Report-A visit to Ba Ren

[jill kibler]

On, recommendation of the board, my husband and my sister and her hubby dined at Ba Ren. My husband and I lived in Beijing for 7 years, and since then we have searched for good Chinese food to fit our cravings.

We orderded the Sichuan cold noodles, because we didn't "get" their cold dish buffet at the front door-next time we will, because the sea weed and sliced meats looked great. The cold noodles(menu #249) were fine.

We ordered the diced chicken with hot peppers(#101) and we were very excited. The chicken was like the chicken in hot peppers we could get at a very popular Sichuan resto on our street in Beijing. The chicken bits are fried crispy and surrounded by a mound of hot peppers and green onions. Lovely smokey and spicy.

We also orderd the double cooked fish(#121)...excellent fried fish in a dry mix of vegetables. This was a new dish to us, recommended here, and it reminded me of a Malaysian dish. We also ordered the dry cooked lamb-served on a bed of bean spouts with at least two kinds of peppers...hot, and delicious.We ordered the crispy rice with calamari(#156). Crispy rice is not my choice, I find it more showy than tasty, but my sister really enjoyed it served with a creamy suace with two types of mushrooms.
Our vegetable dishes we the sauteed green beans(240) very traditional, and perfectly cooked. And I tried to order hot and fragrant julienned potatoes, not on the menu, but traditional fare in the Beijing resto-they got the hot correct, but the fragrant part was missing.

We are looking forward to going back to try Ma Po Tofu and Stir fried shredded pork in Peking sauce (#194). I feel this dish is a poor person's version of Peking Duck, served with pancakes and sliced leek threads.

We were very pleased with our meal, the service, and the quality of the food. I recommend Ba Ren, and I hope to see you there sweating through the diced chicken with hot pepper!

Peace, jill

[daantaat]

mmm....:-)

[Bobierto]

Jill, we went to Ba Ren a few months ago and although we're spice lovers we were blown away by the spice level. Nonetheless we were ready to go back and last night took your advice. We followed your advice and had the twice-cooked fish, the sauteed green beans, the shredded pork (they didn't bring pancakes but we didn't ask, either), and the diced chicken with hot peppers. Only the last one had lethal level of chili and all four selections were just great. The fish and beans were both huge hits. Thanks so much for your post!