I am now back in San Francisco, but still posting stuff from my trip to Vancouver. FYI, the exchange rate right now is about US$1 = CAN$0.8. I will be heading back to Boston on Jan. 16th.
Find out more about the SE Asia earthquake and tsunami here and here.
Finally, here is Beijing. The first meal is from 湘临天下 (Xiang Lin Tian Xia). I won't have many prices for this trip, and my descriptions will be vague at best. Sorry in advance.
fried pork fat
red pepper fish head
shark's fin soup
fried squab
duck chin
The pork fat was delicious. Then again, fried fat - how could it go wrong? Really good though, and with a little bit of kick. The red pepper fish head was also very good, but had a lot of bones which apparently is always the case with fish head. I liked it a lot but I'm a little bit lazy with the bones. Shark's fin soup was a little bit short on actual shark's fin, but the broth was probably the best broth I've ever had. Just awesome. Squab was excellent - juicy and tender. Vancouver does this dish well but I think this was definitely better. The duck chins were interesting. They tasted good but didn't have a whole lot of meat... again, a lot of work for the reward. The meat was great though! Thanks to Mike and his family for taking me out.
