Quanjude Restaurant - Beijing

Beijing is rich in history and culture due to the fact that it has been the political center of China for centuries.

Some of the most well-known Chinese buildings can be found in Beijing including Forbidden City, Tiananmen square, Birds' Nest (National Stadium), Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) and more. 

The Summer Palace 

The famous Long Corridor (長廊): 728m long covered walkway filled with hand painted artwork

Paifang

If you think this rock looks familiar, that's because it is familiar - it's a Taihu limestone boulder.

That's a journey of over 1,100 km from Wuxi (or Taihu) to Beijing.

How did they move it to Beijing? They waited until winter and iced the path to slide the rock to Beijing. 

A few years later, the original official who acquired the rock fell into financial ruin (most likely because of the cost of moving this rock) and he abandoned it on the side of the road. It was forgotten until the Emperor Qianlong of the Qin dynasty saw the rock and ordered it moved into his garden at the Summer Palace. He named the rock "Blue Iris Stone".

The amazing artwork on a Pavillion

Entrance/Exit (Depends how you see it) :D

On to Lunch, we were taken to a famous Peking Duck restaurant for lunch:

Side dishes: Bamboo shoots and Duck with cold jelly

The Duck with cold jelly was fantastic - I wish we could have ordered another dish of it.

Chinese Mustard Greens or Gai Choy

Simple and a little oily

Above: Stir fry Pork in Black Pepper Sauce and Diced Duck with vegetables

The pork was a little spicy from the black pepper sauce, but it was still well done. 

The duck was good, even if it was a little on the tough side.

Plate of duck for Peking Duck

 

All the Ingredients for Peking Duck: sweet bean sauce, scallions and cucumbers.

The Waitress even demonstrated how to wrap the Peking Duck. 

It was great to eat authentic Peking Duck in the city that started it all. 

It is quite different from North American Peking Duck (because Cantonese people altered it to suit their tastes with Hoisin sauce and thicker cuts of meat and crispy skin). 

This duck had a slight fruity aroma and the sweet bean sauce provided a great compliment to the duck (hoisin sauce can sometimes overpower the flavour of the duck itself).  The pancakes were abundant and I liked that they didn't detract from the flavour combination of the duck and the condiments.

Cucumber soup

After the strong and savoury taste of all the dishes, the cucumber soup was simple and refreshing.

Overall: The food was good here and I had a great experience eating the Peking Duck. 

Website: http://www.quanjude.com.cn/e_about.html