Beijing Dong Lai Shun Hot Pot

 On the last night before we departed for Kuala Lumpur, Jackson our tour guide took us for a hot-pot dinner at Qianmen Street...28 March 2014

Location

• Dong Lai Shun

  Price Per Person: 94 RMB
  Phone: +86 10 83172716/ +86 10 83172726
  Address: Second Floor, No. 143, Walking Street, Qianmen Street, Dongcheng District(See the Map)
  
  

 It was a reputed hot pot restaurant and is quite well patronised with info on the place  easily available on the net...there is no Anglicised name on the signboard  though. and I googled and found the english equivalent: Dong Lai Shun

 It serves Mongolian hot pot and here is the story:Under the painstaking efforts of several generations of chefs, Donglaishun Restaurant is characterized by the fine ingredients selection, delicate processing, complete condiments and strong fire, etc. Mutton used in the restaurant is taken from small-tail sheep produced in the Xilin Gol League sheep producing area in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. More importantly, only several parts of the sheep such as rear leg, rear body and spinal flesh are chosen. At the same time, exquisite skills of cutting mutton are required in the restaurant, with such standards as thinness, evenness, uniformity and handsomeness. When served on trays, mutton slices should be translucent to such an extent that patterns of the trays can be seen through them. For this reason, mutton offered by the restaurant is instant-boiled and known for its fragrance, tenderness, and lack of odor. Moreover, diversified condiments with peculiar texture are specially prepared by the restaurant, and all hotpots used here have been modified to obtain strong charcoal fire without flying ashes. Other than instant-boiled mutton, Donglaishun Restaurant offers a variety of Muslim fried dishes including quick-fried mutton, minced chicken meat and tremella, roasted gigot and roasted duck. Additionally, it provides a variety of flavored snacks such as butter fried cake and sweet walnut soup.

 Lots of meat available for order: lamb, mutton,beef, but sorry, no pork as it is a halal restaurant!

 you have to go upstairs, the sign says : second floor

 Prices of the meat is ostensibly  displayed

 interior decor

 to give us privacy as the rooms were all taken, they just pulled a collapsible screen across, behind us
here the waiter is serving us a special sauce for dipping the meat into..beware, each bowl costs 20 rmb, even if you do not use it, and they force everyone to take one each.....that's 140 rmb already for the 14 of us....

 Hot Pots have been in Beijing since the Mongols conquered that section of northern China in 1215.   Beijing was known as Yanjing back then, and was the capital of the Jin Empire before the Mongols sacked it.

There is debate that the hot pot, though available and used by Muslims, did not become popular with the Han Chinese until the Manchu army defeated the Ming army in the 1700s. (from Enjoying a Fantastic Hot Pot Restaurant by Kenny Edwards)

 Yummy Meat ..Mutton?

 Waiter pours the soup

 Marbled meat

 what the hot pot looks like

 fried rice for the fan tongs....

 me getting ready to do the honours

 lotus root or what Ken will call soup sweetener

 rockets

 tofu

 vegetables in the soup: leeks, lotus roots and kojiberries

 simmer. and boil

 we have two tables

 ready? to eat? or to pose?

 this is too fatty for me!

pancakes as an accompaniment..

It was a very expensive meal as it costs more than one thousand rmb for two tables and to me the meat slices were tasteless and I had to dunk them in the bowl of sauce and as Uncle S says, the sauce overpowered the meat.  Some of the family members were not full enough and had to go to the restaurant opposite for Zha chiang mian.