Life in the city

The 18th China International Friendship and Culture Festival

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Thanks to our friend Harvey to let me join “Spring Festival Celebration and International Friendship Ambassador Award Ceremony”, on Sunday 8 February in the Beijing International Hotel Convention Center. We had a great table and we chatted a lot.

The hotel is pretty big with many meeting rooms, some shops, artifacts and art displays, large atriums in several unexpected corners. Next to the hotel is the Convention Center, often used by the Beijing government. Looks overall pretty quiet.
The event was a bit too “Chinese” if I may say so, in a not-that-good way.
It started at 5:30 pm and we had first to go through the performances, speeches and award ceremony till we got food around 8:00 pm. Everybody was hungry. No beer, no wine. We suspect it was because there were many diplomats from Muslim countries. So far so good for mutual respect: why can’t we have a beer at least? Certainly not a budget problem as beer costs less than the soft drinks we were served. Some were not too convinced about the quality of the food but I found it reasonable.
There were several empty tables, a bit everywhere, that did not look good. The waiters would still pile up dishes while nobody was sitting there. Our table, not lacking initiative, went to collect those to add more on our table.
The event management and design team has a lot to improve. The (impressive) acrobat lady from Taiyuan was dressed in red with a red background: we could hardly see her. Music was playing loudly when it shouldn’t. And so on. I have seen other Chinese events amazingly well organized.
The awards all went to …, oh well I don’t know how to say that. But zero awards to EU, North America, Australia and alike. Looks like we are not on the Friendship list… On the other hand, I did not see anybody from Western embassies. Anyway I was happy to meet again the ambassadors of Benin, Senegal and Vietnam.
The “awards” ribbons had their English upside down… Another point was the “present” we got: a massive and heavy book. All calligraphy, not exactly something most foreigners are happy to carry … and keep…

Full house: Old China Hands lunch

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

We had our monthly Old China Hands lunch on Friday 6 February, at our usual Morel’s Restaurant. Attendance is always a bit unpredictable as most people are busy and many often travel. This time I had a chance to check our maximum capacity: 36. We might squeeze in 4 more to reach 40 but that would be the maximum if we keep it to that part of the restaurant only. We ended up wit 37 people. So, people, confirm your attendance or…

Again everybody seemed pretty happy to mingle, chat and obviously enjoy the set lunch (a real bargain for just RMB 98!).
Next lunch is Friday 6 March. I will be back just in time from Melbourne and I hope to send the mails from there. Who wants to join, send me a mail.
Our list is growing while I am about to clean up some non-active members.

Social Rotaract evening in Home Plate BBQ

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On Monday 2 February another nice social evening in Home Plate BBQ, a popular place and usually packed. They have some great dishes and my favorites are Pulled Pork Sandwich and Pulled Pork Plate. They also have a wide range of American beer and locally brewed ales. The Wifi on the other hand never works!
See:  http://homeplatebbq.com/?page_id=35

Rotaract social evenings are always popular, even being in the “low season”.

A new German restaurant in Beijing: Hacker-Pschorr Bräuhaus

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Our friend Rotarian René has finally done the official opening of Hacker-Pschorr Bräuhaus!
The name Hacker-Pschorr dates back to the marriage of Teresia Hacker and Joseph Pschorr. Under the couple’s leadership, Hacker-Pschorr advanced to become Munich’s leading major brewery in the 18th century.
“As a vibrant, traditional brewery with deep roots in Bavaria, Hacker-Pschorr delivers the highest quality and finest art of brewing according to the Bavarian Purity Law, while embodying Bavarian characteristics of conviviality, earthiness, tradition and craft brewing like no other brand. This is the „Himmel der Bayern“ („Heaven of Bavaria“), and this is what Hacker-Pschorr has stood for since 1417.”
See: http://www.hacker-pschorr-brauhaus.com/

I had already tried out some of the dishes (and the beer, obviously) in December 2014 during the trial run, and gave my feedback to René. See the dates of the pictures. The restaurant will be fully operational after Chinese New Year.
The Sanlitun location is on Xindong Lu across the street from the Bentley Car Showroom. The restaurant is really large and cozy. There is a bakery and meat shop on the street level. And it is in walking distance of the German embassy.
It joins other German restaurants in the area: Drei Kronen 1308 Brauhaus, a bit further south on Gongti Dong Lu, and Taps – German Bar & Grill (Sanlitun Tongli area, same building as Luga’s, close to 3.3). It will all depend on management, price/quality…

Not all Chinese weddings are alike! The history of Quanjude Peking Duck

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

I have been to quite a number of weddings and some blog entries on my other site show pictures.
A wedding is a big thing in China and normally also complicated and very expensive. Especially the bride has to change the dress several times during the banquet. Red envelopes and other presents are brought by the guests. Most of the banquets are held in hotels with intrinsicate decorations, large wedding posters, video showing the young couple, a tower of glasses to pour the champagne, etc. The crowd can be … huge.

Well, not always. This wedding of a close friend was simple but very genuine. The couple is in the first picture: the bride had a nice dress but covered it as she felt cold. No fancy decorations. No flood of presents and “hong bao”.
The location was also unusual: the famous Peking Duck Restaurant at Hepingmen, “Quanjude”. I remember that building from the eighties, it seemed a bit “far” from my Beijing Hotel. The restaurant is huge, see below. The corridors are decorated with historical pictures of famous guests. There are many floors with private rooms. The large public restaurant is usually packed and people wait patiently to get a table.
The Peking Duck is of course, delicious. I still love the dish and always eat too much.

Some history of Beijing Quanjude:

Established in 1864, with a history of 150 years, Quanjude has survived the ordeal of time. Quanjude has eight direct branches in Beijing. The original location operates in Qianmen with several other branches in other locations in Beijing.
There is a seven story restaurant on Hepingmen Ave., a location that was hand-picked by former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Serving up to 5,000 meals a day, this restaurant covers a floor area of 15,000 sqm with over forty private dining rooms and can simultaneously seat 2,000 guests.
Having established a history and affiliation with the Chinese government at the municipal and central state level, Quanjude has often been used to hold state banquets and to receive celebrities, dignitaries, and important government figures from over 200 countries as distinguished VIP guests.
Per year the restaurant chain (50 affiliates across China) sells over 2 million roast ducks served in 400 different styles to over 5 million customers. Annual sales reach 500 million yuan (US$81.5 m).
With its long history, Quanjude roast duck enjoys a high reputation among domestic and overseas consumers for the peculiar roast technique and outstanding quality. It ranks the first not only in Chinese Famous Dishes, compiled by all-China famous chefs under the organization of Ministry of Commerce in 1958, but also in Elite of Chinese Famous Dishes, published by China and Japan in 1982.
In China, the well-known All-Duck Banquet is headed by Quanjude roast duck and supported by over 400 dishes with Quanjude characteristic flavor. Government leaders, officials and VIPs from nearly 200 countries and regions had dinner here.
About Quanren Yang, the establisher and the first manager of Quanjude:
Quanren Yang (1822-1890), the first manager came to Beijing from a famine-stricken area of Hebei Province. After arriving in Beijing, he was firstly engaged in buying and selling raw chicken and duck. In 1864, he rolled the dice with a grocery on the verge of bankruptcy. He renamed the firm QUANJUDE. Due to his extreme smartness and painstaking management, QUANJUDE developed from an ordinary roast duck shop front to a real restaurant characterized by roast duck done by hanging in the oven. This laid a sound foundation for the roast duck to become well known throughout Beijing.
See:
http://www.quanjude.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanjude