Day 5 in Beijing 2015: Silk Street & Delicious local food‏

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Friday, March 27, 2015.

Today was the perfect last day to my trip to Beijing this time around in 2015. Day 5 :).

Originally, the tour itinerary didn’t have many things planned for the day, but like most things in life, they are better enjoyed when taken into your own hands ;).

The day started off again with breakfast at the downstairs Cafe Restaurant at 6:30 a.m. Lots of people arrived early to line up today, but no matter because today I was starting off my day with a bowl of noodles from the ready-to-order noodle station :D.

DIY toppings of spicy noodles 😀

The lady boiled the vermicelli noodles in the boiling water and then scooped broth into it. You could then add your own condiments like green onion, parsley, dried mini shrimp, spicy mala oil, or sesame seeds.

I lovedddd this soupy goodness in the morning!! The mala spicy oil made it so delicious but not too spicy hot either. Yum!! Then I went for some breakfast buffet items like the favoured braised meatball, steamed veggies, cold cuts. I was content and full. 🙂

Oodles of noodles + buffet food

I ended up getting another bowl of noodles too. 😀

Bouquet in the lobby

Beautiful hotel lobby of Grand Chang An Hotel

We also had a late start to the day and left as a group at 9am.

“Well known” medicine shop

First stop: one last health store. We learned about the importance of hand-clapping and massaging and then a “Chinese doctor” helped people read their pulses.

We then went to a small street that was full of small souvenir shops and eateries. It looked sooo familiar to me and not only was it a place I’d been to be before but turning a corner, it turned out to be the same night market Wangfujing that we were at the first night!

Market close to Wangfujing

Sculpture

There were so many people that this shot ended up getting taken…

I just HAD to get another serving of lamb skewers before I left Beijing! ❤ street food

The stalls were chock full of souvenirs and cheap buys

Delicious lunch :9. Loved the braised pork — so tender!

At noon, we had lunch at a second-story restaurant. We ate in the same room and same table as two years ago (when I was on the Trip to China trip)!! I remembered back then that this restaurant served the best food out of all the places we’ve been to. :3

Same restaurant as two years ago!

It was true. We had a lot more variety in dishes than usual and got beer and coke at our table too.

Silk Street — a multi-level mall with lots of transparent units

After lunch, we went to the Silk Street. Been here before too! Saw the exact same shops and Korean restaurant that we ate at for dinner. Nothing’s changed XD.

After an hour of that, we were dropped back at our hotel for the rest of the day to be spent at our leisure; it was around 3 pm. Originally, we were to have dinner included as our tour too but since we were done the day early, we also got our money for the night’s dinner back.

A store full of panda merchandise!

Vending machine for freshly squeezed oranges

One of the views seen as we headed back to the hotel

Mom and I got foot massages!! 😀 I haven’t had one in soo long. The girl wasn’t very skilled but she did make my feet feel so much looser and relaxed afterwards :).

For dinner, we ate from a local shop that was packed with people. I love this kind of food!! Got lamb skewers, chicken soft bone, lamb meat mixed with bone, a beef noodle soup, lamb heel, and a cold celery dish. We got Nanjing beer as well to wash down the heatiness from all the food.

An entire lamb heel to eat! (so nice that they provided plastic gloves). 8 RMB

The lamb skewers were soooo good! Best of the best! Better than the ones I had this morning at the market and better than the one on the first night in Wangfujing :). It was grilled to perfection and seasoned great!

The chicken soft bone was liberally bones that were chewable and slathered with sauce. It was a good try.

Lamb Skewers 5 RMB & Chicken Soft Bone 2 RMB

I realllly liked the beef noodle soup as the noodles were thin, stringy, and so soft. There were only less than ten slices of beef in there but the soup broth was also so good! It wasn’t spicy but carried a hint of mala aftertaste.

Beef Noodle Soup. 10 RMB

The food was SO cheap!!

The lamb heel was actually a full heel from a lamb…can’t get away with eating this if you are easily affected by what you see. It was seasoned and tasted saltier than most people would like. Because it’s kept outside in the street next to the grill and placed under saran wrap, it also tasted a bit like cigarette smoke in some areas — probably picked up the second-hand smoke from passersby.

The lamb bone with meat was sooo soft and mixed with bone cartilage similar to the chicken soft bones. I didn’t like this one so much since it tasted more like fatty meat and the sauce was also kind of sweet. Don’t like my meat to taste sweet..

Lamb Bone with Meat. 3 RMB

Cold celery dish with bean curd sheets and peanuts. 10 RMB

The celery dish also had peanuts and bean curd sheets. The chopped celery was surprisingly soo crunchy, juicy, and fresh! The bean curd sheets were also infused with flavour.

All in all, I adored this small shop and the food here. This is my kind of yummy! 😀 I liked that mostly everything was freshly grilled in front of you and that there was outdoor seating too — perfect for those summer nights.

Outdoor seating and cooking

Annnnnddd that’s it! Tomorrow we leave Beijing at 1:30 pm to Hong Kong! 😀 Thanks for the memories and re-memories this time, Beijing! I wonder if I’ll be back a third time, and if so, when?