Mao's Family Kitchen, Beijing

It is no secret that I tend to see China through rose-coloured glasses and, for this reason, seem always to find fantastic reinforcement of these views.

My business partners had booked me into a basic, no frills hotel, part of the Orange Hotel group, in the south-west, close to the third ring in Beijing and so naturally I had to explore the area as my previous experiences had  been in Chaoyang and Sanlitun.

It was a chilly late November evening and my cheap, market jacket was an absolute blessing! Not more than 200 metres from my hotel I saw an impressive stone building with what looked suspiciously like a restaurant on the first floor – I could see diners through the upstairs windows and also what looked like elaborate chandeliers. In I strode.

As is so often the case I was met by three beautifully dressed, beautiful Chinese girls who greeted me with exceptional smiles. One escorted me upstairs to the wide open space of the restaurant and the Maitre d’ took over to usher me to my table in this great dining hall. A glance about indicated a mezzanine type internal balcony that ran around three sides above with many private dining rooms leading off. The décor was stunning, very oriental and in a perfect state of maintenance.

The menu arrived, a large, bound book of colourful photographs, dishes described in Chinese as well as English and a ‘beverage’ list, the latter featuring Chinese wines, beer and an impressive selection of exotic cocktails and spirits as well as mocktails and many other non-alcoholic drinks.

Strangely enough I chose a Coconut juice and followed this up later with local beer. There are fundamental risks in drinking Chinese wines as the industry is awash with contaminated wine as well as fake wines so better to avoid completely!

Being confronted with an extensive menu boasting both exotica and universally well-known dishes makes the selection process difficult. It’s true, I was dining alone on this occasion but I didn’t want this to impair my wide-ranging tasting experience so I lashed out, ordering far too many items from the menu, much to the concern…or was it amusement….of the waiter and the other floor staff. However, I pressed on with my intentions and began with Pork and Scallion(spring onion) dumplings, a filling meal on its own, suitably whetting my appetite for boiled, shredded bean curd in chicken soup, a delicate, soft expression of melting taste, the bean curd noodles so absorbent and smooth, soaking up the chicken fat infused liquid of the soup. All this complementing the sprinkling of greens and the firm texture of the prawns.

A plate of BBQ pork in honey sauce tossed me back to meaty heaven  again, so sweet in its honey coating, so tender and beautifully cooked, artfully presented and so much appreciated.

Vegetables (and seafood) always feature prominently in Chinese dining and the selection in restaurants is invariably a salivating lineup of highly desirable delights. One of my all time favourites is Garlic beans – the green string bean variety – these are seen everywhere and are simply addictive. For me though, at Mao’s Family Kitchen, it was to be Iced celery and three other dishes,  organic Ginseng Leaf with sesame, “Signature baked pumpkin” and “Hot & Spicy Mandarin Fish”. Of course, I merely sampled each of these as even my stomach has limits on its ability to hold more than an average amount of food in one sitting. Nevertheless, I managed to experience what I believe was the closest thing to a non-sexual orgasm, my senses singing with utmost joy the praises of food prepared by people from a culture so ancient and so well practiced in the art of culinary excellence. These foods celebrated their individual flavours, they boasted unselfconsciously their heritage and made their culinary statements with dignity and poise. Jumping across the table from a chopstick of iced celery to the other end of the ‘musical’ scale, hotly spiced fish, was exhilarating, each conveying its taste with certainty and confidence. The fish was as fine as any I have tasted in China, its inner flesh so thoroughly agreeable to the palate.

“Sauteed flank beef with baby cabbage”, as you can see in the accompanying photograph was also creatively plated and the skill and care extended through to the taste – 15 evenly cut pieces of succulent beef, bite-sized and exuding a sweet yet powerful grandiloquence so seductively enhanced by the soft bed of greens below.

My salute to one of my favourite cities was to order the BBQ pork puff, Hong Kong style. Finger-sized bites of bliss, sweet Eastern sensations with tantalizing black and white sesame seed coated pastry jackets, small tidbits of pork within and enough to add pleasure aplenty to an already exceptionally joyful evening.

I finished with more Chinese beer (usually only 2.5 to 3.5% ABV) as coffee was unavailable.

For your edification and information I list below a few other items from the vast menu; you may like to try these when you are in Beijing and can find this restaurant.

Tasty jellyfish head; Signature smoked duck tongue; stewed live sea-cucumber with Aweto; braised Yajian shark’s fin with brown sauce; live sea cucumber in clear soup; diced foie gras with lettuce; stewed Dalian abalone with yellow fungus and cashew; Signature original duck blood; grilled pork intestine; braised yak meat with paste; Signature donkey shank; bullfrog in stone pot; simmered turtle; baked fish head; pork heart, liver, sausage & streaky pork West Hunan style; catfish in white soup; beef tripe and shrimp in hot chilli oil; shredded eel with sizzling oil and yellow pepper; Australian lobster (seen a lot in China); Australia Wagyu beef