Beijing: Made In China

I've changed jobs recently, and should no longer be going to China so often, although there's plenty of backlog for the China food posts which should make their appearance over the next few weeks. To give some context, it was France/Belgium in June, China (a few times) in July and August, and Portugal/Germany in September. And plenty of Singapore eating in between, which I simply have no time to sort out. But we will get there!

This particular trip to Beijing in July was a rather fruitful one as far as managing to get out and trying different places was concerned. There were the occasional official meals, but I somehow managed to dodge a couple and venture out on foodie expeditions to places that had been highly recommended by friends. One of these was Maison Boulud, and the other was Made in China in Hyatt Beijing near Wangfujing. These 2 places came highly recommended by the same friend whom I regard very respectfully and highly as a food guru (who specialises in buffets). She claimed that the Peking Duck at Made in China was the best in Beijing, even better than Da Dong. Now, I happen to be a real BIG fan of Da Dong, having gone there probably around 5 to 6 times this year - not all were documented since 2 or 3 of them were business meals and it would have been rather inappropriate to photograph the food with the people I was eating with. But the food has always been excellent. So I knew I had to try Made In China urgently since the clock on my then-job was running down rather quickly.

Made in China at the Hyatt Beijing is easily accessible via the Subway Line 1. We were staying at China World Hotel at Guomao, and simply hopped on the train and got off at Wangfujing Station. After a five minute walk through the Oriental Plaza Shopping Mall, we found ourselves seated at a small table near the entrance. My gut feel was that we weren't taken very seriously as customers, since such tables are usually occupied by the drivers of the diners, who are normally seated in private rooms. But it really didn't matter to us Singaporeans who were just after a good meal.
I felt that the prices at Made in China were rather high. The entrees were priced between RMB 45 to 55 (items like cold braised beef slices and pickled jellyfish), the vegetable dishes between RMB 58 to 88 (normal stir fried veggies were RMB 68), fish starting from RMB 150 and poultry around RMB 100. These were easily about double or a third more expensive than other decent restaurants in Beijing. Fried rice and noodle dishes were RMB 68 on average.
The appetisers were pretty standard, but of quite good quality. The peanuts were crunchy and nicely salted.
Twice-cooked crispy pork ribs with garlic (RMB 98). This was very yummy and was really good with steamed rice. The pork ribs were very tender, and the garlic was crispy too.

The ma po tofu (RMB 58) arrived shortly after that. Here's what it looked like to us....

And here's the same dish with the flash on. It was pretty good, with just the right amount of spice without being too tongue-numbing.

As good Singaporeans, we had to order a veggie dish. Kailan with garlic - not on the menu (too boring I guess), but they managed to get this done for us.

The condiments for the roast duck

After about 45 mins, our duck came!

Extremely careful slicing

The skin was rather fatty....I wasn't quite sure about it. But it turned out to be crispy and absolutely delicious, although it could have been done better with less fat.

The various cuts - fat, lean and in between.

Another shot with the pancakes

On the whole, the meal was very enjoyable but I felt Da Dong's roast duck and other dishes were just that little bit better. Still, Made In China was a good experience and I'm glad to have had the chance to eat there. The bill eventually came up to around RMB 460 (S$93) for 3 people, which was reasonable by Singaporean standards.

1/F, Grand Hyatt Beijing 1 Dongchang'anjie, Beijing

东长安街1号东方君悦大酒店1层

Subway: Wangfujing