An Action-Packed Chinese New Year Day in Beijing

While many rush away from Beijing during the Chinese New Year holiday break either to return home or travel, I quite enjoy staying in the city this time of year.  The non-stop fireworks can get a little intense at times, but it’s one of the few times a year Beijing has no traffic and everyone is totally chilled out.

With most places closed and many people away, it’s nice to spend quality time alone, catching up on work and on sleep, but after a few days of down-time, it’s also good to get out and explore what is available in the city.

Luckily this Chinese New Year break, Beijing’s been blessed with quite a few beautiful days with abnormally warm(er) weather! Taking advantage of the blue skies and sunshine, I spent the day in true Chinese New Year style.

Starting off on Guozijian Street 国子监街, we wandered in and out of various furniture shops, knick-knack shops, Beijing’s oldest toy store and peeked in its cozy cafes, Imperial College and the Confucian Temple.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Guozijian Street 国子监街:

After exploring Guozijian Street, we made our way over to Ditan Park to check out their annual temple fair, one of the liveliest in the city (click here for full list of temple fairs in Beijing).  Decked out in red lanterns and festive decorations, this temple fair was packed to the brim with people.  Weaving through the herds of people, we explored the fair and checked out the live performances, snack stalls section, game area and a few private temples.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Ditan Park’s Temple Fair:

Our next stop: Houhai Lake for some serious ice-biking fun.  The frozen Houhai Lake offers a gigantic space for people to ice skate, ice bike or ice sled on chairs with picks to slide yourself around.  Our group all hopped on ice bikes for races around the lake and a seriously awesome good time.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Houhai Lake Ice Biking Fun:

We topped off our perfect Chinese New Year action-packed day with a final Sichuan feast at the popular Sichuan joint directly across from the north end of Nanluoguxiang.  Spicy and flavorful, this restaurant was an ideal cap off to a long day exploring the city’s most festive sites.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Sichuan Feast:

With only a few more days left of the Chinese New Year holiday, I encourage everyone in Beijing to head over to one of the city’s temple fairs (full list of fairs here) along with a day trip to Houhai lake for some fun on ice.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Black Sesame Kitchen: The Not-So-Secret Hidden Gem

A lot of people have heard of Black Sesame Kitchen’s fun and interactive cooking classes or wine ‘n dine dinner parties, but not so many people know that once a month, Black Sesame Kitchen will host a special 10-course traditional Chinese meal + all-you-can-drink quality wine for RMB 150 per person. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Black Sesame Kitchen may not be listed among CityWeekend’s Gourmet Month Restaurants, but it may as well be, considering how incredibly awesome this steal of a bargain is!

Hosted by my very favorite event manager, Candice Lee aka C-dice, she really does wonders for this little hutong kitchen. Considering she knows EVERYONE in Beijing, there is always a fully-booked table with all the cool kids in town (foodies who know where it’s at).

This special deal only occurs once a month (typically the first Wednesday of every month), but the cooking classes are a ton of fun and Black Sesame Kitchen is the perfect destination to impress out-of-towners and host private dinner parties whether its a birthday, corporate event or wine tasting.

Black Sesame Kitchen Review: Off of Nanluoguxiang (turn when you see Log-in Bar), 黑芝麻胡同3号  Tel: 136-9147-4408

Best Part:

• You can indulge in an amazing 10-course meal PLUS all-you-can-drink QUALITY wine for only RMB 150 (special price available once a month)
• Best dessert EVER: Candied Apples Chilled in Vanilla Ice Cream
• Everything is cooked right in front of you, making for a really interactive dining experience – Chairman Wang is a culinary genius
• The wine selection is always superb in taste and quality
• The service is the best (C-dice is the perfect host, always on top of her game)
• A great option to host private dinner parties for a group of friends and the cooking classes are really great (*think birthday present for someone who loves cooking and good food).
• It’s a great place to bring friends or to meet new friends (always a great dining crowd of foodies who share the love for good food and wine)

Comments:

• Incredibly tricky to find if it’s your first time (but I promise you it’s worth the extra effort – just carefully follow the directions they send to you)
• You need to learn to pace yourself and prepare for heaps of food that seems to never stop coming (my first time, I made the terrible mistake of overloading on the first dishes and was stuffed by the 5th course – reminder: there are 10! And trust me, you’ll want to save room for their dessert)

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 9
• Atmosphere: 8
• Service: 9
• Overall Experience: 9