Okonomiyaki

I apologized for not updating my blog lately, midterms, HSK, friend's birthdays kept me a bit busy.

So Okonomiyaki, the name of this dish really drew my attention, sounded funny and very japanese :P

I went with some friends to Liangmaqiao, another small part of this big city that i haven't explored.
We heard about this place from a japanese friend. It's Tanosouske, a small but cosy place where they are getting famous all over Beijing for doing traditional Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a traditional dish from Kansai and Hiroshima, is a savoury grilled pancake with a different toppings on it. Me and my friends ordered 3 different types of Okonomiyaki.

Kansai style: Also known as Osaka okonomiyaki, this one is the most traditional and predominant version of the dish. They mix eggs, water, grated yam, flour, cabbage and pork; with all these ingredients they make a batter out of it and grilled it. They will top it with some seaweed flakes, bonito flakes (this one i had to google it :P), pickled ginger, mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce. The results are a pancake(looks more like an omelette to me) full of flavor, a bit sweet and savoury at the same time. I think it's an ok dish at least for me, it lacks of texture.

Hiroshima Style: This okonomiyaki is a bit diferrent, although the ingredients are almost the same, the preparation is different. This one is actually the ingredients are layered and not mixed as the Kansai style. So its batter, cabbage, pork and on top of it there's a big fried egg with a lot of okonomiyaki sauce. The interesting thing about this one is that is has a lot more cabbage in it, so it gives it the texture that it was lacking off in the Kansai style.

So this was really a new experience and a good one actually...since my concept of japanese food was smaller than i thought, sushi, tempura and teppanyaki are not the only great foods that Japan can offer us, and Okonomiyaki is a proof of it.

A trouble saver

Monday morning (not so morning actually) I overslept, had to rush to classes so i took a quick shower and then went out. Suddenly there were weird sounds coming out from my stomache and well of course i was a little hungry, didn't have time to make my breakfast(no big deal, just cereal or some bread, butter or jelly). So on my way to classes i stopped in this little place next to the supermarket, to get one of my best discoveries in Beijing. They called it 收抓饼 (shou zhua bing) which i can only translate as "Hand pulled pastry pancake".

Originally called Roti Canai(Malaysia) or Kerala Porotta(India), is a type of flatbread made fat, egg, flour and water which it turns into a dough. Normally it is served with curry and lentils.

So this chinese version of it is pretty much the same thing, although it has some twists. When normally in India they served it plain just to be like a side dish to deep into their curry dishes, this one is more like a wrap, which is really successful. So they first cook it in a very hot flat iron skillet, they push the dough until it forms a sort of flatbread and then spin it a few times. When it's done it becomes a crispy and flaky on the outside but fluffy in the inside. You can choose what to put on your wrap, from chicken, sausage, bacon or duck meat to a vegetarian version. My choice is duck meat, although bacon is good too. The big chunks of duck and the texture of the wrap makes them a perfect couple. The hot sauce gives it the kick that it needs...the lettuce, well i guess it makes it healthier, even though is really not for a breakfast :P

So well whenever you find yourself in a rush this little thing can help you fight your hunger for a while and pretty cheap also, 5 yuans...come on i can't even buy a bottle of water in Costa Rica for 5 yuans and I'm getting a meal here :D

North eastern chinese food

Just coming back from an exhausting but really nice day in the 798 District of Art made me really hungry, but after walking for so many hours I didn't feel like going anywhere to eat...cup noodles was the first thing in my mind, but in the end my friend wanted some real food so we went to a really famous restaurant, well at least famous among the students. This place is known as the 东北饭馆，which means North East Restaurant. Since we were only two we ordered just two dishes, Tomatoe Beef Stew and another dish which i will call Tofu Veggie Rolls with Shredded Pork and Crispy Potato Chips.


The Tofu Roll was pretty nice, I've already tried it before, it's a mix of vegetables rolled in a tofu skin and in the middle there's shredded pork sauted in soy sauce and underneath of it there are crispy strips of potatoes. The combination is of flavors is very nice and also the texture that the vegetables and the potatoes give in your mouth makes you want to eat more and more, and plus is fun to eat because you have to like build it, first take a roll and put some pork and potatoes on the top. Thumbs up!!



The stew...what can i say about it, it reminds me to the mexican dish "Sopa Azteca" but in a chinese version. In both cases...it's all about the broth!! man! this is something you can give me after a night of party and a massive hang over the next day. Big pieces of tomato, beef, scallions, onions and bellpeppers, sounds simple but that's really it and as i said before, the broth is what brings all the flavors together. Again the beef was my only dislike, it was tough and overcooked, man I'm starting to think that either they don't have good beef here in China or simply chinese people just don't know how to cook beef.


Overall it was a nice meal and very cheap...did I mention how cheap it is to eat in China?

An oasis among fire cuisine

Korean cuisine...ahhh the almighty kimchi or the famous bibimbap. Korean cuisine was almost unknown for since in Costa Rica there are really few korean restaurants but for my surprise in Beijing you can find a korean place in almost every street. So last year when I met around 6 koreans friends they started to introduce me to the korean delicacies, although they always say that as good as in Korea (it never is hehe), for me it's a lot better than the korean restaurants I've been to in Costa Rica.

So today I went with my good friend Bobae, all the way korean, so she wanted korean food...no kidding!! So we went behind the east campus where there's a big street with a whole variety of restaurants and places to eat. Among this big street you'll find a tiny restaurant at the beginning of the street...its called 北京请月里餐厅. So walking all the way there made me all sweaty, so I decided to look for some refreshing dish. Reading all the menu remind me that most of the korean food are either spicy or very condimented. After almost losing my hopes to find something that could refresh my body from this hot summer weather, I saw in the last page "Cold Noodles". I was like "Ohh maybe this is what I'm looking for" so i gave it a try and ordered it.

When the waitress brought it, the first thing that drew my attention was the big stainless bowl, then i realized that it was to keep the broth cold. Long hand made noodles, a boiled egg, julienned cucumbers, some sort of kimchi salad and a piece of cold beef were right on my first sight. It was better than i expected, the sweetness of the broth along with the chunky noodles and the crunchiness of the cucumbers made this bowl of noodles a really pleasant meal. The only con for me was the piece of beef, which from the first bite i knew it came out from the fridge and was not freshly made as I expected. But overall this was a nice meal and for a price of ten yuans this bowl of cold noodles will remind me that among of the spiciness and strong flavors in Korea, you can always find something refreshing and light.

This is how it starts...

After quite some time thinking about it I've made up my mind and start this blog. Although I'm not a professional chef or anything like it, food is one of my passions and biggest enjoys. Funny things happens in our lives, like the fact that I'm a simple chinese guy who was born in Costa Rica and now I've the chance to study and live in Beijing, a city that was most likely unknown and fascinating at the same time.

My apologies for not introducing myself properly, my name is Ricky Li. I'm studying chinese in Beijing and searching everywhere for the most simple and amazing dishes. After almost a year of being here I feel kind of settled down already, from the simple chuans (chinese kebabs) to the most strange things I've tried in my life.

The everyday here made me realized that chinese people are of the most interesting and different cultures of the world, even though my parents are from Hong Kong, they still manage to surprise me everytime. From amuzing me everytime they say "Ni hao Licky!" to the fact of seeing little kids peeing in the street.


Today me and my roomate went for some "dim sum", a Cantonese dish that's served in small portions and most of them are steamed. In my mind I was a bit uncertain of this, because you know being in a northern city trying some southern food...mmm makes me wonder.

We found 金选轩-Jing Ding Xuan thanks to my cousin (thank you Mindy) who knew about it from the Internet. Just arriving to our destiny we saw a big three floor building with an amazing chinese look, a very rusty but beautiful view. After waiting for like five minutes we were seated and look at the menu. Everything looks normal, but i guess our excitement was to try some food from our childhood and since we've been here for such a long time the expectation grew bigger and bigger. The loudness of the place made me remember the same restaurants I used to visit with my family for this kind fo food.

So we ordered a bit of everything since they were small portions, from barbecue pork buns, potstickers, ha gau to shaomai and egg custards. Everything came on time and for my surprise it was amazingly good. Two of the dishes worth a mention of honor, the ha gau, this little piece of heaven was actually not so small, since it had loads of shrimp inside, along with the bamboo shoots made every bite of it a turn on, as my friend Dora said to me and my friend. And the potsitcker, something so easy like pan-fried dumpling cannot be this good but it was. The dough was light and crispy outside and the filling was simple and tasty. Made with pork, chives and chinese cabbage, every chunk of this little dumpling was a delight to your mouth.

So completely satisfied and full, we paid and left happy to know that in Beijing you can also find some nice Cantonese cuisine with a reasonable price.