Xiao 9($$)

Xiao

This restaurant serves food from Guizhou province. Traditionally food from this area is very similar to Shichuan food, but is usually served in small bite size pieces. This restaurant is located in the popular Gulou area of Beijing surrounded by trendy clothing stores, guitar shops and bars. The restaurant has a most interesting interior architecture. The dinning floor is set on four levels; four tables on each level.

We ordered three dishes and it was more than enough food for two people. Ham and Chicken soup, Pork Spare Ribs and Mint Chicken Wings. Everything was very good, and definitely had a distinguishable flavor different than typical Chinese food.

I was most impressed with the Mint Chicken wings. They were marinated in a spicy sweet sauce and stir fried, fresh mint added last to keep the flavor. The mint gave the spicy chicken a cool almost basil flavor reminding me of some Indian dishes. The pork was breaded with a flour and pepper crust and then fried in little pieces. It was wonderfully spicy, crisp and a perfect balance to the sweeter cool taste of the chicken wings. This restaurant is most famous for their soup, particularly their sour fish soup. But we ordered ham, I thought is was refreshing and the broth was very good, but it wasn’t really all that unusual or special.

For taste I give Xiao a 10, it was an adventure in taste well worth the visit. In fact it may be my favorite restaurant experience so far in Beijing. Everything was hot and so good!

For atmosphere I give it a 7. Xiao has that little family owned restaurant feeling. The tiered dinning levels were definitely a home job and it’s a little weird that the kitchen is located below the floor but every thing was very clean. One major down side though is that there is not a bathroom on location, you have to walk a block to get to the nearest public toilet, not really a problem for locals but a little inconvenient for foreigners.

For price Xiao gets a $ and ½$ for two people; about $30 American dollars in total.

Overall I give Xiao a 9. I loved the flavor and variety that this restaurant has to offer. It was a treat to try something different. But I did not like having to run around the corner to go to the bathroom and the facility was terrible, which has no reflection on the restaurant other than the fact that they didn’t have one, but I would walk the extra block to go to the public bathroom with the doors on the stalls.