Don't worry or go to the bathhouse! China-2017. Part 4. Peking Duck.
From the Great Wall, back to Beijing, we drove for a very long time, first by taxi, then by regular bus. They dragged on in endless toffees, spun around the crowded city, stood in motionless traffic jams. Therefore, my hopes of getting into the Drum Tower that day were dashed at the entrance to the city. This does not mean that we planned the Wall and the Tower on the same day, but when we got on the bus, we thought that there was still a car, and we really wanted to see the drum beat. But no, time is all gone in traffic jams and toffees. In addition, in China, as in all of Asia, attractions close too early. The last drum beat should be at 17:00. We risked being late, and it was time for lunch. Except for a few dumplings in the morning, we didn't eat anything. In general, between the drums and the duck, we chose the duck. I couldn't let her slip away from me a second time) (Here it is described how she slipped away from me for the first time)
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Don't think you can eat Peking Duck anywhere in China. Moreover, even in Beijing, you can not eat it in every place.
Remember, the Pekin duck is not only valuable fur delicious food, but also a spectacle. And, if food can be bought for 50 yuan per serving, then the duck-slicing show will cost much more. Although, I dare to assume that the duck for 258 yuan is tastier than for 50) It is not for nothing that all guidebooks strongly advise eating duck in the “right place”.
Perhaps I should explain why we were determined to have duck for dinner. Peking duck is like Kyiv cake, only duck) The symbol of Beijing, one might say. Didn't climb the wall - not Chinese, didn't eat Peking duck - not Peking)
When you are going to China and open any of the guidebooks, you will read the following phrase: “If fate smiled at you, giving you the opportunity to visit China, and you did not try the most famous dish of the Celestial Empire - Peking duck, then the whole trip was in vain! »
And then about the food of emperors, a special duck breed and the right restaurant.
Since we lived in the oldest, most beautiful area of Beijing, it was there that we found the right place. I took care of the search from home. After my last duck fail, I even wrote down the address and name in Chinese. But I didn't have to search too hard. This place was noticeably in demand among the Chinese, we could not pass by, even if we did not have an address.
That's what makes it good to live on a tourist street - you don't need to go specially to admire all these beauties.
And the bad thing is that as a result you run along this street as a saiga, there is no time to look at the beauty uphill.
And there is something to look at
But since I photograph much worse than I tell, I will be more about the duck in words.
This is delicious! It is very expensive! It's very fat!
The Junior Gourmet Peking Duck Set includes:
1 Duck itself, grilled, whole, about 3 kg.
2. Small diameter rice cakes, pieces 20.
3. Chopped cucumbers and leeks.
4. Two small slides of sugar and chopped garlic.
5. Sauce. Thick and often sweet.
From a three-kilogram duck, the cook cuts off the softest - thin slices of duck breast. He puts everything on plates, be sure to cut off pieces of golden brown from all other places. The skeleton with the rest of the meat is taken away, and the broth is brought, but so quickly that it is more likely from your neighbor's duck. Your duck will be boiled for the next visitor. We take a cake, grease with sauce. There are no spoons and forks, but there are chopsticks. It is very entertaining to drag sauce on a flatbread with chopsticks. You probably remember the Chinese wisdom that a leisurely absorption of food is much healthier than a hasty one. We smear the sauce with chopsticks, meditate along the way. Particularly hungry people do not smear anything with sauce, but they dip a ready-made pancake there. This does not shock anyone, it can be so) Put meat, cucumbers and onions into the cake, lovers still sprinkle with sugar and garlic.
We fold all this into an envelope or a tube and slowly enjoy the food, and do not swallow it all together like a hungry dragon. We got the broth tasteless, maybe it should be so as not to overshadow the bright duck taste.
By the way, if you live in Moscow, go to GUM and find a Chinese cafe there. It has inscriptions only in Chinese, but the staff speaks Russian and there is a menu in Russian. There I ate Chinese soup with the most delicious duck) When I told the Moscow Chinese chef Heng hao chi what we mean “It was the most delicious dish that my lips have ever tasted, this divine taste I have never forget! », he looked at me so strangely that I immediately understood the Chinese language he does not know. Then, after the incident with Chutsuche, my confidence shook. It is quite possible that my perfectpronunciation put him into a stupor.
But back to Chinese Chinese. The Chinese Chinese stood in line for the duck.
The queue is such a sign that something is given the duck is delicious. Or that marketers don't eat their rice for nothing. The line moved slowly, I joined the tail. I looked around distractedly - the interior of the establishment did not tell me in any way about the “right” place. There were no large round tables covered with a tablecloth, there was no cook with a duck show near the tables, there was not even a piano. “In what conditions do you have to eat a duck, ” I thought, but I didn’t quit the queue. Since the Chinese are standing, it means they know something.
And then Nadia found Papa Carlo's hearth wide open door to the restaurant. There was no queue, but there were no places either. True, there was also no piano, tablecloths and large round tables.
But there was a cook slicing duck. This alone was enough for us to immediately want to have dinner here. And we boldly went ahead.
I was silent like an omul, while Nadia told the administrator in English how much we want to eat Peking duck here. How we dreamed about it all our lives. The Chinese wiped away a tear and miraculously found a table for us in a niche, near the window, just for two. They brought the menu.
- Duck! we said.
-What about the duck? they asked.
It turns out that if you order a duck for 258 yuan, everything else, including garlic, must be ordered separately. We ordered everything they offered, especially since the cost against the background of the cost of the duck itself seemed ridiculous. There was also quite expensive beer, but that couldn't stop us.
-Walk so walk! Champagne in the rooms!
In more expensive restaurants (much more expensive, Lord), the duck is taken out on a special table right to the table, and in this one it is taken out to the same place, in the center of the hall, and the chef cuts it.
When our duck was brought out, we were told to go and look and be touched. He sliced deftly and professionally, but there was no particular pathos in him, an ordinary, tired hard worker, in a dressing gown that was not the cleanest, cut tender duck meat and put it on disposable plates. Of course, I did not expect Bohemian glass, but, for some reason, disposable tableware upset me.
Then we ate, drank and ate more.
And everything that we could not eat, we packed with us. In China, it is customary to take food from a restaurant with you. We paid 330 yuan for everything, which is 1250 hryvnia. It was probably the biggest food bill of the whole trip. Or then we got used to it and didn't pay attention)
We went to the store, bought two sticks of three-in-one coffee, and the issue with toad tomorrow's breakfast was resolved.
The day ended with two Festal tablets, because the human body cannot digest duck meat at night, especially in such quantities.
Tomorrow we fly to Zhangjiajie, but not in the morning. And in the morning we will go to the Temple of Heaven - the roundest temple in the world)
