Well, we had our breakfast at the hotel restaurants while lunches and dinners were held at restaurants around Beijing, Chengde and Tianjin. So, we didn't really get to taste hawker food although we had the chance when we were walking out from Changan Avenue. There was a night market (pasar malam) being set up - all selling foodstuff. And very interesting foodstuff there is. Besides the noodles, cakes, barbeque meat, there's also fried grasshoppers and scorpions on sticks!!! I saw a man eating the scorpions and had his friend filming his culinary adventure.
Mr. Wong advised us not to take these hawker food as most likely they are not clean. However, one of our tour members was brave enough to try the barbequed frogs ("tim kai")! It was 'undelicious' and immediately headed to the dustbins.
There aren't any tables and chairs at this night market. People were holding their bowls in their hands while enjoying their meal.
Speaking of trying hawker food, the funny thing is that some of the tour members really like to try the sweet potatoes that are cooked and sold on bicycles. Everytime we saw such a stall, a few of us would buy it and share it with the rest. It's sweet and soft and everyone should give it a try!
The meals we had at restaurants were all fine but sometimes can be quite salty. Food was plentiful always. The rice is always nice - soft. Soup can be quite tasteless unfortunately. There's no particular outstanding dish although most of it has been quite tasty. I'm not a food enthusiast, so I guess I'll be short in this topic.
Before I forget, I must write about the famous Peking duck dish. I don't really like duck meat but I can comment that the duck meat in Beijing is certainly different than back home. The skin is nice and a bit crispy. You eat the meat by wrapping it in a pancake (something like popia) with some sauce added on the pancake.
If you enjoy drinking beverages like coffee and tea, I'm sorry to report that throughout all our meals, Chinese tea is served but none of the other beverages.
Finally, there were two dinners we had in which there was a dance performance held. One was on our first day after arriving in Beijing. The other was at Beijing Arts & Crafts restaurant. In the latter, a few of our tour members (the sporting ladies who take dance classes) joined in to the dance.
Here's some pictorial explanations:
The dance performance on the first dinner we had which was at a Thai restaurant.
The street where the night market is. If you notice the stalls are the ones in
blue. The car in red is Beijing's cab.
I am pleased to have witness the hawkers riding their bicycles with the stalls on
their vehicles.
One of the food displayed at the hawker stalls. These meat will be barbequed
later.
The dance performance held at Beijing Arts & Crafts restaurant.
The food we had at the Beijing Arts & Crafts restaurant.
The last restaurant where we had our lunch.
Here are some chopstick wrappers I collected throughout the trip!