Sharmila on Food

Oodles of noodles at Qin Tang Fu, Beijing

Yes, it’s been ages since I’ve got back from Beijing now.  I’m a rubbish blogger.  But I didn’t want to leave this post to drift off into the ether, because Qin Tang Fu is just too damn good for that.

Qin Tang Fu specialises in noodles and, more generally, Shaanxi food.  My very kind hosts picked this place our for lunch on an exceedingly cold day, and I am very grateful to them for that.

Up first (alongside a bowl of noodle water), was a biscuity unleavened bread full of braised fatty pork.  What can I say - if you love braised pork, you would definitely love this.  It was immensely comforting.  Alas, I had to leave some of it, otherwise there would have been no way I could have got through the feast of noodles to come.

I won’t go through everything we ate, but these were some of the highlights:

Cold, chewy noodles dressed in oil and vinegar.  Shockingly cold, but very refreshing. I’m assuming they were made from some form of pea starch. I had to keep on turning that lazy susan round to get another few bites of this.

Spinach noodles in a vegetable and beef broth.  This was almost akin to a traditional British meat soup.  It was pretty much all you could ask for on an exceedingly cold day

Chewy wheat noodles with simple cooked green vegetables.  That might sound boring, but it really wasn’t.  Wholesome and nourishing, this was pretty welcome after that fatty pork

Gorgeous scrambled egg.  You might be thinking “scrambled egg - whatevs”  But I’ve found the Chinese generally know how to whip up some pretty delectable scrambled eggs.  This was chock full of tomato and sharp spring onion, and redolent with the smokiness of good wok cooking

Some of the best damn dry fried green beans I’ve ever eaten.  And this wasn’t even a Sichuan place.  Again, a dish that smacked of good wok cooking - perfectly puckered, smoky beans and crisp bits of pork.

And then some crispy, intensely savoury fried chicken.  Amazing.  However, by this point I was ready to be rolled out of the restaurant, so I wasn’t able to partake in the fried chicken as much as I would have wanted to.  A shame.  I’m kicking myself now just thinking about it.  I must acquire some cow-like second stomach soon.

And this was all at lunchtime.  And everything came to £19, with more than enough food for eight people.  Yes, that’s eight people.  A supreme bargain for some amazing food.  This was one of my highlights of all the food I had in Beijing.  And I had a lot of great food in Beijing.  If you find yourself there, go.  I can be sure you won’t be disappointed.

Details:

Qin Tang Fu (there appear to be multiple locations - I haven’t worked out which one I ate at, but below is the address for the original location)

ChaoYangMen 

Price range: cheap