The Beijing food Olympics

Kathmandu:

A few weeks ago we wrote about the wonders of The Chinese Cate Restaurant (Cate means delicious), and now we were in a sister concern in The Beijing Hotel in Jyatha Tole. The restaurant was packed with Chinese, some eating so much they removed their shirts so that their buttons didn’t pop. At the end of the meal we had to resist the urge.

Our friends Yang and her brother Jo run both. At the moment The Chinese Cate Restaurant is undergoing renovations because the demand is so great.

Yang took our Beijing order telling us a little about what we are going to eat like the cold dishes and she brought on The Kungfu Beef which was as thin as the wafer thin Carpaccio meat in Harry’s Bar in Venice. but The Kungfu part of it consisted of spiciness that would make a Jet Li look feeble. It had a touch of sesame, chilli and all kinds of strong tastes that made the thinness of the meat seem bigger than it was. This was a dish that delivered a wonderful wallop and the taste went on.

In the next room we watched The Beijing Olympics and hoped the participants were eating like we were. It would add speed, strength and the feeling that always running about and pole vaulting was a waste of time when they could eat excellent cold dishes like The Cold Pork With Garlic Sauce, a dish that had two types of garlic and a flavoured unforgettable pork that was chewy with a hot, hot taste and we wondered which dish we enjoyed more. An ideal food for Nepalis because it tasted like it is made in some households here. The garlic and the pork are staples with several ethnicities.

While athletes performed unbelievable but tiring feats, we ate our delicious sweet and sour pork which came in a thick sauce which contained magical ingredients and it made you eat more and more because of a taste best described as deeply meaningfully and “Come back for more”. Even the sesame exploded into the uniqueness. There are sweet and sour pork in every restaurant but we have never tasted one like the one in The Beijing Hotel.

The Dan Dan Noodles were interpreted in a way best described as wonderful. You get more than just noodles with meat. You had peanuts, chillies, spinach, a kind of soup and the noodles themselves had the same taste that the Chinese must have created when they switched from stews to noodles and other wheat products in 3rd century BC. The slow and brilliant burn added to the many textures. The sauce was devilish.

We had a stew too, one that combined a seemingly gentling chicken and potato and coriander taste (the chicken itself was brought from China). You got a thin flavoured gravy that suddenly went from mild to wild. The dish had you cheering as much as the diners did when their team won. Both were startling events.

The rice served last was short grained and cooked like a Risotto was labelled Cantonese rice. It was done in a rich broth with vegetables and chewy Chinese sausage and was as good as any Risotto worldwide. My friend Rajan Maharjan tasted the mild egg in it.

Sitting at table no 1 on any Olympics day, we were winners as were the people at the 10 other tables. Interestingly enough you didn’t need to chew cloves to sweeten your breath as you had to in 250 BC. The food at The Beijing Hotel doesn’t need it.

Call The Beijing Hotel at 4251368, 4252201.