Chinese New Year is a centuries old celebration of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is a holiday that is rich in tradition and a celebration of ancestors. This year is the Year of the Monkey. You might be familiar with this if you have ever gone to a Chinese restaurant in the US and have seen those placemats with all the different animals on them.
To say “Happy New Year” in Chinese, there are 2 main dialects:
- In Mandarin (spoken in most cities in China): Gong Xi Fa Chai
- In Cantonese (spoken in Hong Kong): Gong Hey Fat Choy
I was very fortunate to get to visit China with my family for a once in a lifetime experience. The fun part for me was experiencing a new adventure in cuisine. To celebrate Chinese New Year I wanted to write about a restaurant that we ate at in Beijing. Quanjude is a popular restaurant because they have an award winning Peking Duck, which is a famous dish associated with Beijing.
The Peking Duck is a whole duck that is roasted until it is super crispy. At first bite you would have thought the duck was deep fried but it wasn’t; it’s just that crispy from roasting for so long. What makes this duck so special is how it is presented and served. The duck is sliced right in front of you.
I could have gone without seeing the ducks head, but I had to experience it the proper way.
The skin and meat are sliced very thin and placed on a Chinese pancake (made from rice). It is served with shredded cucumber, shredded radishes, and a sweet bean sauce. It’s like a Chinese taco. The sweet bean sauce was tasty that I used it on some vegetables we ordered.
Their menu was like a book and there were several dishes we ordered. Thank goodness it had pictures because it made ordering much easier.
We had this wonderful Chinese cabbage that was sautéed in a garlic sauce. It is definitely a dish I would like to try and make at home.
There was a great sweet corn soup. It is basically an egg drop soup with corn in it. Very simple and similar to what I have eaten at restaurants in the US.
Tofu is very popular in China. There were several different tofu dishes to choose from but we went for the sautéed tofu that had red chilies in it for a little heat.
We also tried a sweet and sour shrimp. Clearly you can tell from the picture it was a family favorite. I couldn’t snap a picture fast enough before the plate was empty.
For dessert we ordered a pastry. It was a pastry dough stuffed with lotus bean paste. The presentation was so cute – little ducks – and the filling was extremely sweet. I had no idea that a bean could be that sweet.
Needless to say we were stuffed after this meal. It was completely worth it to get to try so many different flavors. Not everyone will be able to experience China like I was able to. However, there are many Chinatowns in major cities across the United States and every town has a Chinese restaurant. I would encourage everyone to try something different from the menu the next time you visit. You will be amazed at the flavors and you might just find a new favorite dish.
Enjoy!
T
