京京有味 Beijing, Xi'an, Inner Mongolia Eats

BRING THIS TO SG!!! Overflowing passion for this steamed fish pot, where you can tick off what fish and ingredients you want, and the fish will be freshly caught and cooked in front of you. Whats most unique is how its cooked on wood in a fireplace. The bean sauce is savoury and lipsmackingly good. Of course, we cant do without my favourite 粉条 and mushrooms.

Top on dianping for a reason!! (259 rmb or ~52 sgd)

gotta end it with some more peking duck!! Had Quan Ju De, one of the OG brands of peking duck dating 100+ years back. Evident how masterful their duck shifu must be, to have these duck carvings like an art, stacked into a mountain. The lily-like wraps are so paper thin too, 实在是真功夫。

We found this less flavourful than Sijiminfu, but its meat serving is deffo more!

Had this at the outlet near Tiananmen, with a cute duckie at the door. No queues!

(368 rmb with another veg, or approx $73 sgd for 4 people. This includes 10% GST)

Literally, from 四季民富。This greeted us on our first day in Beijing and we enjoyed it a lot (we tried two peking ducks and this ranked first although it seems like there's less meat.

The original outlet along qianmen street boosts an oven at the door, where they roast the duck in full view of the gaping queue. Then, the master will slice it and serve the best part first: the skin, to be dipped with sugar (!! Yums)

Crisp, with a supple layer of fats. Sinful but oh so good. However, we didnt take a liking to them frying the spare meat.

Had beijing's zhajiangmian too and its unique in how many sides they have (all to be mixed together with the freshly hand pulled noodles) Its savoury, and the authentic black beans are salty.

All for 228 rmb, or ~$45 sgd, feeding four tummies. I say its definitely a warm welcome treat!

[Xi'an] Recommended by our tourguide to try the Hulu Chicken, we went to 西安饭庄，which is in the 鼓楼饭店 near the bell and drum tower. The Hulu Chicken is a local delicacy, with legends saying that the Emperor classifying it as the best chicken in Xi'an (or Changan). It has a pipa-looking neck because the chicken is tied to a rope as it is cooked. Its also salted, and we agree that its both tender and crisp. However, it does get a bit salty and dry. Prices start from ¥68, but we got the ¥98 one as its the only one available.

Worth a try! We also had the tender pork ribs for about ¥60 and fried guotie for ¥35. Overall, a very meaty meal that recharged us after a day of walking

Must go place, with the 5 storey buildings with red lanterns deeply reminding me of Spirited Away.

Its just a stone's throw away from Yonghe Temple and its a 24hour outlet with a wide variety of dim sum hailing from diff places of China.

Highly recommended to order the 红米肠粉 (red flour rice rolls with fried prawns and pork) and their traditional 豆腐脑 (which is douhua with braised meat sauce)