Grandma's Kitchen 9($$)

Grandma’s Kitchen

This little restaurant is exactly what you would think; home style American food served piping hot in large American portions without loosing that “made just for you“ taste. Getting to this little gem was a little hard, it was a little further off the beaten path than we thought it would be, and we had an unexpected walk ahead of us getting there. But it was ultimately worth it. The location that we went to had a little living room set up in one corner with comfy couches and arm chairs in front of a fireless mantle and an indoor patio bistro set up in the other corner. The larger dinning room was just beyond the warp around coffee house counter. I would have to say that over all feeling was cute, with the wainscoting and molding you would find in a country kitchen, complete with cherry curtains.

On this occasion Kris and I just wanted that little bit of home. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread, and Kris ordered a Philly cheese steak sandwich. My spaghetti was wonderful, it was not the best I have ever had, but it was just what I wanted. The meat sauce was thick with ground pork barely and just enough tomato to keep the traditional color.

Kris’ sandwich, looked amazing, and considering how quickly it disappeared I have to assume that it tasted amazing. Kris remarked that it was the best Philly cheese steak sandwich he has ever had.

For taste I give Grandma’s Kitchen a 9 everything tasted good, was made from scratch and completed to perfection. They had a very extensive menu, including steaks and meatloaf; there were at least five different spaghetti dishes alone. Grandma’s only looses a point because I like to be impressed to give out perfect scores; Grandma’s met all my expectations.

For service I have to rate them, again, at a 9, it met my expectations.

For atmosphere I have to call it a family joint, this should seem obvious. It was very clean, and much larger and open than most little family run restaurants are in China. It would be an ok place to take a date but really only if you knew each other pretty well and were there for the food.

For Price, typical of Beijing, a meal here for two people was about 1 ½ $

Over all I give Grandma’s Kitchen a 9 out of 10. Again Grandma’s met all my expectations, but it did not really surprise me other than the fact I am usually disappointed. I definitely recommend going. They are supposed to have really good home made cheese cake.

Durty Nellie's Beijing Irish Pub 9($$)

Durty Nellie’s Beijing Irish Pub

This place is a lot bigger than you think it will be from the out side. On this night it was raining, and a walk down by the river to get here was not ideal. But I can see where this little pub can be a lot of fun on a summer night. This pub has a decently sized bar, two foose ball tables, a pool table and a dart board, there is a room in the back that can be separated for parties or rowdy game nights and the porch our front has some plastic picnic tables. There is not much a view since is just looks out into parking lot next to the freeway but the river side is nice.

In addition to being a great place to get a drink though, they also have a very good kitchen. Kris and I each ordered a Burger and we shared an appetizer of fried mozzarella sticks and Thai chilly dipping sauce. The cheese was ok, but really it needed to be fried longer so it would be hotter and the cheese would be meltier but it was good. The Burger, was amazing. Large hand formed patty, a fried egg on top, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise all on a sesame seed bun and large salty steak fries. The best burger I have had in a while.

For taste I give Durty Nellie’s a 9 out of 10. That Burger was soo… good. Fresh vine ripened tomato thickly sliced, hand packed juicy beef patty, a sunny side egg on top. The French fries were salty, crisp, and piping hot.

For atmosphere I rate the Irish Pub at a 9. There was pool, and darts, a big screen TV plenty of seating chairs, a nice patio by the river and the good old neighborhood pub feeling.

Each burger cost 65 Yuan so for two people eating, and drinking it’s a little less than $$ for two people.

Overall I give Durty Nellie’s Beijing Irish Pub a 9. It was a fun place with great food and good beer.

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.

_

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.

_

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.