When in Beijing....

Post by: Beth

So if we still have any readers left, I'll apologize to you now for my absence of posts.. We've had visitors for the last solid month, so we've been busy exploring the city, TAKING pictures instead of just posting them. :)

I'm pretty far behind.. like.. Beijing-behind, but I still have a few things from that trip I wanted to share. One of the best things we did was go to an authentic Peking duck restaurant. Stefano's dad apparently has been eating at this place for a while on his visits to Beijing, and passed along the suggestion to his son, who's also eaten there a couple of times. Fortunately, he took us with him this time, and we got to experience Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant.

The alleyways to get to this hidden restaurant are so small cars can't fit through. We swapped from the taxi to this rickshaw-type vehicle that carried us from the main road to the restaurant.

Here's my and Raja's driver, pedaling along:

Ada & Stefano, in their rickshaw:

Here we are arriving at the restaurant, ready to eat! :)

(Sorry about the flash-no idea why it does this to my face.. in every photo.. ever taken... ;) )

Inside the entrance of the restaurant, you can see the ducks hanging up, being roasted:The restaurant is packed every single night, and reservations are required. That still means you may have to wait up to an hour!Here's a waiter, carving up one of our birds:We ordered a ton of food. Two ducks, all the trimmings, and plenty of sides:

I'd never eaten duck before, and of course never Peking duck in the traditional style. Stefano taught us what to do: You take a very thin pancake-type wrap, fill it with duck, plum sauce, onions, and cucumber strips; wrap all that up and eat! It looks like this:

So yummy, and so fun! We had a great time and this restaurant was a definite must-do adventure for us. :)