Foie Gras and Ketchup

So far, the "foodie" side of me has been pretty disappointed with the food in China. I was so anxious to get over here and try all of the crazy dishes, and eat a bunch of things that I have never had before. shortly after my arrival in Beijing I was warned that eating those sort of things can get someone extremely sick. There are only certain places that you should eat at, and any other place is a risk. I am willing to take risks, don't get me wrong. I have eaten plenty of unfamiliar items (including the the cold poached pig ear with daikon and green papaya at the Taiwanese restaurant last week), but nothing has stood out to me as being AWESOME!! There was the Korean BBQ restaurant (the one that served dog) that had some very tasty food, the roast duck pizza on Sunday, and that Big Mac that Adam brought me home on Saturday night. Those were all really good, but I was waiting for that WOW factor to kick in. And tonight was the night....

We decided to head to the mall down the road from our apartment for dinner tonight. We went into the food court, which consisted of about 40 different stalls all serving completely different dishes. Everything from Shabu Shabu to Peking duck. We noticed a teppenyaki restaurant all the way in the back of the court. For those of you don't know, teppenyaki is a Japanese style of cooking where the chefs prepare your food on grills right at your table (similar to Nagoya in Toledo, or the Benihana chain). I am 100% confident that this food blew these restaurants out of the water!! In such an unassuming location, I didn't expect the food to be any good, but boy was I wrong. I started with a dish of diced beef, green onions, and a ton of garlic. It was fantastic! The flavors were clean and simple, but just popped with every bite. That dish led to a thinly sliced lamb steak with red onions. It reminded me of the best cheesesteak I have ever had (minus the cheese). I wanted to throw it on an Amaroso roll, smear it with Cheez Whiz, and eat it on the streets of Philadelphia. I could of eaten it all day long!!! Things continued to get better with a plate of vegetables and bean sprouts, a BBQ'd oyster with garlic, bacon, chives, and lemon juice, and the piece de resistance.... my final course consisted of seared foie gras, wrapped in an omelet, topped with a sauce of reduced ketchup, and apple slices. never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be eating foie gras in china, let alone a foie gras omelet with ketchup! But it was SOOOO good! I could of ordered ten more! But food aside, you want to know the single best part of my experience tonight? My entire meal set me back a whopping $14 U.S. I can hardly eat at Arby's for that much scratch!

All I have to say now is, BRING IT ON BEIJING! I'M READY FOR MORE!!!!!