Lately I was busy with a project and staying in Beijing for more than three months. This is the first time for me to live in Beijing for a long period. I was worried that I would be acclimatized, but after staying for a long time I found that there was a lot of surprises everywhere in Beijing! It completely subverted my impression of Beijing and China.
First of all, I was surprised by the local locomotive express! Most of the people in Beijing are busy with work, they work overtime every day, many of them even work overtime on weekends. Locomotive express delivery not only provides convenient food delivery service, but also daily necessities. You don’t need to go to the supermarket just for a pack of toilet paper, milk or bread in this winter under zero temperature. If you temporarily lack fruits or special cakes, even Tong Ren Tang's cold granules, you can also ask for help from locomotive express to deliver it to your company or living place, without delaying your time.
When I am on vacation, I like to visit the local traditional food market. There are too many kinds of beans, such as Chinese long bean, Chinese short kidney bean, oil bean, snap bean, white grapes, different green beans and snake squash and every kind of flowering cabbage. If I saw the vegetables that we never try before, we will buy a small amount to try the taste. It is even more interesting to visit the grain and cereals area. There are dozens and twenty kinds of flour items (buckwheat flour, corn flour, triticale, black kerneled rice noodles, yellow wheat) and colorful beans (large black colour kidney bean, oxeye bean, white kidney bean and pigeon pea are the beans that I never try before). Of course, if you want to taste such a rich variety of grains at a time, you can go to the restaurant to order the bowl of "Laba porridge". The locals say that there are 58 ingredients, it is a total aggregate of plant starch that is the sum of cereals, beans and miscellaneous! Since the beginning of winter, there have been oranges from all over the world (Ugli fruit, tangerine, Yunnan tangerine, kumquat and Maogu citrus). In short, the food essences that bring together the north and the south are presented in today's traditional vegetable market!
Then there is the cake snack! When it comes to cakes, you must mention Daoxiangcun Bakery. Daoxiangcun Bakery originated in Suzhou in 1773. It is said that when Emperor Qianlong went down to Jiangnan and passed through Suzhou, he was impressed by the taste of cakes of Daoxiangcun Bakery. The title of the royal title was “famous in the world” was fascinating for a pastry shop in Suzhou at that time. It has now entered the sixth generation of operations. The old-fashioned pastry shop is widely loved by the local public. When I entered the store, I was attracted by the exquisite cakes. This is probably the most variety of pastry shops I have seen in my life. I can't count them once. It is said that there are more than 600 items of pastries at the moment, and even the famous author Lu Xun is one of its fans.
Beijing gathers the restaurants from all over the world. It is particularly troublesome for me who have difficulty in choosing. I had tried Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine the day before yesterday, tried the porridge dishes yesterday and tried the Northeast dumplings at noon today. The aunts of the small restaurant here are particularly hospitable. They asked whether the taste is good, and asked where were we come from? When they heard that we came from Taiwan, the aunts and chefs in the kitchen just came out to see the “Taiwanese”...... sometimes they would ask us what kind of food we usually eat? They are very curious about foreigners.
The traditional pies, meat sandwiches, flatbreads and pastas made from local ingredients are especially delicious. The pasta here smells good and chewy, and very few foods such as milk taro or steamed buns appear here too. In these few months, we tried different kinds of stuffed pies, fried leek dumplings, buns and dumplings, and even the steamed stick bread of corn, steamed bun in triangle shape stuffed with sugar and steamed bun with minced pork. The most valuable thing is that the pasta and the majority of the northern cuisine are still pursuing traditional craftsmanship.
I am a heavy coffee addict. Speaking of coffee, I have to mention Luckin Coffee, which was just established in China in October 2017. It is known by the US CNN as the millet of the coffee industry. It is a high-quality coffee chain that I can order everywhere in Beijing. Their service is very good. When I complained about coffee was delivered late in 10 minutes and the coffee was cold, it didn't take long for the customer service staff to call and express their concern and I received a coffee voucher at last. For this reasons made me became one of their loyal customers! My friend said that this chain store is China's star café like Starbucks, and make the foreign Starbucks revenue has dropped a lot, I really have to admire Luckin Coffee.
I love Corrtado, Eespresso heats milk in a ratio of 1:1, or Flat White. Of course, the Flat white here will usually have more milk like latte. But if I just ask them to take out half of their milk and become the orthodox Corrtado. I just saw the news in these two days, saying that Luckin Coffee. lost 3.9 billion in 2018. With such a high-quality business model, I am really worried that I will not have the opportunity to drink their coffee when I return to Beijing next time.
Before returning to Taipei, when I shopping for the pastries in Daoxiangcun Bakery I discovered, the shopkeeper asked me where did I come from? After answering, she immediately said, "Beijing welcomes you!" So it became the title of this compilation. This is my two-month life experience in Beijing. I hope that there will be more excavations to share with you when I come back next time.
Photo by YIART
