Cantonese Breakfast in Beijing

Our trip to Beijing was very rainy, so we decided to go food hopping. Luckily, we found a restaurant nearby that served breakfast and had good reviews. So we headed to a WUMART shopping center that had a Jin Ding Xuan 金鼎轩.

I’m obsessed with spicy cold noodles so when I saw them on the menu Mana knew we’d have to order them. The sauce was the perfect blend of spicy with a hint of sweetness and the noodles soaked up the sauce without getting soggy. The cucumber was fresh and added a crunchy bite to each mouthful of noodles. Definitely my favorite dish.

Mana wanted to order the shrimp dumplings, which I was unsure of because I’m picky about how my shrimp is made. It turned out to be a good decision. The dumpling wrapper was thin and they did not skimp out on the amount of shrimp on the inside. It was juicy, fresh, and delicious.

Mana wanted to order the 4 plate meat dish, which I wasn’t too keen on eating because the meat was cold, but I decided to give it a try. My favorite dish is a tie between the duck and sweet n’ sour pork. The duck was moist, juicy, and overall amazing! Outside of Peking duck, it was the best duck we’ve had. The pork was cooked in plum sauce and was very tender. As soon as I put it in my mouth it fell right off the bone. I’m very hard to please with pork, but this was great. Next, we tried the 5 spice beef slices. It reminded me of the seasoning used on barbequed lamb skewers, which I love. The meat was a little dry for me, but the seasoning made up for that. My least favorite dish was the pork sausage. I’m not a fan of pork, but it didn’t impress me with any of the flavors. The pork flavor was very strong and I couldn’t taste any other seasonings. Mana thought it was ok but she wasn’t that impressed either.

Mana said we had to eat vegetables so we ordered one side of Chinese broccoli. It was crunchy and not oversalted by the oyster sauce. It was a nice palate cleanser from the other dishes and we didn’t feel as heavy from our meal.

Mana wasn’t a fan of these buns but I LOVE them! I thought they were delicious. They were the perfect blend of nutty and sweet and the dough was dense, yet soft and sticky. I ended up eating both of them and I would’ve eaten more if I wasn’t so full^^

We had a great experience at this restaurant. We went in not having high expectations because it is a chain, but the food was well-made and tasted great.

Link to our youtube video → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdPUMsiDE04