Solo dining in Beijing

[lessthanjoey]

I'll be in Beijing in around 24 hours for 3 nights alone (tail end of a longer business trip where I've been with mandarin speakers).

Are there any suggestions for eating alone at most restaurants? Do I just order a couple of things and a side dish and accept the waste?

I've read through a number of Beijing threads and so far my thoughts are that I will eat at Quanjude for the duck (can I do this solo?), Ba Guo Bu Yi, and the Guizhou style private kitchen in the Hutong mentioned here by four seasons: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/571164 (will this be OK with English, pointing, and gesticulating?).

How does this sound? Any strong feelings that I should try something else instead?

Also, if there's anyone else around solo who wouldn't mind a dinner companion, let me know.

Cheers!
Joe

[pepper_mil]

My solo Quanjude lunch was great; you can order a half duck which is still a lot of food. (I had to flap an arm to get the carver to give me the wing though...they just about left with the best part!)

I often stick to lower end stuff like street food, snacks, noodles, fried rice, or gai jiao fan (stuff over rice) plates when eating alone. The family serving style does make Chinese food a bit limiting to eat solo, but don't let that stop you from experiencing the really great places. You can always get your server to help you.

Some phrases if you want help ordering:

你 推荐 什么? ni tuijian shenme? - what do you recommend?
你们 有 什么 特色菜? nimen you sheme tese cai? - what are your (house or local) specalities?

[FourSeasons]

I think Englilsh is not a problem in the Guizhou private kitchen as I recall English is in the menu (though I am not able to confirm as I can read Chinese). Solo dining is always more difficult for Chinese food; you may just have to "order a couple of things and a side dish and accept the waste", I think. Just beware that the alley is quite dark at night and you may have difficulty finding the place.

I would recommend Made in China for the duck (whether you dine solo or in group); you can just reserve for half the duck when you made the reservation and there are some small northern style homey dishes as well.

[lessthanjoey]

Thank you both for your advice!

I went to Private Kitchen tonight and had a great time. I wish I had been able to try more dishes, but I thought the food was great. I had the sour and spicy river fish soup and a slightly bitter claypot dish with beef, mushrooms, and bamboo. I enjoyed both a great deal.

For the record, there's plenty of English on the menus and one of the guys there spoke English quite well. I also didn't have much trouble finding it. If anybody is going to look for it, walk north from the Zhangzizhonglu subway station and then turn left onto Xiguan Hutong (English signs). It'll be a couple of minutes walk down on your left side. The building has a sign saying 44 and Private Kitchen in addition to the Chinese name.

Cheers!
Joe

[FourSeasons]

Hi lessthanjoey:

I am glad you enjoy the food at Guizhou Private Kitchen. I like the soup as much as you but just wonder how you could finish it by yourself when we split it among the four of us on that dinner...

This is winter time, you may want to try lamp hot pot, which is a very typical northern winter cuisine, at Nan Men Hotpot at no.9 Ritan East Road, Chaoyang District that I wrote on the earlier thread. I think this place is actually more friendly for solo diners than most other Chinese restaurants.

[lessthanjoey]

Finish? Surely you jest. I did put in a good effort though and left feeling absolutely stuffed.

Tonight, similarly, I ordered far too much food, didn't finish, and left feeling absolutely stuffed. I tried Ba Guo Bu Yi and ate 夫妻肺片 (Fu Qi Fei Pian), 水煮鱼 (Shui Zhu Yu - water-boiled fish / fish in a fiery sauce / no idea what they called it here :)), and Ma Po Dou Fu. Flavors were generally surprisingly close to what I'm used to from San Francisco Bay Area Sichuan restaurants, except for the Shui Zhu Yu, which was definitely the "entirely oil" version vs the "somewhat soupy" version. The level of Sichuan peppercorn was also a notch higher, leaving my mouth and lips severely tingling for the meal. On a side note, I cannot fathom why one would buy an 80RMB cup of tea or especially a 1400RMB bottle of wine while having one's tastebuds so overwhelmed. But I digress - a great recommendation. Thanks!

I only have one night left in Beijing and I don't think I can stomach leaving without a Peking Duck meal so Nan Men Hotpot will have to wait for next time but I'll note it down.

[Simon]

80RMB cup of tea?...that is what tea costs at Private Kitchen?

[lessthanjoey]

No. It was one of the more expensive options at Ba Guo Bu Yi though... (they also have cheap tea).

[toomuchfoodinbeijing]

Private Kitchen is one of my favorite places in Beijing. I've been many times and have never been disappointed. They ship in most of their ingredients from Guizhou and make their own Guizhou wine. The fish is consistently one of the best dishes. See my review here: http://toomuchfoodinla.blogspot.com/2...

[leonleebaoyan]

agreed - consistently the best 酸汤鱼 guizhou sour fish soup in beijing. and it tastes fresh and clean (read: no MSG attack).

as for solo dining, Noodle Bar is a great deal for good quality beef noodle set. granted their style of beef noodles is of no particular region but short of heading to taipei, it's the best i've had in beijing. that is unless you know of another place? anyone? anyone?

[FourSeasons]

For noodle, how about Noodle Loft Shanxi面酷? There are 2 branches at Chaoyang district.

[toomuchfoodinbeijing]

面酷is very good in terms of the atmosphere. It's catered towards a hipper crowd and not your typical Shanxi noodle hole in the wall. So some might say that it's not authentic, but I think the noodles are just as good, if not better. A very pleasant addition to the food scene here. Anthony Bourdain taped the chefs making Shanxi noodles for his show No Reservations. You can see my review of Noodle Loft here: http://toomuchfoodinla.blogspot.com/2...

[asya999]

I'm in the exact same boat, except I'm coming to Beijing tonight and staying all week. I'll be with locals some of the time but would like to venture out on my own as well. I'll follow your point-and-gesture technique! :)

I've been in Shanghai the last few days and going out for dim sum alone is by far the worst!!!

[lessthanjoey]

Final Report: Duck at Da Dong

I spent far too long this afternoon, reading the multitude of reviews on Chowhound and elsewhere on the web and struggling to decide on a duck restaurant. I decided on Da Dong and I would describe the meal as decent but certainly no revelation.

My major hesitation before going related to the "super lean" description of their duck. I love duck fat and true to the name their duck had essentially no fat. The skin was medium-crispy and the meat was tender and reasonably juicy. Despite spending my 45 minute wait observing the ovens my duck had no obvious wood/smoke smell or taste. While the chef was carving my duck (I ordered a half), I unsuccessfully tried explaining to the waitress standing next to me that I wanted the liver. When I turned back around the chef was gone so I didn't even get to ask for the wing or leg! I would say that I got at most a quarter of the duck meat and skin which was initially disappointing, but since I was alone it was enough to fill me up. Especially given that I also ordered a (surprisingly *very* sweet, but tasty) braised oxtail dish.

My meal at private kitchen was far and away the most memorable of the three - I heartily recommend it and I'll be excited to try more dishes if I'm in Beijing with company any time soon. Ba Guo Bu Yi was also very good (and if I didn't have such good Sichuan food close to home I'd be itching to eat there again already).

Da Dong was (surprisingly to me) the most portion friendly for a solo diner. The other two required ordering multiple items and leaving some waste, but it wasn't a huge deal. Asya - enjoy your week ! Dim Sum alone sounds brutal.

[FourSeasons]

I am not a fan of Da Dong too. I don't know why it is so popular...we had to queue for more than 1 hour when we visited Da Dong almost a year ago. In my opinion, the roast duck in Made In China was certainly more delicious than the one at Da Dong! Just another recommendation: on your next visit to Beijing, you can try Yue Lu at Hou Hai, a Hunan restaurant that is one of my fave in Beijing. If you like Guizhou cuisine, I think you will like Hunan cuisine too, rather spicy as well. And it is very difficult to find authentic hunan outside of China, even in Hong Kong or Singapore, let alone America.

[aventinus]

I just spent five days in Beijing, dining solo. Here's a quick report.

Da Dong (the newest branch at the Nanxincang Jewelry Market on Dongsi). Superb overall. I am not a fan of duck, but I loved Da Dong's Peking duck. I ordered a half duck, which was a perfect portion for one person. Also superb was their smoked bamboo shoots. Outstanding atmosphere and service. I appreciated the waitress teaching me to dip the duck skin into the sugar and how to roll the duck meat up into pancakes.

Private Kitchen 44 (went twice). Thanks to Chowhound for this great find. Private Kitchen has an menu that is very extensive and interesting (and best of all, has detailed English writeups). The menu describes the food as Guizhou cuisine with Szechuan and even Western influences. Beyond the justifiably famous fish soup, which could easily serve four people, the dishes were reasonably sized for one (hungry) person, and always good. My favorite thing was actually their house-made rice wine. Atmosphere was laid-back/chill (they played Bob Dylan while I was there the first time); service friendly but inattentive. Superb for solo dining (they'll likely sit you in one of the leather armchairs where you can read books from the bookshelf).

Yue Lu (Houhai). We are fortunate to have a couple of good Hunan restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley outside Los Angeles. Thanks to those restaurants, Hunan is becoming my favorite Chinese cooking style. The food at Yue Lu was much less spicy than that to which I am accustomed, perhaps because Yue Lu is trying to cater to native Beijingers and Chinese tourists. Regardless, the food was delicious. My favorite dish was their simple soy-sauce fried rice, which had a deep-purple color, a satisfying umami flavor, and perfect grain-by-grain texture. Fine choice for solo dining (large outdoor seating area provides plenty of tables).

Xu Xiang Zhai (vegetarian, across from Confucius Temple). One of the best, if not the best, vegetarian restaurant I've ever been to. They served an extensive buffet. Usually I'm skeptical about such buffets because I figure the quality of every dish is going to be mediocre at best, and even if the dishes are great, they're going to taste the same or conflict with one another. Not so at Xu Xiang Zhai. Everything dish I tried was very good, and also elegant and easy to combine with other dishes. The range of flavors and textures was wide. Only the desserts fell flat. Really a great job here overall--vegetarians should seek this out. (Both the Confucius Temple and nearby Lama/Yonghe Temple, nearby, are worth visiting.) Great for solo dining (lots of people doing so--they'll just put you at a communal table).

Punjabi (Lucky Street). I was craving Indian food, so I took a cab to Punjabi, and was very glad I did. The food was excellent--would be top 5-10% in its class in the United States. Particularly good was the tandoori barbecued potatoes stuffed with paneer. I was also glad I went to Punjabi because Lucky Street and its surrounds display a side of Beijing I had not seen elsewhere--wide stretches of upscale, cosmopolitan restaurants, bars, clubs, and shops for the professional class. Lucky Street was an Epcot-like showcase of world cuisines, ranging from Indian and Chinese to German and French bakeries. Great for solo dining (many people were dining solo in beaded-off booths).

Cro's Nest. A well-known pizza place geared toward expats and Western tourists. Nothing special food-wise, but better than you might expect (it is, after all, adjacent to an Outback Steakhouse).