salty.
The mantou were okay. They had a crispy exterior and a chewy interior, but were slightly too oily. I can also easily make better ones at home with a toaster. The plain ones had a flagrant mantou flavour, but the ones with fermented bean curd were too salty.
The signature salad was the only dish on the table that was actually tasty. The ingredients were very fresh, and helped to cut through the oiliness and saltiness of the meal. The sauce was just the right combination of sweet and tangy, and the salted peanuts also added an interesting, crunchy texture.
The Beijing Foodie 