South Beauty (俏江南)
West Wing of China World Trade Center (國貿西樓)
1 Jianguomen Waidajie, CBD/Guomao (建國門外大街1號)
Beijing, China
Only in China can you order beef but be brought frogs by the waiter. The reason is because the word for beef is literally translated as "bull meat" from the Chinese 牛肉. The Chinese characters for "bullfrog" is 牛蛙. Even if you don't know any Chinese you can see that the first character of each phrase is the same - 牛. Apparently, if you just say 牛 in Beijing they automatically assume you want the frog. Rest assured, this is not the default assumption in the US.
Despite the mix-up in animal meat J and I found this to be the tastiest meal we've encountered in Beijing so far. I am proud of J for getting through the spiciness, although it took him 1.75 bowls of white rice to get through lunch. I was at first a little skeptical of the modern deco of the restaurant (most good eateries in Taiwan are hole-in-the-wall establishments), but the food exceeded expectations and the nice furnishings just made it a more comfortable dining experience.
Price-wise, it is not cheap by local standards: 30 USD for 3 bowls of rice, 1 appetizer, 2 mains, 1 soft drink and 2 mandatory wet wipes (1 RMB per; we were not happy with this.). Hence, we ate cheaply for dinner that night. The good news is that we do not have to resort to rice and beans to eat on a budget in Beijing. Two meals at the food court of an upscale mall cost us less than 6 USD total. Alternatively, we can fill up on meat pastries from a reputable bakery for 60 cents each. Yum!
- The dining room of South Beauty
- Our check
- Cold beef slices in chili oil - 夫妻肺片 (Look at how red the chili oil is!)
- Pork ribs in garlic oil and peppers (I forget the Chinese name.)
- "Bull" in spicy gravy - 水煮牛 (The peppers in the foreground were removed from the bowl in the background before the dish was served.)
- The plate of peppers from the bullfrog dish. Impressive, huh? Those peppers were promptly removed from the table and were probably reused for the next customer who orders the same dish.
