798 Art Space & A Very Good Burger... for China

I have a lot of cool photos from my recent trip to China and I definitely ate some interesting things so I'm gonna tell you all about it. You lucky thing.

A highlight of the trip came during the weekend we spent in Beijing. Lucky for us, someone Dana worked with at Converse in Shanghai told us to visit 798 Space because my dumb travel book made no mention of it. Located in the Dashanzi area, to the northeast of central Beijing (a 30 minute cab ride if coming from the Olympic village) it's the site of state-owned factories that were built jointly in the 50's by East Germany and China, including Factory 798, to produce electronics.

This factory complex started being converted into artist space in 1995 when the Central Academy of Fine Arts, looking for cheap space, set up a workshop in one of the buildings. There's a nice, succinct history of the community on Wikipedia and it's very interesting as you can imagine that avant-garde art of the variety this community serves up isn't widely embraced in China, particularly in Beijing and was probably less so 15 years ago.

Factory 798

Anyway... Factory 798 is the main gallery space and it's very cool. You can still see all the old Maoist slogans painted on the walls and they attract all kinds of cool exhibits, installations, fashion shows, what have you. It's an amazingly large and cavernous space that holds over 1,000 people easily.

798 Art District

So the big gallery is the main outpost but there are hundreds of other galleries, stores and work spaces within the district. You could walk around for hours... and we did.

There's a lot of old machinery that was left in tact and you'll see it on the side of the streets or in the buildings, and there's a lot of public art out on the streets and on the walls.

There is also a functioning railroad yard and it looked like some of the building might still be used for government purposes.

What About That Burger?

So, my experiences with food in China were less that scintillating. I had trouble finding things that were appetizing. I mean, the standards are just different. Aside from my love affair with dumplings and a mean breakfast at the Portman I only had a few meals that were truly memorable so finding a decent burger and fries felt like a serious victory. Eating in Shanghai was a little easier. It's a big, somewhat westernized, very metropolitan city and where I was staying was swarming with ex-pats. There was this GREAT place right outside the hotel called Element Fresh that was amazing. I frequented the Nan Jing Xi Lu location... a lot. It's a chain in Shanghai with one location in Beijing but as far as finding good things to eat in China, this place rocked. Not to get off topic but they had this pumpkin soup that was bomb.

More Good Stuff at Element Fresh

the california hippie herbed farmer’s cheese spread on whole grain bread with avocado, fresh lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrots, and lemon vinaigrette.

laffa bread salad grilled chicken breast with goat cheese over mixed lettuce, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, topped with onion and sliced green olives. served with miso-yogurt dressing on laffa bread.

vietnamese spring rolls with beef filled with lemon-grass beef, assorted fresh vegetables and coriander. served with peanut sauce.

There's photos of all those dishes on their site. This is a casual dining spot but they turn it into a semi swanky establishment at night by dimming the lights and lighting some candles. The prices are super reasonable, everything is clean and tidy and the service is attentive which is rare in China. Love Element Fresh!!!

Back to the Burger

So I don't remember what the place was called but it was across the street from the entrance to the 798 gallery. I didn't take any photos of the burger and Dana will be mad because he's in this one but this is the scene at this lovely little cafe. They had turkey and beef burgers. Dana had the turkey. They serve it in the Asian style with a fried egg on top, pickles, lots of condiments and a nice brioche. For all that stuff - it wasn't greasy or overloaded and the chips were really good. Good size steak fries, nice and crispy.

We had some Tsingtaos and shared a pot of oonlong and it was a nice little meal really. One of two decent meals we had over a three day period in Beijing. I'm sure there are great places to eat, but you have to know where to look and we didn't. I'll post about the good Indian meal we had in Nanluogu alley soon.

China Ain't Kansas... or Thailand for that Matter

My advice to anyone travelling to China, Beijing specifically - don't wing it. Research where you want to go, have maps and get it written down in Chinese!!!! It's not the type of place where you can easily just figure it out. It's harder to get around than you might anticipate if you're not with a native Chinese speaker and a lot of the guide books aren't that helpful so do your homework in advance and for each night you will be there, have at least one (maybe two) options for dinner. Go to concierge (or even better - to your Chinese friend before you leave for your trip) and get that business written out for you so you can show the cab driver!

Unless you are staying at a 4 or 5 star hotel, concierge may or may not be that helpful and if you're not prepared, you'll probably end up eating KFC. Even compared to a place like Bangkok which I thought would be tricky to navigate without knowing the language, Beijing blows it away. We were there in winter which is low tourist season, but still... we ate KFC one day. It wasn't pretty but at least we could tell what we were eating, sort of.

Shanghai Surprise! Or the case of the dumpling disaster...

So, being unemployed has given me a whole new appreciation for the culinary arts. I love to cook. I love kitchen gadgetry and the smell of slow roasting meats. But I hate coming home from work at 8PM and having to make dinner. It made me forget how much I liked cooking. Shame on you. Bad job.

Being a lady of leisure has allowed me to spend time preparing food at a pace that suits me. Really slowly. I've been experimenting with the slow cooker, I made a mean Indian meal the other night, but I may have been a little ambitious when I decided to make Shanghai dumplings from scratch for Chinese New Year.

Since coming back from China in December all I really wanna eat is dumplings. Little doughy balls filled with savory pork and crab meat and bursting with soupy juices. YUM. Just writing the words makes me woozy. I bought the bamboo steamer as soon as I got back and had been getting frozen dumplings at the Asian grocer but thought for Chinese New Year I would pay proper homage to this culinary delicacy. Instead, I may have desecrated a holy tradition. Plus... we drank Japanese beer while eating said dumplings which I don't think would be embraced by our friends in the far East.

Aspic Aspirations

Anyway, all was going well until I forgot to add the gelatin to the aspic. This is an all day affair. You have to make the stuffing (pork, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, etc.) and then you make the aspic (sake, more soy sauce, chicken stock & bones, etc.) because you need a soupy base for the filling. However... you can't stuff a dumpling with liquid - you could try but it would be messy - so you mix your stuffing and your aspic and then you put it in the fridge for an extended period of time for it to get firm. The gelatin which I forgot to add helps things to stiffen up a bit... I added it later but had already altered the chemistry of the thing beyond repair. I also didn't give myself enough time to let the stuff get firm. Ugh. When you spend a whole day making something and forget a little thing like some powder made from horses hooves (is that true?) - it's beyond annoying.

DOUGH!

So then there's the dumpling dough. Doesn't that sound cute? I made it twice which was not cute. The first batch didn't rise and I think I may have scorched the yeast on the second batch. You have to turn it into little circles, stuff them and then pleat the tops. Holy hell is this hard. I don't think my hands are small enough or something. My fingers kept getting in the way and stuffing was oozing out of the top.


I ended up having Dana finish them because I was a minute away from feeding the stuffing to the cats and chucking the dough across the house. I have done this before. It was a pie crust. Not pretty. I found pie dough for the next year in the weirdest places.

Year of the Lopsided Ox...

So we ushered in the new year with some pretty deformed looking dumplings but they actually tasted pretty good. I think they lost a lot of juice because the pleating exercise wasn't wildly successful so they weren't sealed up tight enough. I also made longevity noodles and we drank some Sapporo (Kenji was present so we were just respecting his heritage) and then we had some sesame candy from Vietnam and mango ice cream. It was like a pan-Asian celebration!

How to Make it... or Not

This is the recipe I followed. I looked at others but she simplified the aspic recipe which won bonus points because some of the recipes were really complicated. This one also has a video and you can see how she pleats them. It didn't help me cause mine still sucked but it does give you a better idea of how the technique should be deployed.

Those dumplings haven't seen the last of me. I won't be discouraged by one 14 hour, somewhat disastrous and utterly irritating dance with the dumpling shaped devil. Till we meet again my delectable little dough ball.