CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Friday, May 25, 2018 Dining | LIFE 19 Enjoy a taste of Yangtze life A new restaurant brings the authentic taste of Chongqing hotpot directly from the banks of the Yangtze to the melting pot of Beijing. Li Yingxue reports. riginally the com­ mon repast of poor If you go boatmen along the Yangtze River, spicy 11:30 am­1:30 am, inside OChongqing hotpot has since north gate of Beijing become the fare of foodies Workers’ Stadium, across China, with many res­ Gongrentiyuchang Bei taurants including their own Road. 010­6551­9678. interpretation of the dish on their menus. Fortunately for hotpot hunt­ ers in Beijing, Zhensanguan Chongqing Hotpot has and smoother than normal brought the original taste of tofu. the Yangtze wharf to the melt­ According to Qi, there are 13 ing pot of Sanlitun with the different dipping sauces for opening of its flagship venue. the hotpot, but the most popu­ So what makes it so “authen­ lar one is sesame oil with tic”? The restaurant flies all of minced garlic, oyster sauce the necessary condiments and and coriander. fresh ingredients from Chong­ “You could also try canola qing every other day to ensure oil with seasoning salt, which that hungry Beijingers are get­ is also a Chongqing sauce,” he ting the real deal. adds. “The oil could lower the Even down to the decor: the spiciness to protect your stom­ restaurant looks just like the ach.” ones you would find on the riv­ The restaurant also serves erside, with a rustic wooden other ingredients from Chong­ bench and a wall of glass jars qing, such as needle mush­ each housing different tradi­ rooms and nostoc commune tional Chinese medicine items. — also known as star jelly, or “Those are just some of the facai — which cannot be things we use to make the hot­ found in Beijing. pot,” explains Qi Ying, Zhen­ While Zhensanguan prides sanguan’s chef. “But that’s not itself on offering the most all of them. We use more than authentic Chongqing dining 60 ingredients in total.” experience that can be enjoyed According to Qi, each ingre­ without having to contend dient has its own function, with planes, trains or automo­ such as licorice for detoxify­ biles, the restaurant has made ing, and angelica dahurica for a few concessions to the moistening the intestines. demands of its Beijing clien­ “The dose for each ingredi­ tele, explains restaurant man­ ent is fixed. If you add more or ager, Cao Hongling. less, the flavor would be differ­ According to Cao, besides ent, and it took us more than a sliced lamb and beef, Zhen­ year to study that formula. Aft­ sanguan also provides differ­ er repeated trials, we finally ent degrees of spiciness to suit got it just right.” the different palettes of Bei­ The peppers Zhensanguan jing’s foodies, noting that “in uses all come from Chong­ Zhensanguan Chongqing Hotpot has brought the original taste of the Yangtze wharf to Beijing with the opening of its flagship venue. The restaurant flies all of the Chongqing, we only serve one qing. Most are from the Shiz­ necessary condiments and fresh ingredients from Chongqing every other day to ensure that Beijingers are getting the real deal. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY flavor — the hottest one.” hu Tujia autonomous county, There is also one more thing while the Sichuan peppers are that Cao thinks that Beijing from Maoxian county. “We hotpot aficionados will enjoy only use the fresh Sichuan — taking the hassle out of peppers and cut the seeds deciding what to wear for an when cooking so that there is evening of eating hotpot with no bitterness,” Qi says. pals. The first part of the cooking People usually have to care­ process takes place nearly fully consider their wardrobe 2,000 kilometers away, where choices, especially when it the seasoning for the dish is comes to that favorite wool fried by chefs in Chongqing, sweater, because the smell of who use a shovel and a large the food sticks to clothes and pot to cook it. The seasoning hair, sometimes well into the will stay a week in Chongqing next day. This is apparently before being flown to Beijing, not a problem at Zhensan­ giving the glutinous rice more guan. time to continue fermenting, Cao says that because all the adding even more sweetness broad­bean sauce,” Qi contin­ cy flavor. Chongqing hotpot is hottest part of the pot and it is sanguan’s signature ingredi­ ingredients in the hotpot are to the flavor. ues, “before boiling the sauce milder, thanks to the ferment­ where ingredients such as ox ents. So is pork shoulder, natural, without any chemical It is then fried again during for one hour, when we add all ed glutinous rice softening the tripe, duck intestines and veg­ which requires longer cooking substances or preservatives, the Beijing part of the prepara­ of the traditional Chinese piquancy. etables — things that need to to become tender — about 20 enjoying a hotpot with friends tion to stimulate the fragrance ingredients, seasonings and Once all that is done, adding The dose for be boiled quickly — are minutes for a 1­centimeter­ will leave no olfactory trace of of the hotpot. fermented glutinous rice.” further authenticity to the cooked, while sections around thick piece. your evening meal on your “First, we melt the beef tal­ The whole process takes dish is the eponymous pot each ingredient are where ingredients that Black tofu is also a must­try. favorite threads. low in the pot and then add about three to four hours and, itself. need a little extra time to cook Homemade with one portion peppers before lowering the according to Qi, the difference Traditionally, it is served in a is fixed.” are boiled, such as duck blood of soybeans, two portions of Contact the writer at heat,” he explains. “As the tal­ between Chongqing hotpot pot divided into nine sections. and pig brains. black beans and one portion of liyingxue@ low turns red, we add a thick and Chengdu hotpot is the spi­ The square in the middle is the Qi Ying, Zhensanguan’s chef Buffalo tripe is one of Zhen­ glutinous rice, it tastes softer chinadaily.com.cn

Stadium plays If you go 150 meters south of the side road of Workers’ host to new hub Stadium’s east gate. 899 yuan ($141) per person. for fine dining 010­5352­1539.

By LI YINGXUE nects the main dining room rately using chilies and Sich­ [email protected] with its huge rooftop like a silk uan peppers. ribbon. Stir­fried sirloin with okra Besides being home turf to Yang Yijing, head chef at the is another must­try. Besides Beijing Guoan and swamped restaurant, has more than two the well­seasoned beef, the by hordes of soccer fans every decades’ experience with Chi­ dish is served on a metallic match day, the Beijing Work­ nese cuisine. Having grown up hand­shaped sculpture that is ers Stadium is also becoming a in Guangzhou, Yang is also more like a piece of art than a center for Chinese fine dining well versed in Cantonese cui­ plate. in the capital. sine. “I’m still working on creat­ Wutong Plus, an upgraded “When you taste our food, ing new dishes, which will all version of the creative Beijing you can tell it’s Beijing cuisine, taste good and look fabulous cuisine restaurant Wutong, but you will also notice a trace at the same time,” says Yang. opened there earlier this year of Cantonese flavors,” says Western elements with a to offer its new take on con­ Yang. Chinese take can also be found temporary Chinese food to When designing the menu on the menu at Wutong Plus, local foodies. for Wutong Plus, Yang says the such as fried penne rigate with Located on the third floor of main idea was to take a crea­ diced pork and eggplant — a three­story building to the tive approach and elevate Bei­ The newly opened Wutong Plus, an upgraded version of the Beijing­cuisine restaurant Wutong, takes a creative approach by combining which combines a Chinese­ southeast of the stadium, jing cuisine to new heights by the finest ingredients with elements of Western cooking. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY style sauce with Italian ingre­ Wutong Plus can be accessed combining the finest ingredi­ dients. via an external elevator set ents with elements of Western And with the arrival of sum­ within a glass curtain wall that cooking techniques. stuffed with fried rice mixed “I got the idea to make the Besides using traditional Fusion steamed fish with mer, the rooftop at Wutong leads to a dramatic gilded Roast baby duck stuffed with truffle slices before being duck dish when I was visiting fermented­flour sauce and hot­and­spicy sauce is another Plus is set to be a popular new entrance. The restaurant’s with rice and truffles is one roasted for 45 minutes, allow­ Macao to try the local roasted sugar as a dipping sauce, Yang of Yang’s new creations. The spot to take in the night views interior is separated into dif­ dish that represents Yang’s ing each grain of rice to soak piglet,” says Yang. “You can also created a passion­fruit fish is deboned and steamed to of Sanlitun and enjoy the sum­ ferent areas by flowing lines, ethos perfectly. Unlike tradi­ up the flavors of the truffles always find inspiration when sauce to add a sweeter ele­ make it tender and fresh, mer breeze with Chinese deli­ while a winding staircase con­ tional roast duck, the duck is and the duck fat. you travel to new places to eat.” ment to the dish. while the soup is cooked sepa­ cacies.