We did a little shopping after a day at the park and after having lunch before headed back the hotel to rest. There is so much to see and do at the Wangfujing Street.
Later on that night, Ben took me out to the Beijing APM Mall to have a late dinner since we already had a late lunch. This one is one of Ben’s favourite restaurants and one he often goes to.
The restaurant name is simply called Dumpling King. On one hand we thought it is a Taiwanese restaurant and yet on another hand it could have been a Shanghainese one. Oh, it does not matter. The food was really good.
By the time we got there well past 8PM, it was pretty quiet already. Ben said that many Beijing restaurants gets quiet at that time because many people likes to start dinner at 6 or 7PM.
We ordered 8 items which included a bowl of steamed rice. Ben wanted me to try a lot of stuff but I kept telling him that I can’t eat that much. He keeps telling me that since the food prices here are so cheap compared to Vancouver, it does not matter if we can’t finish them.
Ben ordered their signature soup dumpling. They have quite a number of varieties and since it was so difficult to choose, he said let’s go for the most expensive Xiao Loong Bao on their menu. The first impression is a good one as the dumpling has finely kneated pleads.
The ginger for eating with the dumpling is very finely cut too. Good knife skill.
The xiao loong bao is quite … juicy as you can see the bagginess when we lifted it up.
A very typical Taiwanese dish, minced pork on rice. It also has some pickled radish and half a marinated egg. This is pretty much what Ben has on his own when he just wanted a light meal. This is just something like less than $2.00 Canadian only. Very cheap right?
The above is pea shoots in supreme broth. It has minced pork and century egg in it too. Ben loves to douse his rice with broth. I remembered when my kids were young, they always had steamed rice with broth which made it easier for them to eat.
The above slice pork in garlic sauce is also another of Ben’s favourite. It is garlicky and spicy. It goes super well with steamed rice. Ben always get this dish from S&W Pepper House (you gotta check out the link!) in Crystal Mall for lunch.
While the Vancouver version is prettier looking but in terms of taste, the one in Dumpling King Beijing beats it hands down.
Although I’m already full to the brim, I can still find room when it comes to dessert. The above 8 treasure rice pudding is a great ending to a meal. I cant recall the exact price of this meal but it should be just above $20 Canadian. I also remembered the restaurant gave us a coupon of 100 RMB (about $13 Canadian) because there was a promotion during our visit. Unfortunately, we did not get to use the coupon because there are so much to try that we did not make a return visit before the coupon expired.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel via the bustling Wangfujing Street again. That concluded my third day of visit in Beijing.
Wasting food is bad, Ben!! 🙁
I recall the dumping dish from this chain restaurant is expensive around $40 to 50 for 8 pieces but they are very good, it is the signature dis for the chain. They said the staff was trained to be very precise on how much meat and how many fold to wrap the dumpling.However Taiwan’s restaurant don’t have the fancy dishes as in Cantonese resturants, mostly they serve is the local small dishes. I went to the one in Shanghai, pudong, the 正大广场, I don’t know the Enghlish name for the mall, it is localed in 陆家嘴 right beside the TV tower, this mall you should visit and have lunch or dinner there as some restaurants have the river view overlook the bund walk on Puxi side, very nice view well worth the extra buck they charge. They have over 40 some restaurants inside this mega mall.