Ding Ding Xiang, Beijing

The past few weeks have been crazy, work-wise. I had to be to China for all the working days in between Christmas and New Year, Which meant working the weekend before (over Christmas) and after (over New Year). I ended up having a free night to myself to look for a place to eat in Beijing, and really wanted something yummy to make myself feel better about all the work I had to do. If I had been with someone else, I would have headed to Da Dong to tackle a (half) roast duck, but it would have almost impossible to finish on my own, plus I would have been tempted to order all the other yummy things.

I would normally have gone to the Place if I was with colleagues, but decided (in freezing temperatures of minus 10 dec C) to walk on by to Soho Shangdu next door to Ding Ding Xiang, which is a steamboat chain with shops all over Beijing. The last time I ate at Ding Ding Xiang was in late-Sept 2008 in Tianjin after a majorly stressful event. We had a vegetarian with us then, so I was most impressed that each person gets their own hotpot, with a range of soup bases to choose from.

The Beijing outlet was a more posh one than the Tianjin branch. It was fairly quiet, since it was about 9pm.
Hotpot must-haves 1: sesame sauce, spring onions and coriander leaves.

Hotpot must-haves 2: Beer - either Yanjing or Qingdao

A pretty good mix of carbohydates, fibre and protein. I picked a pork soup base, which was rich and sweet. It was heavenly : )

Locations all around Beijing and Tianjin. For more info, you can refer to their website at: http://www.dingdingxiang.com.cn/, which is not entirely reliable. However, they have branches at Soho Shangdu (along Guanghua Road in Chaoyang, near Shimao's The Place, and also on the 6th fllor of Shin Kong Place, Chaoyang District, No. 87 Jianguo Road (Jian Guo Lu), within walking distance from Dawanglu Subway station along the No. 1 Line.