Zhen Gongfu (真功夫) @ Guan Yuan Wholesale Market, Beijing

It serves steamed Chinese food, fast-food styled. Guan Yuan Wholesale Market (官园商品批发市场) is located at Chegongzhuang Dajie, Xicheng District.

looks like a certain fast-food outlet

Went shopping at the wholesale market earlier and stopped by here for dinner.  Wasn't that hungry so shared whatever food that the others bought.

unmistakeable logo of Bruce Lee

dinner

steamed minced chicken rice

nice plate of lettuce

egg pudding dessert

No-frills fuss free place. Good for quick dinner. The simple looking minced chicken steamed rice was quite tasty. No real kungfu here. Just tasty simple steamed food served, fast.

Website: http://www.zkungfu.com/
 

老北京家常菜 (Old Beijing Home-style Cuisine) @ Andingmen, Beijing

Located at No. 130 Andingmen Inner Street, Dongcheng, Beijing. Chinese version: 东城区安定门内大街130号.

We were going to visit the night market at Nan Luo Gu Xiang when we chanced upon this eatery. Looked like a reasonable place to have our dinner (we didn't do any research so didn't know what to expect around this area) as it looked sizeable and there are local diners in it. Moreover, we're in Beijing... so should try some local cuisines, right?

big signboard, inside looked bright and there are local diners equals good signs, yes?

our table and menu

There were diners smoking in the restaurant even though there's a 'No Smoking' sign. Faints.

looks retro

local soft-drink (polar bear brand) - taste like Redoxon

local beer for the drinker

chrysanthemum tea for the rest of us

As usual, we left the ordering task to our senior manager and without fail, he'd order alot because he always asks the waitress whether we have enough dishes and everytime, the waitress would reply, "No, not enough." Hahhaa.

guess what we're eating

Frankly speaking, it was like an adventure eating here. Finally we found a dish that tasted good but we had no idea of what we were eating. Probably tofu. I hope it was tofu...

sweet and sour pork or chicken?

pork dish that looked innocent enough till still reddish meat (that looked raw) was discovered underneath...

best tasting but no idea what it was!

The sweet and sour dish was appetising and tasted most familiar. And its meat tasted pretty lean. It was like a snack that one could continously pop inside the mouth. The pork dish looked too raw for my liking. Didn't dare to eat. The tofu dish had a name that none of us could reproduce. Must be authentic local old Beijing dish (I guessed). Very flavourful, and its texture was like a cross between yam and tofu. Goes super well with steamed rice! The beancurd just melts in your mouth. Awesome.

stir fried mushrooms and green pepper

The green pepper lent a spicy edge to the mushroom dish. Nice! Was excited to try the zha jiang mian (炸酱面) here. Imagine the disappointment when it was served. The sauce was meatless! *Sobs* I guess, the restaurant's own recipe was to make it vegetarian styled.

zha jiang mian

pork dumplings

For pork dumplings, I'd prefer the way we eat it in Singapore. With vinegar and ginger. Always. It's a must for me. No these condiments, no shioks.

roasted duck

not crispy skin

The roasted duck here, well, let's just say that it was normal at best. It's definitely not the expected Peking duck standard. It's more like the hawker roasted duck kind of taste, but even so, it didn't taste as good as that. Perhaps, just not quite used to this retro taste. For good Peking duck, go for those that are freshly roasted upon order. Try 鸭王.

Having said that, the pancake skin here was nice. Had a hint of sweetness.

nice crepe skin

The remaining duck bones, we opted for it to be deep fried with salt and pepper. Similar to what we had at another restaurant but perhaps our expectation was too high... But it did taste like home-styled cuisine.

looked more like stir-fried with ginger and spring onions

All in all, we did finish the food. At least we tried Old Beijing home-styled cuisine.

the aftermath

印巷小馆 @ Lucky Street (好运街), Beijing

Located at Lucky Street, Chaoyang Gongyuan Road. Its address: 朝阳区朝阳公园路好运街1-8号(近三元桥). Pretty far from the hotel and we transferred a couple of MRT lines and walked quite a bit before even reaching this area.

Lucky Street is a stretch of road that has plenty of restaurants. Many cuisines such as Japanese, Western, Italian, Chinese etc can be found here.

restaurant's facade

Senior manager suggested this restaurant as he has been here before. Our group of 7 pax waited for about 5 mins before being shown to a tiny room at second floor. Many diners there that night, almost full house.

up to the private dining rooms

inside the room

paintings on the wall

 menu

Manager did all the ordering while we sat back and relaxed. As usual, jugs of plum juice to start off the meal. Almost all restaurants will tweak the recipe and it'll taste different from place to place.

homemade plum juice (suan mei tang 酸梅汤) - light brown coloured

pork with kelp

stewed beef

stir-fried lotus roots with gingko

Usual order consist of pork, beef and lotus roots. This time round, we're having fish.

deep fried fish, served with herbed salt

with bones

The herbed salt that came with fish tasted the same as those use to flavour the Xinjiang mutton skewers. Let's just say that pork, beef and chicken remained as safer bets (in terms of likeability) as compared to fish.

rice (米饭)

In Beijing, rice is served with a more than generous serving. The spicy tofu dish goes well with the white rice. Well, the beef and the pork too. As usual, we asked for reduced salt and oil kind of cooking.

sweet and spicy tofu

Ordered the shop specialty to try. A huge square of bread with its insides carved out to contain curry chicken. Took one bite of the curry and it was a no-go for me thereafter. The rest didn't seem to mind and commented that the bread was nice. Personally, the biggest turn-off was the very sweet tasting curry. It was just weird. Really.

curry chicken bread

The service staff carries a device that they can key in the ordered items and it gets sent to the kitchen immediately upon confirmation of the order. Hence, we got our food like within 10 minutes after we're done ordering.Wow.

But the bad thing about being seated in a private dining room, was that one gotta holler real loud to get the attention of the service staff. The term to use when addressing the service staff is '服务员' (fu wu yuan).

Alkaff Mansion Ristorante @ Telok Blangah Hill Park

Went there for my cousin's wedding but taxi uncle couldn't find the place given its address as 10 Telok Blangah Green. But luckily, someone was eagle-eyed enough to notice a sign that points to Telok Blangah Hill. Phew.

evening sun

ready for the wedding

Very nice ambiance. Old world charm. Spacious where older folks would mingle with a drink in hand, and the kids running freely with nary a care in the world. Sweet.

dinner shall be served, in a while

The inside of the mansion is as charming as its exterior. High ceiling, and warm furnishing. Service was friendly.

warm bread

Definitely loved the warm bread. Soft and pillowy. The service staff would replenish the basket and we were never without bread. Never.

Fegato d’Anatra

First antipasto, Pan Seared Duck Liver with blackberry/raspberry sauce.

quivering richness

The duck liver was good. Rich and oily. It became better when paired with the soft pillowy bread and a sip of red wine. Yums.

eat, drink (responsibly) and be merry

Next up, Burratina. To be frank, am no fan of this cheese. While many extolled the butteriness of it, unfortunately (and sorry) I just don't get it. It's like a very mild (almost tasteless) cheese with slight creaminess. Hence, the drizzle of good olive oil and the pairing of it with sweet tomatoes, plus a bit of seasoning (salt and pepper) is a must.

Burratina with rocket and tomatoes

Next up, first course of Ravioli.

Raviolio with truffle and mushroom sauce

The ravioli has strong flavours of porcini, with a not so subtle hint of truffles. Charming. Thank goodness for its not so big portion because we were pretty stuffed from all the free flow bread!

For the mains, it was either cod fish or beef short-ribs. Guess which one was my choice.

Atlantic cod with caviar

Beef short-ribs with asparagus and mash potatoes

Beef, of course. The boneless short-ribs wasn't so tender till it falls apart but it was tender enough to bring a smile. Perhaps, the way the meat was cut, the way it was cooked until the satisfactory outcome where the flavours merged and its texture retained that bite yet jaw friendly.

yum yums

To finish off the meal, we had our sweets.

dolce

Likewise, here's wishing my cousin and his wife all the sweet things in life and may they be happy, together, forever.