Category > food

Did China invent the restaurant?

From Wikimedia Commons It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but restaurants as we know them today did not always exist. French Revolution Paris in the late 18th century is usually cited as the birthplace of the restaurant (the word itself is French), but many of the characteristics that define a modern restaurant were already in place [...]

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Life at 134 Jiaodaokou Nan Da Jie (交道口南大街134号)

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I updated this website! Now that I’ve managed to update WordPress and get the comments working again, it’s time to update qB itself. My friend V and I did a hutong photo shoot. These photos were taken at our last stop, a row of street food vendors.

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To Be Frugal Is Glorious: 7.3 RMB in 3 Days!

(Photo originally from Jalopnik.) After my bad start, I have managed to only spend 7.3 RMB (1.07 USD) in the last 3 days. The only things that I bought on Tuesday were 5 RMB of strawberries (going to make Mark Bittman’s easy sorbet) and 2.3 RMB worth of lettuce, scallions, and bean sprouts. I love [...]

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the cutest cafe in beijing

Beijing doesn’t lack for cute cafes, but Miao Cafe is easily the cutest cafe in the city.  In fact it is one of the cutest cafes I have been to anywhere in the world.  As its name suggests, Miao Cafe is cat-themed.  Located on a quiet street behind the Yashow Market in Sanlitun, it’s worlds [...]

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the beekeeper of 定福庄

About 100 meters from the west gate at my university is a man selling honey.  This doesn’t seem particularly remarkable, but in fact, he is a beekeeper, raising the bees in his own backyard apiary nearby. There are different varieties of honey, depending on the flowers that the bees fed on, and he had date [...]

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delicious gummy popcorn

  You have to wonder who on earth thought it was a good idea to make candy out of popcorn. Sour gummy popcorn. Found at Watson’s, where it sells for 7 RMB. And no, dear reader, I did not buy it. My stomach is churning just thinking about it. I have no problems with eating [...]

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found: the totoro bun!

As readers may be aware, I have been on the search for the Totoro bun from Tous Les Jours for a while now. I have finally found him! The Totoro bun was found lurking in the Nurenjie 女人街 branch of Tous Les Jours. I had been on his trail for many weeks now, waiting to [...]

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more quirky pastries

We here at quirkybeijing are dedicated to finding interesting pastries and breads. So here are the latest and greatest: A bear-shaped pastry at a Holliland bakery. Not very good, actually, although it tasted nicely of eggs. When bad titles happen to good breads–Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bacon at the Ginza Mall branch of Bread Talk. Did [...]

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stingrays and rainbow fish at Tesco’s!

We went to China’s first Tesco supermarket for the first time on Sunday. While Scott swooned over being able to buy a can of Tesco brand Spaghetti Hoops for the outrageous price of 11 RMB (they are 30p in the UK, according to him), I was particularly excited over the lively seafood section. In fact, [...]

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a very happy pastry

For me, bakeries are fun places to explore. You just never know what you might come across. One of my favourite bakeries, Tous Les Jour (despite its name, is actually from Korea), used to carry a Totoro bun. They don’t seem to carry this any more, to my eternal sadness. The other day I was [...]

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