Заки я від’їду додому…. one of the things that I really liked about Beijing was the food. Sure, there were a few things that decidedly weren’t for my palate (star anise seemed to be the main culprit), but for the most part this was as much an exploratory culinary trip as it was anything else.

Purchasing food from street vendors is a fun experience.  Their food was some of the best I had in this city. From breakfast foods:

to buns and dumplings:

to tasty crepes (we ordered them without the crunchy stuff inside):

 

In restaurants there were also lots of yummy meals.  Peking Duck was a specialty of the city:

Did I mention that after the duck is completely carved, you are presented with the duck’s head on a plate, split in two?…

I had thought that I wouldn’t like the hundred-year eggs (you will want to read about them at the link I added here), but they turned out to be quite delicious!

 

The same cannot be said about the sea cucumber, only because….. I chickened out and didn’t order it.
 

 

On the other hand, cow’s tongue can be quite flavorful if prepared right.  Here it’s with cloves of round garlic.

 

 

Last, but not least, I’m not quite sure how the bamboo ws prepared, but it had a texture that really hit the spot for me:

Dragon fruit was a breakfast staple at the hotel (I didn’t have a good picture, so I borrowed this one from somewhere):

 

There were a hundred other things that I wish I had photographed and remembered…  It’s worth coming here to try everything, even if only once.

Oh, and here’s Tony and myself enjoying a Beijing dinner (Meredith is the photographer, everyone else seems to be hidden):