The little imaginary ideal place inside boisterous Beijing

     Beijing, the capital of the China, which is the nation's centre of political, economic and cultural. I believed there are a lot of people have been to Beijing at least once in their lives. However, I guess most of them are not sure about where are the ideal places for yummy food with reasonable price.
     Whenever I ask a tourist that whether she /he could name at least one dish that she /he wants to try the most in Beijing," Beijing duct" is always their first response. The Quanjude Restaurant, the largest roast duck restaurant in Beijing, where is located at Heping Gate. Even though I do think its duck is tasty, it is too over priced. For example, my dad, mom and I ordered a duck at there, which cost us more than $100 Canadian Dollar for a small skinny duck. However, the owner only needed to spend $5 Canadian Dollar to raise one. Therefore, I personally do not recommend foreigner to spend a great deal of money on something is not worth for its price. In contrast, let me introduce you to my favorite place that I always go with my family.

Beijing 2011 by Jin

  It is called " Fish village ", a imaginary ideal place inside the big city, where is located near Heping Gate and 400 meters left cross the Quanjude Restaurant.  You only could see a tiny resturant gate from the outside, but if you walk inside, you will be suprised how refined it is.  I guaranteed that whoever eat at place would always want to come back again.

   Fish village only opens from Monday to Friday, and the owner who is also a friend of my dad's friend opens this restaurant only for his personal interest: cooking. He was a CEO at a big oil gas company, and he decided to open it after both his wife and him were retired so that they could kill some time together. Therefore, the restaurant is not for money purpose. First, let us take a look what they service and the food I think is must ordered. For example, I think " fish hotpot" is one of the most delicious dish because the fish is so fresh and you could even go to its pond to pick the one you prefer. 

fig-1 by Jin fish hotpot

From the picture (fig-1), you could tell how fresh and health the fish is, and it is not too hard to image how yummy it would taste like. Thus, it only cost you $20 Canadian Dollar.  

other ways of cooking

fig-2 by Jin deep fried duck

The second dish that I recommend is " deep fried duck" (fig-2), According to the owner, they feed their own ducks on the backyard of this restaurant; therefore, they only service 30 ducks per day and gustes have to pre-order it; otherwise, beijing ducks would be gone so fast. For instance, the cook explained to me that the duck was deep fried by grape seed oil and the oil would be changed every day. Hence, he would also provide the vegetable soup that he boiled by himself to help digest the fatness of the duck. In addition, the duck could be cook by a few of ways, such as steam, roast and baked. Compared to the Quanjude Restaurant, you only need to spend $50 Canadian Dollar. However, it only services 30 ducks per day.

fig-3 mixing vegetable pancake

The third dish I love is the mixing vegetable pancake(fig-3), and it is made by spinaches, green pepper, green onion and other kinds of organic dark green leaf. The price is only $5 Canadian Dollar.

To sum up, a tourist only needs to spend $75 Canadian Dollar instead of $100, and you could have all these delicious dishes that I have described above at "Fish Village" restaurant. As a result, people who are planning to go to Beijing in this summer need to plan wisely because bigger and expensive restaurants do not mean they service better and tasty food. I can not wait for going back to try these food again in the summer,  and welcome to Beijing.