Entering the Bai Family Mansion is like stepping back more than one hundred years into the Qing dynasty.?As you arrive at the front gate, you are greeted by a long line of gege, or Manchu ladies, dressed head to toe in traditional and colorful Manchu outfits, complete with elaborate head ornaments, and with one hand holding a handkerchief. Diners are welcomed with in jixiang?an ancient auspicious greeting long vanished, but which can still be heard at the Bai Mansion whenever you run into any of the staff.
The spectacular setting of the Bai Mansion, with its winding corridors and terraced pavilion, was once the royal gardens of Prince Li, the Red Banner leader. During the Republican era, the garden was sold to a pharmaceutical tycoon, the owner of the famous medicine shop Tongrentang, and it was made into his residence
Bai Family Mansion, or Baijia Dazhaimen in Chinese, has done a great job in re-kindling the mood of the Qing dynasty, and it has also done a great job with its menu. The chefs have selected the best ingredients and classic dishes from around China, from wolfberry in Ningxia to mushrooms in Dongbei. The restaurant has created a nouveau cuisine with its own style, featuring delicacies such as birds' nest soup, braised sea cucumber, shark抯 fin soup, and some imperial snacks such as wandou huang, a cool pea-flour cake, yundou juan, a cake made of sugared peanuts and sesame seeds rolled in kidney bean-flour, known as one of the favorites of the notorious Empress Dowager.Feizi Xiao, smiling concubine, is a salad consisting of assorted primary colors of flower petals tossed in vinaigrette dressing, attractively rich in color and incredibly tasty, you feel healthy just looking at it. This was a great opening for our meal.? We next tried jiang lurou, or braised donkey meat in aromatic broth, sliced as thin as paper. Gongbao shrimp is the best example of Baijia innovative re-creation of an old dish, Sichuan classical Kongpao chicken. Baijia gongbao is a cross between the best flavors of Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine lightly spicy, yet sweet and sour esulting in an amazing flavor. Baihe chao xiqin, white lily and celery dotted with wolfberries, was not only a great composition in color, but the wolfberries, native of Ningxia, were exceptionally sweet and tasty. Then we had steamed fish, covered with slivers of ginger and scallion, with hot oil drizzled over the fish before being served. The fish was tender and delicious. Our meal ended with two satisfying imperial desserts ?i>yundou juan and gongting paigao. The first was made with crushed sugared peanuts and sesame seeds encased in white kidney bean flour; the second was layered with jelly haw, and was the most refined and delicate sweet On the weekends, Baijia Dazhaimen puts on short pieces from Peking opera with live music This is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of city life while dining al fresco in the pleasant garden area, lush and green during the day, or soaked in the magical light of colored lanterns in the evening. Either way, it's peaceful and pleasant. Add : 29 Suzhou Street, Haidian District
Tel: 6265 4186
Hours: 11am-9:30pm
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