Beijing Restaurant Tips by aussiedoug

Restaurant Name: Tong Li Garden

Had dinner here with Vicky (VT friend sugarpuff) & her boyfriend Charles on my first night in Bejing, in China itself actually. I couldn't have come here & had dinner by myself because the menu was in Chinese (characters only no pinyun) & I'd have no idea what to do or how to do it.

Vicky speaks & reads Chinese. So she selected this restaurant & was in charge of ordering the food.

Really enjoyed my meal here, especially even more so in retrospect as all the meals included as part of our package - the lunches & dinners were all very, very similar. A sort of santised, westernised version of Chinese food. So here was good because I knew it was a geunuine local restaurant in a whole street of genuine local restaurants.

If you see Vicky's homepage you'll see she says how we had chicken's feet & snails then admits we didn't which I'm very glad of. As much as I like to eat something local I don't eat a lot of meat of any sort.

Here also I was introduced into the skilful dexterity of using your chopsticks you eat with to get food from each dish bought out.

Apparently the TongLi Garden Restaurant specialises in Hot Pot & Homemade Food. Now we didn't have Hotpot (although next time I'm in China I really do want to have a hotpot meal) so we must have had the Homemade food.

Favorite Dish: I'm not exactly sure if I've written these down properly after Vicky told me how to spell them.

We had a number of dishes which included:-

Gong Bao Ji Ding - chicken with peanuts, chilli & shallots,

Xilanhua - Broccoli with garlic,

Na Yi Shang Shu (or Shi?) - which translates as "Ants climbing Trees" I'm here to tell you that luckily it wan't literally that! lol! It was sort of like what I'd call singapore noodles (thin noodleswe get here at home) with small pieces of pork. Hence the ants climbing the trees. Loved that name & so glad it wasn't literal.

Cao Yu - this was my favourite, a very yummy fish dish indeed.

I have to finish with a BIG THANK YOU to Vicky (&Charles) for being such a generous & lovely hostess (&host). Hope they get downunder so I can look after them just as well.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: Dongzhimen Lu
Directions: The only way I'd be able to find it again would be taking my photo of the restaurant's sign which is the atached photo. Coming out of Exit A of the Dongzhimen subway you turn right & it's only about 5 minutes walk down on the right hand side.

Restaurant Name: Le Petiti Gourmand

Last morning in Beijing with a couple of hours spare Vicky meets me at 9.30 in the Hotel lobby. We jump into a taxi & once again I am safely in her hands.

Very pleasantly surprised when we jump out of the car & I spy the sign in the attached photo. Please enlarge to see it clearly - the Bookworm @ le Petit Gourmand. This sounds interesting my brain says. Down we walk about 20m to the entrance & inpast the alfresco tables & chairs with the occasional umbrella. Inside, the bibliophile in me is in ecstasy for around every interior wall are bookshelves crammed to overflowing with books.

Yes indeed good readers the marvellous V didn not disappoint on my last morning in Beijing. She knew just where to bring me to finish my Beijing trip perfectly.

Favorite Dish: Unfortunately I'd already had breafast only a bit over an hour earlier (part of my package so no cost) so I didn't eat anything. And I must honestly admit that I was just a tad disappointed that they didn't have my favourite mocha coffee on the menu. But a nice coffee was had all the same.

This is a great little spot in Sanlitun. If I lived in Beijing I reckon I'd spend a fair bit of time here. The menu sounded really good & pretty reasonably priced too is seemed. Next time in Beijing it defintely has to be a full scale lunch here!!!!!

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: Sanlitun, Bar Street North
Directions: Yes, Bar Street North, only about 20 odd metres up on the left form the traffic lights that define the border between Bar Street North & Bar Street South.