Monday, February 4, 2008

More Dumplings Than You Can Shake A Pair Of Chopsticks At

Sorry for the long layoff. I had a bit of the blogger's block (I'm too busy to blog on the consistent basis). Anyways I'm reinvigorated and reinspired because I'm in Tianjin China; a 2-hour bus ride southeast of Beijing.

Day one - We went to a place called 百饺园(Ba Jiao Yuan; Literally translated as hundred dumpling garden). There couldn't be a better place for our first dinner in this part of China. This restaurant has a seemingly endless variety of dumplings to choose from. This was what we ordered:

  • 五香驴肉饺子 (Donkey Meat Dumpling)


  • 红籽银鱼饺子 (Red Fish Roe and SilverFish Dumpling)


  • 蟹上皇饺子 (Crab Roe and Crab Meat Dumpling)


  • 羊肉黄瓜饺子 (Lamb and Cucumber Dumpling)


  • 鸭肉香菇饺子 (Duck and Mushroom Dumpling)


  • 津味素饺子 (TianjinVegetarian Dumpling)



That's no typo - we ate donkey meat. "Getting some ass" has a totally different meaning in this place.

Each of the dumpling dishes are simply served on a plate. No frills just dumplings. Each order has about 5-7 pieces. There is a window from the seating area into the kitchen that shows 10-12 chefs preparing dumplings. Everything is freshly made.

Bai Jiao Yuan, hands-down, has the best dumpling I've ever had. If you're ever in Beijing or Tianjin you must make a stop at this place. Oh god, I died and went to dumpling heaven. There's other stuff on the menu, but why bother. It's a like going to a burger joint and ordering a salad. That's just all sorts of wrong bro. Do the right thing and DO THE DUMPLING!

After we finished dinner, my mother-in-law asked me which flavor of dumpling was my favorite. This was unexpectedly difficult to answer because I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, but if I had to choose - it would be the donkey dumpling. I've never had donkey meat before and I never thought it would taste so good. It is in fact very very tasty. It actually taste a bit like mutton. If you think about it that's not too surprising. I'd never thought I'd say it, but it's true Ma, I like eating ass.

Contact Information

Name: 百饺园
Address: 天津市南开区长江道23号
Tel: 022-23719000

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