The Horse is coming

With the Year of the Horse approaching the Old China Hands Lunch 6 February had a modest attendance of 23.
Only one birthday boy: Mark.

The menu, see the pictures:

• ham salad Andalouse OR puff pastry with chicken curry Indian style OR fresh daily soup
• farmers pork sausage with onion sauce served with cabbage and roesti potatoes OR chicken cordon blue served with daily vegetables and pan-fried potatoes OR red snapper Meunière served with daily vegetable and boiled potatoes
• daily desert
• coffee or tea

Great food as always by Morel’s Restaurant.
Next lunch planned for Friday 6 March.

Influencer and independent food vlogger

On Saturday 31 January 2026 TheBeijinger gave out Influencer Awards during its Culturopolis Event. I could not attend in person as I had a Rotary lunch. My friend David (“Mr. Trains”} also got it. They showed my video of the Georgia Restaurant dinner event.

Here on Vimeo a short clip of the event.

I started my WeChat Channel, first video on 11 April 2020. By 26 October 2025 I scored 2 million plays.

I also reached the top level – Level 8 – on Dazhong Dianping as a food critic in late December 2025. It is pretty challenging to reach that level! My video & media manager Sophie has been a great help over the years. I also post on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and Kuaishou.

Second Friday

Due to the holidays we had Old China Hands Lunch 9 January, the second Friday of the month.
People busy and still away (including Renaat and Susan) but we still were 26.
This time we had 5 birthdays of the month, two ladies, three gentlemen.
See here a short video clip.

The menu, see the pictures:

• vegetable quiche OR fresh and smoked salmon croquettes OR Morel’s chef salad (ham, blue cheese and pan-fried chicken, beef on lettuce) OR fresh daily soup
• beef tenderloin Stroganoff served with market vegetables and steamed rice OR meat loaf with black pepper sauce served with market vegetables and mashed potatoes OR red snapper Provençale style served with vegetables and mashed potatoes
• daily desert

As always great food in Morel’s Restaurant and Café.
Next lunch planned for Friday 6 February.

Where are our members from?

Out of curiosity I checked where our members are from. I had to double-check and some of the answers were a surprise. But even more interesting: our about eighty active members are coming from 24 countries and regions:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherland, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA.
So, from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. None from Africa right now.

My birthday

My birthday was on 31 December and friends gave me a big surprise, some 28 friends recorded a small Happy Birthday video. They were recorded in USA, Austria, Portugal, UK, Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. I was really touched, thanks so much to all who cooperated.
My birthday videos, open any of the links:
Reduced quality (full version)
Short version
Thanks to Sophie and Jane Wu for putting it all together!

I also received a box with 24 different Belgian beers. And of course I celebrated in Morel’s with my family!
Note: the links all lead to dropbox and you need the backdoor in China.

Reasonable turnout

Our members are pretty busy so the turnout for Old China Hands Lunch 5 December stood at 30, not too bad.
We celebrated the birthdays of the month: Nelson, Renaat and me. Our friend Marcin surprised me with a birthday gift, an impressive bottle of Polish vodka. Thanks!
I also had some gift coupons to distribute, from the Benelux Gala Ball.
Good food, good conversations as always

the menu, see the pictures:

• one local draft OR glass of house wine OR soft drink
• tomato stuffed with fish salad OR cooked ham roll stuffed with Russian potato salad OR fresh daily soup
• chicken schnitzel with spaghetti and tomato sauce OR Belgian vol-au-vent with chicken in rich cream sauce served with Belgian fries  OR waterzooi of fish served with boiled potatoes
• daily desert
• coffee or tea

See you all in the new year, 2026. Meanwhile Happy Holidays to all!
Both Renaat and Susan will be away in January for some time, heading to their home in Destelbergen (Ghent).

A dish from my hometown

Many were curious, what is “waterzooi of fish”?
In earlier posts I explained the famous dish from my home town, Ghent, coming in two versions: waterzooi of fish and waterzooi of chicken. Earlier posts: one of 2017 and one of 2022.
Waterzooi is a stew dish from Belgium and originated in Flanders. The second part of the name derives from the Middle Dutch terms sode, zo(o)de and soot, words referring to the act of boiling or the ingredients being boiled. It is sometimes called Gentse Waterzooi which refers to the Belgian town of Ghent where it originated. The original dish is often made of fish, either freshwater or sea, though today chicken waterzooi is more common. The most accepted theory is that rivers around Ghent became too polluted and the fish there disappeared.
From Wikipedia)
See here in Dutch one recipe: Belgische waterzooi met vis by Jolande Vos.

Changed date

As I was away on 7 November, the first Friday of the month, we changed to Old China Hands Lunch 14 November. I was in Wuzhen for the mega event World Internet Conference.
Several of our members had to cancel attendance last moment and we were finally 24. Busy members…

The menu, see the pictures:

• chicken curry salad OR Morel’s chef salad (ham, blue cheese and pan-fried chicken, beef on lettuce) OR fresh daily soup
• farmer’s pork sausage with onion sauce served with red cabbage and hotchpotch potatoes OR mini steak minute with blue cheese sauce served with daily vegetables and french fries OR pan-fried snapper with mustard sauce served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoes
• daily desert
• coffee or tea

As always great food at Morel’s Restaurant, everybody happy but Renaat was all stressed out, making sure all went well.
Next lunch is planned for Friday 5 December.

Birthday celebration

With Renaat we decided to launch a monthly birthday celebration. Members present and having their birthday in the month will be celebrated.I started asking for everyone’s DOB, only a minority came forward as for now.

251114 OldChina07.JPG

We has one birthday, my friend Suyan actually had her birthday that very Friday. No other November birthdays as for now.

In the holiday week

For the Old China Hands Lunch 3 October we had massive “cannot make it” as many of our members were away, we still managed to have 20 people. The lunch was in the middle of a “golden week” – National Day and Mid-Automn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival – a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar with a full moon at night.

As always all happy enjoying the food and the company in Morel’s Restaurant. I went for the soup that was actually a special lobster soup done by chef Renaat, the preparation took several days of cooking and it was super delicious.

The menu, see the pics:

• one local draft OR glass of house wine OR soft drink
• Russian eggs salad OR salade Niçoise OR fresh daily soup (lobster soup or vegetable soup)
• pork piccata provençale style served with grilled tomato and pan-fried potatoes OR beef tenderloin Stroganoff served with market vegetables and steamed rice OR red snapper Provençale style served with vegetables and mashed potatoes
• daily desert )pancakes with fruit)

The following lunch is planned for Friday 7 November 2025.

What is your birthday?

We plan to celebrate the birthdays of members present, so we will ask for the date (day – month). Not an obligation but recommended!

Mobility Index Report

How does Beijing rank in terms of getting around easily?
2024 Urban Mobility Readiness Index, a ranking of 70 major cities worldwide on their preparedness for mobility’s next chapter. For its sixth edition, the index introduces a new sub-index focusing on technology adoption alongside customized actionable recommendations for each city.

Very interesting report about urban mobility. Beijing is somewhere in the middle for 2023, see the picture. For 2024 Beijing went up to no. 20! Despite its huge size getting around by public transport (subway, bus – massive network) and share bikes is relatively easy. Not mentioned is that traffic can be dangerous in bike lanes and sidewalks, unsafe with e-bikes terrorizing everybody and general disrespect of traffic regulations. I bike and walk a lot and have no car.
How Beijing Performs Across Urban Mobility Targets: here the link to the updated report with all details.