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Eating Beijing – Xian Lao Man

Aug27

Restaurant: Xianlaoman

Location: 252 Andingmen Inner St, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100007

Date: July 31, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: You can never go wrong with dumplings!

Xianlaoman apparently translates as “our fillings are big” or something like that, referring to the apple stuffing of their dumplings.

Located not far from the Forbidden City, it’s a small chain of very Beijing style food.

The frontage is just across the street from an old Hutong area.

They pickle garlic!

The interior is typical of contemporary mid-level Chinese places, with a bit of actual decor, but not over the top.

Nice wood chairs.

Our guide in Beijing, Dana, was vegetarian (unusual for a Chinese) and kept — to my annoyance — taking over the orders and trying to make them all vegetarian. Boring! Although we did have 1-2 in our party who needed it, but the rest of us wanted the meat.

In any case, this spicy cauliflower was actually very good. Nice crispy texture to the plant and a salty heat.

Vegetarian egg noodles with celery. The noodles didn’t have egg, but instead there is egg in the dish.

Fish flavored pork. I managed to get this one in, although she tried to cross it out. It isn’t actually “flavored with fish” but instead “fish flavored” means something (like pork or eggplant) cooked in a prep traditionally used for fish. In this case a sort of tangy/spicy/oily sauce I love. This was a great fish flavored pork with good textures and lots of subtlety.

Steamed broccoli. Why, Dana, why?

Boiled Fish dumplings, I think. These were okay.

Pork and shrimp dumplings. Excellent, and the only one I was “allowed.” It was finished in 2 seconds and half the table was complaining that there were no other meat dumplings.

Vegetable dumplings. 2 X double order. Notice there are twice as many — and she ordered 2 plates. Stuffed with spinach and garlic. They were ok for vegetable dumplings but they are still kind of like spinach balls and we had lots uneaten at the end.

Vegetable pies. I ordered the classic Beijing pork pie but Dana switched it to vegetarian in Mandarin. More spinach. Just not as good as a nice steamed pork ball!

Xianlaoman was good, particularly the meat dishes (wish we had more). This is well done Beijing comfort food and pretty similar (but better executed) to the fare in Northern Cafe here in west LA.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese Food, dumplings, Eating Beijing, Eating China, Xianlaoman

Eating Beijing – Xiao Long Pu

Aug20

Restaurant: 晓龙瀑

Location: Near the Mutianyu Great Wall, Huairou District (近郊怀柔区慕田峪长城环岛南). Tel: 010-61621322, 61621922

Date: July 30, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Just ok — near the Great Wall

Our guide, Dana, took us here on the way to the Mutianyu Great Wall.

She described it as “fancy.”

Not the words I would use, particularly with regard to the 2 star bathroom and the in-corner AC.

Dana, unusually, is actually a vegetarian Chinese. Now this was convenient because my wife, who is also a vegetarian and determined to avoid the “sneaky meat” (which you will hear about many times in these reports) but for me, Dana’s passive aggressive tendency to order up too many vegetables and ignore the meats was a mild bummer. As a Mandarin speaker, she had the upper hand too (in ordering).

Anyway, string beans. Better with pork, but we had to live with the essentially soy prep. Not too bad actually.

Mixed peppers. I’m not used to seeing these type of peppers in China.

Eggplant. A bit mushy, but nice sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken. A bit of a white boy Beijing version. No bones, minor heat, and only a touch of the sour quality it should have. Not bad though.

Grilled trout with sweet and sour sauce.Nicely cooked and pretty tasty.

Sadly, my son is very picky. He went for mein. Yeah, plane noodles. These are actually kinda hard to order. The Chinese don’t want to bring something so plane.

They had to include some tomato and egg sauce (on the side).

Scallion pancake. Heavy, but fine.

Mean pie. Very salty and (temperature hot). Could have used more savory pork flavor.

Xiao Long Pu was fine for lunch but it’s nothing special. I’ve had much better Chinese food in the SGV. Flavors were a bit monotone.

For my catalog of more Chinese food in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese Food, Eating Beijing, Eating China, Xiao Long Pu

Back to Beijing

Sep12

Back to the SGV for some more delicious and authentic Beijing-style food…

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beijing, Beijing Resteraunt, Chinese cuisine

Lucky Ducky

Jun19

Restaurant: Beijing Duck House

Location: 6420 Rosemead Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91775. (626) 286-5508

Date: June 14, 2014

Cuisine: Beijing Chinese

Rating: Tasty stuff

This is my third time this week out to the SGV for scrumptious Chinese. My mother apparently ate a lot of Chinese when she was pregnant with me (true) and I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid.

Tonight’s entry is Beijing Duck House which is funny enough, a Beijing style restaurant specializing in… you guessed it… Peking Duck!

The room is typical enough.

2002 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. IWC 92. Pale yellow-gold. Fresh citrus and orchard fruit aromas are complicated by notes of gingerbread, white flowers and sweet butter. Toasty lees and mineral qualities gain power with air, adding depth to the wine’s gently sweet pear, honey and tangerine flavors. At once rich and lively, finishing with excellent clarity and alluring mineral and floral character. This Champagne, which I’ve tasted from three different disgorgements now, is proving that it’s built for the long haul.

Marinated cucumbers, mushrooms, and boiled peanuts. This dish had an almost Vietnamese flavor too it with the slightly sweet sauce and the strong cilantro notes. Yummy.

Beef tendon. A cold dish, the tendon was chewy and the meat parts some kind of cured beef. The beef was delicious and there was a good bit of heat to the dish, plus the cilantro.

1999 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots. Burghound 88. Less expressive and open than the ’99 Les St. Georges without the forbidding firmness of the Petits Monts. This still has plenty of the pinot baby fat and the substantial tannins are completely wrapped though there is sufficient structure to permit this to improve for a decade. Pure, long and pretty.

agavin: needs a little more time to open.

The duck comes up early. Our professional carver gets to work.

Beijing Duck. The meat itself served with the pancakes in the background.

And the condiments: spring onion, cucumber, jicama/radish, and the plum sauce.

All elements are combined into the pancake. Delicious and greasy as always!

2009 Maison Roche de Bellene Savigny-lès-Beaune Vieilles Vignes. BH 86-89. Here the nose is bursting with Savigny-style earth on the ripe and pretty red pinot fruit nose that introduces nicely rich, round and fleshy middle weight flavors that are also admirably delicious and while there is a touch of rusticity to the supporting tannins, the overall impression is a straightforward wine that should drink well relatively early.

agavin: surprisingly drinkable for being so young.

Duck second way. Bits of duck meat and vegetables in lettuce wrap.

Add a little plum sauce and one is good to go. PF Changs eat your heart out.

2005 Longoria Pinot Noir Fe Ciega Vineyard. Burghound 92. A really lovely nose of beautifully complex and deeply pitched red berry fruit complements the rich and ripe medium full flavors that display a fine sense of restraint and underlying reserve as well as a gamy hint, all wrapped in a moderately structured finish and fine balance. This will clearly be capable of mid-term aging and as I say, this is indeed ripe but it’s the restraint and focus that really sets it apart from the typical pinot. Recommended.

Duck Soup. This is the third way. Boney bits of duck (with meat) are cooked up in a duck version of chicken soup.

It looks normal enough in the bowl. And it basically tastes like slightly rich chicken soup.

A neighboring table featured all sorts of unusual goodies so I took a few shots.

Like duck feet and wings!

1999 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Parker 92. A powerful, concentrated 1999 Chateauneuf du Papes was produced at Chateau Pegau. The dense ruby/purple-colored 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee boasts a powerful bouquet of pepper, garrigue, black fruits, and earth. Full-bodied and expansive, with sweet tannin giving it a more open-knit, accessible style than most young vintages of Pegau, this is a wine to drink while waiting for the 1998 and 1995 to become fully mature. Like all of this estate’s red wines, it was bottled with neither fining nor filtration.

agavin: This had a barnyard quality. It went well with the lamb below, but got to me after a bit.

Cumin lamb. Skewers of tasty lamb loaded with cumin.

2004 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Hauserer. Parker 87. The many insufficiently attentive wine aficionados who can be heard lamenting a supposed absence chez Zind-Humbrecht of dry wine should have their mouths rinsed out repeatedly with the 2004 Riesling Clos Hauserer! (And, by the say, it is the Humbrechts, not I, who have re-introduced the Umlaut.) Mint, boxwood and lime zest on the nose suggest a Sauvignon. Firm acidity, peach pit bitterness, adamantly chalky minerality, and almost explosive acidity in the mouth make for a brash and relatively spare impression, despite palpable thickness of extract and sense of amplitude. Humbrecht imagines that if he planted Riesling in the Goldert, this is the sort of wine it would become. These grapes were very ripe – “turning blue- in fact, he says – but the deeper the roots go into the mother chalk (and these vines now average thirty years of age) the longer, he claims, the wine requires to unclench, even in a less acid-retentive vintage than this. Plan not to even revisit this wine for two or three years.

agavin: disappointingly austere

Dumplings. Standard Beijing dumplings with vinegar. Shanghai XLB are better, but these are certainly tasty too.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. RJ Wine 95. I love extremely young ZH wines for their youthful vigor. As they age, some gets a bit to heavy and cloying showing a hint of alcohol. Also the beauty of a great desert wine is the airy/cotton candy like palate. This was an exceptional showing. Nicely focused nose displaying yellow peach, dry mango, apricot and sweeten ice tea. Lovely airy palate. The wine remains quite fresh and precise despite the dense fruit a la D’Yquem. Lovely showing.
I highly recommend.

agavin: awesome!

Corn. The sauce here had some added sugar and I found it too sweet. Otherwise, it was basically succotash.

BBQ Pork. Can anyone say bacon? I picked off most of the fat/skin later but the meat was sweet and super tasty.

2007 Nikolaihof Riesling Reserve Steiner Hund. RJ Wine 93. So serene, delicate and understated; this is a wine that really needs time and air to show its best. It’s utterly compelling though with an amazing purity to the fresh fruit flavours, greener herbal and leafy accents and a base of pure stone beneath the fruit.

Sweet and sour fried fish. Super awesome version of this typical dish.

1994 Grgich Hills Zinfandel Sonoma County. 92 points. Dark fruit, prunes. Very lively.

Spicy eggplant. In a delicious garlic sauce.

1995 L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot Seven Hills Vineyard. 91 points. Immediately greeted by the rich unbelievably ripe cassis perfume which sets you up for a fruit bomb, but instead the wine was very poised and restrained on the palate. Tannins are fully integrated at this stage which rewards with a velvet mouthfeel. High quality fruit here which showcases the brilliance of Seven Hills. These should be drank now. For me I’m beginning to understand L’Ecole now because they are shy, backwards and sometimes austere in youth as they reward so much with age.

Pig’s feet. Not my favorite.

Mixed fried rice. Simple and delicious.

Cabbage and glass noodles. This Chinese hot coleslaw is rather delicious.

Frog hot pot. Probably close to the Wuman dry hot pot, this had a bit of heat. It was fine, but not the best dish of the night.

Overall, another highly enjoyable Chinese meal. The duck was on par with Tasty Duck and the other dishes were arguably better. I like the Beijing style and some of these dishes were fabulous. Perhaps Beijing Restaurant is a little better within this style, but then again, there is the duck!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing, Beijing Duck House, duck, hedonists, Peking Duck, poultry, Soups and Stews, Wine

Shin Beijing Cubed

May01

Restaurant: Shin Beijing [1, 2, 3]

Location: 3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003

Date: April 28, 2014

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: very solid electric Chinese

The Hedonists return to one of our regular haunts, Korean Chinese Shin Beijing for some reliable (and somewhat closer than the SGV) Chinese eats — oh, and another birthday party.

We had a private room with two of these tables!

From my cellar: 2011 Domaine Tempier Bandol. 91 points. Black-tinged very dark purple red violet color; tobacco, dried black fruit, smoke nose; tight, intense, dried berry, roasted black fruit, tar, tart black cherry palate.

Kimchi. No self respecting Koreans would do without.

You know the seafood is fresh when it moves!

2003 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 90. A subtle background hint of wood spice frames the baked green apple and pear fruit aromas as well as the powerful, rich and robust flavors that do a slow build from the mid-palate to the explosive finish that is almost painfully intense. This is blessed with massive amounts of dry extract if not great elegance and I do like the purity.

Cold appetizer plates are traditional at real Chinese restaurants.

The sauces come separate and are dumped on table-side.

Aromatic braised beef in black bean jelly. Cold jellyfish with wasabi sauce. Shrimp with mustard sauce. Special house salami.

1998 Château Monbousquet Blanc. RJ 91 points. Straw, lemon grass, mineral nose; earthy, lemon grass, mineral palate; medium finish (100% new oak).

agavin: Our bottle was either oxidized or in a very weird closed state.

Tonight we had a bunch of Vegans and so ended up with a log of vegetable dishes.

2004 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Felsentürmchen Spätlese. IWC 89. Subtle aromas of white peach, lime and sweet spices. The lip-smacking acidity makes this spatlese appear light and elegant. Salty minerality and lively spice character animate the finish.

agavin: nice, and paired well with the spice.

Spicy fried eggplant. Very tasty, and with some kick.

1997 Domaine Charles Schleret Tokay Pinot Gris Herrenweg de Turckheim. Our bottle was tainted.

Spicy fried shrimp. These were good, but I prefer the “fried shrimp in hot sauce” which is a saucier version of this dish.

2009 Schloss Schönborn Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Pear on nose, also syrupy apple; acidic and fruity, low residual sweetness.

Vegetable friend rice.

2006 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. 93 points. Rich for an auslese. In blind tasting would have considered beerenauslese. Just about ready with lovely acidity and fruit. Drink for decades.

agavin: my favorite of the Rieslings tonight. Really nice.

Seemed fish with ginger. There was someone else at the table with a boring dietary restriction. A fine fish, just bland.

2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Vista Verde Vineyard. IWC 91. Dark red. Finely focused red berry, cherry, floral and mineral scents are given a pungent character by smoky herbs. The fresh, sweet strawberry, raspberry and bitter cherry flavors pick up dusty tannic grip on the back end. Finishes bright and brisk, with excellent persistence and echoing sweet red berry flavors that really cling to the palate.

Better fried rice. With more goodies.

2007 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Vista Verde Vineyard. IWC 92. Medium red. Ripe, smoky cherry and dark berry aromas are brightened by fresh rose and minerals. Cassis and blueberry flavors coat the palate, with velvety tannins providing shape. The minerality gains power with air, adding urgency to the deep, sweet dark fruits that dominate the finish. You could serve this with a rich lamb or beef dish.

Beef. Tender morsels.

2012 Saarloos & Sons Pinot Noir Motherhood

Vegetable noodles. Fine for what they were.

2009 Cayuse Grenache God Only Knows. IWC 93. Good medium-dark red. Very ripe aroma of strawberry liqueur. Intensely flavored and gripping; broad without coming across as heavy. Wild berry and smoke flavors are accented by a peppery element. Finishes subtle and long, with substantial fine, dusty tannins.

Sweet and sour fish. Okay, but nowhere near as good as the same dish last week at Beijing restaurant.

Some plan steamed buns.

2003 T-Vine Cellars Syrah Duarte Vineyard. 92 points. T-Vine wines sure do have personality. Here is a good-natured and self-assured wine. Ebullient nose of black fruit, toast and pepper. Typical tooth staining extract, it fills the mouth with sweet juicy fruit, smoke and grilled meat. The tannins are still somewhat drying and maybe it could use a little more bottle time, but this wine has loosened up quite a bit since I last had it. I think that you can overanalyze a wine like this and it kind of misses the point. The winemaking is serious (it’s very well made), but this is an easygoing wine that is comfortable in its own skin (no pun intended). Note that it is more of a straddle wine that may overwhelm many dishes. Still, you don’t care so much when you are sipping it while cooking or enjoying a glass after a meal. Surely a fan favorite.

Been sprouts.

From my cellar: 1993 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin. 92 points. A little funky at first, but after a few minutes, this wine shows sweet cherries, sharp minerals, and forest floor on the powerful nose. Initially the palate is a bit shy, but with time it gains concentration and volume until it explodes with deep red and black fruits. This is medium bodied and elegant but the fruit is intense, the acids are lively, and there is a strong spice note on the finish. There are still some hard edges and this is probably 5 years from its peak, but it’s wonderful now. Paired beautifully with peking duck.

Green onions for…

Peking duck! Fabulous as always, I ate 6 pancakes worth.

2006 Seven Stones Cabernet Sauvignon. 92-94 points. Young but already showing beautifully. Aromas of spice, leather, and tobacco. On the palate it’s smooth and succulent with notes of cigar box, graphite, leather, and black plum. Long finish. An excellent wine that will only get better over the next 3-7+ years.

Special pork. Super fatty but very tasty bacon.

1998 Neyers Syrah Hudson Vineyards. IWC 93. Saturated ruby. Sauvage, highly complex aromas of black fruits, maple syrup, bacon fat, roasted game and leather; I would have picked this for Northern Rhone syrah, perhaps a cross between Cote-Rotie and Cornas. Dense, sappy and pliant, with impressively intense flavors of spicy black fruits and enticing inner-mouth perfume. Finishes with a whiplash of dark berry flavor and a firm tannic spine. A great California syrah.

Crab in black bean sauce. Also great.

2011 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Hyde Vineyard. IWC 92. Good medium red, not too bright. Deeply pitched aromas of plum, raspberry, strawberry, mocha, loam and brown spices, lifted by floral notes of lavender and rose petal. Rich, broad and concentrated; more about spices and flowers than primary fruit today but sophisticated and complex nonetheless. A faint mintiness provides lift. Spreads out nicely on the back half, finishing with a light dusting of tannins and plenty of energy. This one needs a few years in the cellar.

Lobster in garlic and ginger sauce. Yummy, but hard to crack into at times.

2010 Opus One. IWC 95. Good saturated medium ruby. Riper on the nose than the young 2011, offering scents of blackcurrant, minerals, graphite, licorice and leather. Wonderfully suave and silky in the mouth, with terrific concentration and aromatic lift to the savory dark berry, crushed stone and mineral flavors. Really stains the palate without leaving any impression of weight. Boasts great clarity and outstanding depth, not to mention a finesse of texture rare for California cabernet. “Maybe my best vintage yet,” said winemaker Michael Silacci. A beauty.

Chinese plate pics are never lovely, but there’s the pork!

1989 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. IWC 88. Very sweet, thick and honeyed in the mouth, with a slightly fungal Tokaj quality and a hint of damp earth. Very concentrated but a bit syrupy-sweet and on the soft side. Something odd lurks just beneath the surface. Since the early days for this wine, I’ve found it slightly oxidized and lacking in shape and grip.

Iced leechee for dessert. Chinese restaurants aren’t known for their desserts.

Service was as good as it gets for Chinese. They provided us with plenty of wine glasses, brought the dishes slowly, and were extremely friendly.

Tonight’s only problem was that somehow the vegetarians “hijacked” the menu. Not that they did anything on purpose, but the requests for some vegetable dishes resulted in not just a few for them, but in 4-6 orders of mostly vegetable dishes. I’m just too much a omnivore for that much sauced vegetable.

Discover more crazy Hedonists adventures on my Hedonist page or

For more LA dining reviews click here.

The birthday girl with Yarom

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing, Corton-Charlemagne, hedonists, Héritiers Louis Jadot, Kimchi, Korean Chinese, pork, Shin Beijing, Wine

Shin Beijing Again

Oct19

Restaurant: Shin Beijing [1, 2, 3]

Location: 3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003

Date: October 17, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: very solid electric Chinese

The Hedonists return to one of our regular haunts, Korean Chinese Shin Beijing for some reliable (and somewhat closer than the SGV) Chinese eats.

NV Billecart-Salmon Rose. Parker 90. The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.

Cold appetizer plates are traditional at real Chinese restaurants.

1999 Domaine Ramonet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. Burghound 90. I’m always curious to taste this wine because in the past, it has been completely and utterly different from the Chassagne 1ers, both in terms of the flavor profile, which is to be expected but also because it has always been much softer, more forward with less obvious acidic structure and decidedly less cut. However, in 99, the Champ Canet appears to have joined the Ramonet camp, stylistically speaking with its bright acidity framing the white flower fruit and rich, generous, sophisticated flavors and finely detailed finish. Very classy juice.

Aromatic braised beef in black bean jelly.

From my cellar, the 2000 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. IWC 92+. Complex, subtly perfumed aromas of apple, pear, minerals and nutmeg. Dry, steely and penetrating, with brisk acidity giving the wine an almost painful firmness today. Extremely closed, even dry-edged, but very long on the back end.

Cold jellyfish with wasabi sauce.

1994 Penfolds Chardonnay Reserve Bin 94A. unfortunately, our bottle was gone.

Shrimp with mustard sauce.

Radish kimchi.

Cabage kimchi.

From my cellar, 1990 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin. 90 points. A little reserved, but still plenty of fruit and balance.

Beef w/ black mushroom, bamboo shoots.

Our live lobsters.

2009 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. Burghound 93. Here a gently oaked nose runs more toward the red side of the fruit spectrum before merging into rich and seductively textured broad-shouldered flavors that are also blessed with ample amounts of dry extract that renders the supporting tannins almost invisible on the detailed, youthfully austere and solidly persistent finish.

Way too young, but an extremely fine wine hiding in there under a bit of oak.

Beef patties. Sort of Chinese hamburger. Actually pretty great.

From my cellar, 1996 Domaine des Perdrix Echezeaux. 90 points. A rich but high extracted nose that seems more like a northern Rhone wine that pinot leads to robust, moderately rustic flavors that are very firmly structured and culminate in a mouth coating finish of good if not exceptional length.

Mixed egg fried rice. Really delicious carby goodness.

1990 Marc Sorrel Hermitage. Parker 87. The 1990 Hermitage-Le Vignon is an opaque, black/purple color, with a promising nose of gamey Syrah fruit and some noticeable herbaceousness. While there can be little doubt concerning the wine’s exceptional richness and full body, its acids are alarmingly high, even shrill, and the tannins sear the palate because of their astringency and ferocity. My experience suggests that astringent, hard wines such as this rarely come into balance. If the fruit does not fade before the tannins, my score may look conservative. This should prove to be an uncommonly long-lived wine, even by the standards of Hermitage.

Peking duck, artfully reassembled after cutting.

The pancakes for the duck.

The hoison sauce, which in this case, and tonight in particular, was oddly salty.

Cucumbers and spring onions.

An assembled pancake. While the duck itself was great, these pancakes were a bit underwhelming because there was too little sauce and it was too salty. The usual yummy cloying (in a good way) sweetness was missing.

Which still didn’t stop me from saucing a drumstick.

Optional buns to accompany the duck. These have a spongy texture and are slightly sweet.

1995 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Rotenberg Vendange Tardive. Parker 92. I tasted six dry Tokay-Pinot Gris offerings from Zind-Humbrecht and one Vendange Tardive. As the enthusiastic notes that follow reveal, it is a toss up as to whether Riesling or Pinot Gris was the more successful varietal in 1995. The only Vendange Tardive Tokay-Pinot Gris I tasted was the 1995 Rotenberg, a wine with 9.5% total acidity, and 14.5% alcohol. It is nearly too intense, yet who could not admire its amazing display of powerful, highly-extracted, buttery, slightly botrytised flavors, remarkably high acidity for such intensity, and marvelous purity of flavor and length. The wine coats the palate with viscous fruit, yet the acidity gives it vibrancy and freshness. It possesses a remarkable sweet/sour flavor combination. The wine should drink well for 20+ years.

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Lobster prepared two ways (this is the first). This one is in a mild flavorful sauce.

And this one “Hunan style” with mixed green and red chilies. Both were excellent.

2008 Gainey Riesling Limited Selection.

Chicken stir fry. Pretty typical.

2002 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. 92 points. Ripe apple and vanilla on the nose are joined by salty, resinous, and sweet herbal accents on the palate that one doesn’t particularly associate with the site. While the palate is undeniably rich, and the finish promising, this is a bit covered over by its sweetness right now and needs time to really show what it’s got.

Spicy chicken wings. Pretty hot and pretty good. Way better than your usual western hotwings.

Spicy eggplant, extremely tasty and extremely temperature hot.

A fine sweet Monbazillac. Slightly funky, but very good.

Noodle with black bean jelly.

These look pretty icky, but they taste great. These is a general sweet and savory flavor. It’s not like the more tangy bean noodles at Chengdu Taste.

Fried shrimp (mild).

And the spicy hot wing version.

Iced leechee for dessert. Chinese restaurants aren’t known for their desserts.

Overall, this was a great evening. Shin Beijing turned out to be a great find with a nice ambiance (as far as Chinese restaurants go) and terrific food. They really treated us well too. It’s not so easy to handle a boisterous group of this size and they managed perfectly. The price was very reasonable too, $41 a person all inclusive of tip and tax, considering the number of dishes and the fact that we had several lobsters, lots of shrimp, and two peking ducks.

Service was as good as it gets for Chinese. They provided us with plenty of wine glasses, brought the dishes slowly, and were extremely friendly.

Discover more crazy Hedonists adventures on my Hedonist page or

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Kimchi, Shin Beijing

Birthday Party, Hedonist Style

Apr09

Restaurant: Shin Beijing

Location: 3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003

Date: April 1, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: very solid electric Chinese

Hedonist regular, Penny, wanted to go out for her birthday, so 15-18 of us descended on Korea Town Chinese restaurant Shin Beijing. As far as I can tell, except for the Kimchi, Korean Chinese is pretty much Chinese (food wise).

Birthday girl Penny on the right next to Hedonist leader, Yarom, who’s sporting his best Myspace pout.

In Chinese style, the staff brought us out some of our victims alive before cooking them up.

You can’t really see it, but we had a nice private room, one of several.

From my cellar, Parker 90, “With respect to Saint-Cosme’s white wine offerings, readers should check out the 2007 Cotes du Rhone blanc, a blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Picpoul, and Viognier. Flamboyant scents of melon, tropical fruit, and honeysuckle jump from the glass of this beauty. It offers amazing richness, a dry, medium-bodied mouthfeel, superb freshness, and far more quality and complexity than one would expect from a white Cotes du Rhone. Luckily, there are over 1,000 cases of this cuvee.”

Kimchi. No self respecting Koreans would do without.

Kimchi spiced daikon?

Parker 91, “The Monchof 2007 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese Mosel Slate is scented with fresh tangerine, heliotrope, wisteria, and mint. Lush and brimming with ripe pineapple, musk melon, and tangerine, it spreads a creamy fruit concentrate over the palate yet remains infectiously refreshing in its long, sappy finish. Once again, this high-volume Eymael calling card represents an exceptional value and should go right on pleasing for a decade or more, provided anyone both thinks to cellar it and can resist temptation in the interim.”

Cold jelly fish (right) with wasabi sauce. Shrimp with mustard sauce (left) and aromatic braised beef (top) in black bean jelly.

In the upper right, Chinese pork sausages.

Some very unusual artisanal “sour” beers. Stawberry flavors and very… unique.

A stir friend chicken dish.

2008 Domaine Macle Cotes du Jura. This old fashioned wine is made in a manner a little like Sherry where a layer of bacteria is used to prevent oxidation. It was very dry and hot with sherry fino like notes.

Ma po tofu (a.k.a Pockmarked-Face Old Lady’s Tofu).

2003 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Very nice with strong notes of pear.

Bamboo shoot w/ black mushroom.

1978 Joseph Phelps Zinfandel. Not something you’d expect to still be good, but it was. Tasted like an old Bordeaux, very nice.

Crab w/ ginger and onion sauce. This sauce was delicious. Some wonderful crabs. Almost as good as the ones I had in Singapore.

2010 Domaine Gauby Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Calcinaires. A little funky, with a distinct barnyard taste that someone described as “dirty piggy.” I liked it quite a bit though, as did many others.

Fried shrimp w/ hot sauce (traditionally twice cooked spicy shrimp). Damn tasty shrimp!

A Turley Howell Mountain Zin.

Lobster hunan style. Good stuff, some really great lobster. Lightly fried with hunan chillies (but actually pretty mild).

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Fried whole fish w/ chili sauce. Yummy!

It’s not pretty, but great with white rice.

2007 Chin Chin Syrah.

Beef w/ black mushroom, bamboo shoots. Classic Chinese (American) dish.

Noodle with black bean jelly.

The noodles are hiding underneath. Looked cool, but the black bean jelly was a little mild flavored. I would have preferred pork ragu 🙂

Assorted fried rice (shrimp, chicken, pork). Great fried rice.

Parker 95, “Peter Michael’s Bordeaux program is built around their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine, Les Pavots. The 2008 Les Pavots, a blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 11% Merlot, offers up notes of roasted coffee, cocoa, chocolate fudge, black currants, licorice and a hint of truffles. This full-bodied, beautifully rich red boasts an opulent texture, impressive purity and a long finish. Impressively made with impeccable attention to detail (it is sorted berry by berry rather than grape bunch by grape bunch), this 3,500-case cuvee should drink well for two decades or more.”

The condiments for Peking duck.

Both pancakes and buns! I’ve never seen both at the same restaurant.

Peking duck. Looking good!

For the uninitiated, you put some duck skin, duck meat, onions, and hoison sauce in the pancake and roll.

1980 Château Nairac. Yarom always manages to find these ancient Sauternes. Tons of buttered popcorn and apricots. Not as syrupy as many desert wines. Still has a bit of acidity.

Apple pie (brought in).

2002 Domaine Weinbach Tokay Pinot Gris Altenbourg Cuvée Laurence. Parker 95, “Among the few slightly older wines from Weinbach that I tasted recently, the 2002 Pinot Gris Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles was especially notable. Black tea, citrus zest, musk, white truffle and honey aromas lead intoxicatingly to a plate the combine delicacy with density and richness, Like mandarins marinated in honey, tea, and grapefruit juice on the palate, on which 166 grams of residual sugar are tossed off and practically forgotten. This finishes with unquenchable refreshment rare for an S.G.N., and the sort of complexity and clarity that accrue to the best wines of this under-rated vintage.”

Glazed sweet potato. Basically sweet potato fries coated in sugar. Carby yum.

Overall, this was a great evening. Shin Beijing turned out to be a great find with a nice ambiance (as far as Chinese restaurants go) and terrific food. They really treated us well too. It’s not so easy to handle a boisterous group of this size and they managed perfectly. The price was very reasonable too, $60 a person all inclusive of tip and tax, considering the number of dishes and the fact that we had several lobsters, several crabs, and two peking ducks.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

The crab is making a break for it — unfortunately for him, he didn’t make it.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese Food, Côtes du Rhône AOC, crab, duck, hedonists, Kimchi, Korean cuisine, Lobster, Marsanne, Roussanne, Shin Beijing, Viognier, Wine

Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ

Jun02

Restaurant: A-1 Chinese BBQ

Location: 2014 Pacific Coast Hwy. Lomita, CA 90717. (310) 325-6709

Date: May 19, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck

I recently joined a meetup.com foodie group and I noticed in the feed that people were talking about this place for great Peking Duck. I’ve long been a fan of the crispy foul, to the tune of eating it three nights in a row in Beijing, and it is scare represented on the Westside, so I thought a pilgrimage was in order.

If you decide to go you must call ahead to reserve/prep a duck. It takes too long for them to do to order.

This establishment is not about looks. It makes Din Tai Fung look like Cesar’s Palace.

Although, I do have to say the inside is one step up form Totoraku, and that is a high end joint!

Another great thing is: no liquor license, which means no corkage. Bring your own cork screw. This is a reliable (although not awesome) negotiant 1re cru. We had to drink it out of plastic “pizza hut style” glasses, so that didn’t help either.

NOTE: big menu, so keep scrolling for the food!

The menu is grungy and enormous.

We started with these “prawns with spicy salt, headless.” This is generally called “salt and pepper shrimp” and this particular version was one of the best I’ve had. I particularly appreciated the lack of head.

Then out rolled our feathered friend. He was carved back in the kitchen.

And served with the usual Hoisin sauce and the often seen in China but not as often here doughy buns instead of pancakes.

You put some sauce, some scallions, and some duck on the bun and enjoy. This was definitely some of the best duck I’ve had in California. The skin was perfectly crispy, and there was some, but not too much fat.

After this we switched it up to this awesome Rosso. “The 2009 Rosso di Montalcino is totally beautiful and elegant in its expressive bouquet, silky fruit and understated, harmonious personality. This is a wonderful, impeccable Rosso from Le Potazzine. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2017.”

This is “Chow Ma Mein” (I think). A spicy soup with noodles, shrimp, beef, chicken and various vegetables. It was good.

“Orange peel chicken.” Fairly typical of the type, but not bad.

“Dry braised string beans.” I like this dish when I usually have it, but this wasn’t the greatest version. It was too oily and lacking in garlicky punch.

“Sweet and sour pork.” The pork was a little tough, but flavorful. The sauce a bit goopy. Just so-so.

The check was awesome. $20 a person all in with tip.

Overall, the duck was fantastic, the shrimp and soup were very good, and the other dishes a bit mediocre. It was a very nice meal, and with a little more trial and error ordering probably could be totally first rate. I’m curious if any of you readers know any other places with great Peking Duck in LA. I’d love to find one that was 40 minutes from my house!

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