Tairo Teppanyaki 2($$)

Tairo Teppanyaki

This restaurant sounded like a lot of fun. Kris and I love teppanyaki, good food, entertainment and fun with fire. Who could ask for more? Well unfortunately at Tairo Teppanyaki we could have asked for a lot more. Their more famous deal is 150 Yuan for all you can eat and drink. It sounded like a great deal, and it turns out that it was too good to be true.

We ordered, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, bacon wrapped mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, snap peas, lamb fillet, salmon fillet, fillet minion, beef tongue in red wine marinade, tiger shrimp, pineapple rice, a mango, vanilla ice cream, sake and beer.

First off, they were out of the snap peas and didn’t tell us, they forgot to get my beer, and they never got out second order of sake. Second they put mayonnaise on the mango and ketchup in the pineapple fried rice. We then had to order it without the strange dressing, they fixed the mango, but they would not fix the rice. Third the sashimi that we ordered was terrible. The fish showed signs of having been frozen. Under no circumstances are sushi grade fish ever supposed to have been frozen. If it is, then it can’t be sushi and it needs to be cooked.

In addition to the food being horrible, the service was obviously terrible. Our order kept getting lost, or forgotten, one of our friends swore he would order and the waitress only wrote down half of what he asked for. In the end we figured it had to be a scheme, they tell you its all you can eat, then they space out the meal until they close, then forget and run out of things and then they get to charge you the full amount.

Over all I give Tairo Teppanyaki a 2 out of 10, 10 being the highest. I was not pleased with the dinner. The only redeeming quality was the beef tongue which was very good for some reason. I have never had to give out such a bad score before, and I really hope that I never have to again. The only reason it didn’t get a 1 was because I did like the beef tongue and the beer was very cold.

This restaurant does not warrant any more ratings because it was that bad.

However the price of getting ripped off for a not that great all you can eat and drink place is just about right. 150 Yuan each comes out to about $20 So $$ for two people.

Hutong Pizza 8($)

Hutong Pizza.

The Hutongs are the traditional family homes in the ancient villages around Beijing. These little family homes consist of four homes that surround a common courtyard area. Traditionally Families would live here together, grandparents, and children and pass the home on to their sons, who would bring their wives to live with them there. Today the Hutong is composed of small families like in ancient times, small shops, convenience stores, boutiques and restaurants. For the most part these restaurants will be frequented by the locals, unless it is a larger restaurant facing the busy street or in touristy areas like HouHai.

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This little place was a little hard to find, though there are a few signs that point you in the right direction. Located in an actual hutong courtyard the little pizza place has four two person tables in the little covered patio area; and indoors there is more seating on the ground level and them more on the balcony level. But don’t get me wrong, this is a little hole in the wall kind of restaurant. There are two kitchens, one just for pizza and then a smaller separate one that would have been the family kitchen shared between four houses is used as a service kitchen where smaller dishes like salads are prepared.

I was not really that hungry but I wanted to try as much as possible. So we ordered the All Gone Pizza: pepperoni, ham, sausage, red, orange and yellow peppers, onions, mushrooms, crenel corn, olives, mozzarella cheese, and goat cheese on a tomato sauce thin crust. We also ordered Lasagna, two beers and a slice of apple pie a la mode.

It was very good. For some reason we were served our apple pie first. I think it was a miss understanding. I have been searching for apple pie since we got here (apple pie is my favorite dessert, though it rarely lives up to my expectations). It was pretty good. Had a little bit different taste to it, an almost anise taste like black licorice, not nutmeg.

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The Lasagna was also good, though it only had the one kind of cheese in it. It was basically some wide noodles with red sauce, sausage and mozzarella on top, bakes in a little dish. I needed at least ricotta to be a real lasagna.

Then the pizza came. I really was getting pretty full but it looked really good. Corn on top of pizza seems like a weird thing, but its not it adds to the flavor and I assume that other pizza toppings that are common in California are really expensive here, like artichokes or fresh tomatoes.

For taste I give Hutong Pizza a 8 out of 10. There were a few things missing, but it was overall very good. And where substitutions were made, it almost didn’t make a difference.

For atmosphere I give it a 7 out of 10. The place was unique. It also had a large Kio pond and fountain in the patio area and the inside had large red columns holding up the roof. But the bathroom facilities consisted of one single toilet, not that clean and very close to the door.

For price dinner for us and all that we ate cost $ in US dollars.

Overall I give Hutong Pizza a 8 out of 10.

The Saddles 9($$)

The Saddle

The Saddle is a hard place to get too. You can see the balcony from an alley way but there is currently no way to get into the square without climbing your way through a construction site. The surprising this is that the restaurant is full any given night. Saddle’s microbrews their own beer and their own whiskey; the brewery and the bar are located on the ground level. If you go upstairs there is a nice restaurant with a large outdoor patio. At one end there is a pool table. Kris and I went just to get some Chips and Guacamole two huge Margaritas and play some pool. Our game was terrible and probably the worst game I ever played. But the chips were very good, though a little shy on the guacamole. I assume Avocados are very expensive here in China. It was a fun place to spend a very nice night. I would recommend it to anyone. If you want to go here it’s behind China doll and you have to access the alley around the corner of a clothing mall.

Overall I give Saddles a 9 out of 10 for fun, but I didn’t really eat all the much. And my huge margarita only had two shots of tequila, it wasn’t enough.

For price Saddle gets a $$, its a little expensive for a restaurant in China but its good.

I now get to rate Saddle for taste because we have now actually eaten here. This time the guacamole was not as good, but Kris' tacos carnitas were good and my enchiladas were very cheesy. It was good, I rate Saddle a 8 for taste. Hey it's Mexican food, the scale doesn't go that high, but it is always satisfying.

The Book Worm 9 (1/2$)

The Book Worm

The book worm is a book store, library club and restaurant. Who could ask for more? The atmosphere here feels very similar to a college town café. Everyone is eating, reading, studying and everyone is on the lookout for a hot hook up. Located a little out of the way in the top story of a little box concrete building the Book Worm doesn’t look like much at first glance. On the inside, all the walls are lined in books the rest of the space is full of couches and arm chairs. There is also a patio on the roof with café tables and umbrellas for those rare blue sky days and those nice summer evenings.

Kris and I came just to read and get a bite to eat. I ordered a turkey leg sandwich and Kris had the lasagna. My sandwich also came with a little salad and some steak fries. The sandwich came out in little grilled triangles the kind you make with a sandwich press. It was really very good and the little pressed triangles were just cute! Kris’ lasagna was really good. Its hard to find real cheese in China and compared to other lasagna in China this one even had the three kinds of cheese ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan.

For taste Book Worn earns a 10 out of 10. Everything was delicious, well prepared, thoughtful and more than I expected.

For price Book Worm receives half a $ for two people in US dollars.

Over all I give Book Worm a 9 out of 10. Book Worm looses points just because there is room for improvement as far as comfort, facilities, and décor. But it was over all a fun place to visit and a great place to eat.

Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q 8($)

Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q

This restaurant was rated to have the best burger in town by This Week Magazine. Kris ordered the Classic Burger plus cheese, and I ordered Pork Ribs and Texas Chile. The burger was very good, just like home. It came on an egg bread bun, with lettuce, onions and tomatoes; cheese was added to make it a cheese burger. My ribs were cooked till they were nearly falling off the bone and drenched in barbecue sauce. The only complain I have about the ribs it that they were a Chinese cut, meaning, extremely fatty. The fat of the pork holds all of the flavor in Chinese cooking, but in this case because the sauce was pored over the ribs after being cooked the fat did not absorb any of the barbecue favors. The Texas Chile was very good. Just the right amount of spice and chilies, it also came with cornbread that was a little dry and denser than it needed to be. I suspect the cornbread batter was not made with two parts wheat flour and one part corn meal which is what makes corn bread fluffy and light. Somehow the ratio was off and it just didn’t taste quite right.

For taste I give Texas Bar-B-Q an 8 out of 10. For the most part everything was enjoyable. The Burger and the Chile were very good and only the cut of rib and the corn bread were disappointing.

For Price Tim’s TBQ receives $ for two people in US dollars including beer.

Overall I give Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q a 9 out of 10. The food was good, the beer was cold. There is a bar and a dart board in the back and it was just over all fun.

My Humble Home 7 ($$$$)

My Humble Home.

My Humble Home, is a very over priced restaurant in the Sky Ave. of the Oriental Plaza. It is known for its Chinese fusion cuisine and modern image. On this occasion Kris and I chose My Humble Home out of convenience, our apartment in Beijing it located directly above the restaurant.

MHH has an extensive menu and wine list. There are three set menus and also an al a carte menu. We ordered beef tri-tip salad, seafood soup cooked inside a coconut, fried rice, and Chinese pork belly. I was not able to take any pictures inside the restaurant because I got in trouble taking this picture of the salad.

The best part of the meal was the soup: a crab broth, with chunks of crab, lobster, clams, sea sponge and vegetables. It came out inside of a peeled coconut piping hot. It was delicious. The broth was very flavorful, and all the sea food was fresh and tender, it had just a hint of coconut flavor but nothing too milky.

The pork belly was very rich. Traditionally Chinese means very fatty to retain the most flavor. It was delicious but way too much for two people, the dish would have been better divided between six people. The fried rice was too oily and the oil and the wok was too hot when the rice was added. It had a distinctive burnt sesame seed oil taste. The only redeeming quality was that it had pine nuts in it.

For taste I give HMM a 7. It was ok, definitely was not worth the cost.

For service I have to give HMM a 4, for some reason it took forever to get the check and we had to ask more than a few times. It seems that more important people who were ordering more came in right when we wanted to leave and for some reason everyone just stopped and stared at the new dinner party.

Overall I give My Humble Home a 7 out of 10. In this instance the soup saved the day.

South Silk Road, Beijing 10 ($$)

What can I say about restaurants in China? The first thing everyone should know is that the restaurants you go to while on a tour are not very good. In fact they may be terrible. And the restaurants that are available if you go out on your own can be excellent. This should be obvious, but isn’t always because many times the restaurants that they take you to on tour are in fact famous, and can be pretty good. But you’re not Chinese and you don’t speak the language so they make you the dishes that Americans usually expect from their limited experience from home and they give you the poorest quality because you won’t notice the difference. There are no greater critics than the Chinese when it comes to food. Restaurants want to please the locals first, who have a much greater chance of becoming loyal customers.

The first restaurant of not is South Silk Road located in Houhai. All the food cooked here is from the Yunnan region or is influenced by the spices of this region. The Yunnan region is in the south of china located along the ocean and largely tropical. Food from this region tends to be very spicy and uses many more herbs not found in other Chinese dishes.

This being our third anniversary Kris and I went all out on dinner and ordered Rice cooked inside a bamboo pole, a roast quail, fried rice cake with roasted sesame seed butter and honey, and a banana wrapped tilapia.

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To say the least, all the food was amazing! This lighting in the restaurant was very poor but even in my badly taken photos of the evening you can see the color and the spice incorporated into everything. The Tilapia was a little spicy and we ended up pushing most of the herbs and pepper to the side, but its juices were so good. It was so moist and had such a cool burn to the spice. The rice cake was such a treat, the interpretation in the menu was very bad so we took and chance when we ordered it. The rice cake was warm and crunchy on the outside and so soft and sweet inside, then you get to the sesame seed butter filling and it just pops with warmth in your mouth. It doesn’t really need the honey that it comes with but even the honey has a floral taste to it. The quail was very gamy and tough, the toughness did not allow the flavor to penetrate very far into the meat so I was rather disappointed in the quail. But it was likely caught wild and I do support free range. The last little fun treat was the bamboo rice. Kris did not like this dish very much due to the very nutty flavor. It almost had a cashew and snap peas flavor to it. It was mixed with some kind of nut or bean and some green onion. This mixture is dry when it is poured into the bamboo pole and then capped with water. To cook it the whole thing is put directly into the fire. When the green bamboo slips the rice is cooked and ready.

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Over all I give South Silk Road a 10

Price $$ for two people

For taste 10

For atmosphere 10

For service a 9. Service in china is very different than in America, bordering on servitude rather than service. In China you do not leave a tip, good service is simply part of the job if you want to keep your job. In a city of 13 million the competition for jobs is huge; and every establishment can hire huge amounts of employees because they can pay their works so little; this mean there is often one employee for every customer sometimes two or three and they all wait upon you hand and foot. This often feels uncomfortable it you are not used to someone hovering over you wail you decide what to order, but you never have to wait for the check or hail someone for a refill. There is always someone there waiting to help you before you ask. In comparison to many places that I have eaten Silk Road surpasses any American restaurants but did not do as well compared to restaurants here.