Welcome Lunch in Beijing

Our China colleagues took us to a neighboring restaurant to welcome us on our first day in Beijing. For the most part, I liked all of the dozen or so dishes that came streaming out of the kitchen and onto our lazy Susan.


All except for this preparation: an oh-so-slippery (forget using the chopsticks; only a spoon would do) pumpkin jello drizzled with strawberry jelly. Hmmmm ....


The wood-ear mushrooms, slightly vinegary in flavor, however, were light and lovely.


One of the editors had the same idea as I did: Snap a bunch of pics of the food, rather than the folks sitting around the table.

This pork, camouflaged in minced scallions, was delightful—juicy, tender and highly spiced.

Absolutely loved the pan-fried pork dumplings plus the hot-out-of-the-oven papaya pastries.