Where to eat scorpions in Beijing

[deezy]

I'm not religious/very strict about being vegetarian...but I'm used to eating mostly beans, nuts, fruits & veggies for health reasons - so if I can get some "dou zi" dishes on the regular...I'll be pretty happy.

Just not real big on the starchy, meaty Beijing "bun & noodles" standard fare, to be honest. It's akin to the Western "meat & potatoes" diet, which I'm not a big fan of, either...

I wouldn't mind trying some seafood and I'd also like to try scorpions at least once, though. Anyone know where to try those at (preferably near BLCU)? And, are they any good?

[tlevine]

It's not near BLCU, but you can get weird stuff like scorpians at Wang fu jing.

[deezy]

It's not near BLCU, but you can get weird stuff like scorpians at Wang fu jing.

Good tip, thanks!

Evening shoppers should not miss Dong An Men Avenue where a variety of street food-stalls sell everything from noodles to dumplings. If feeling brave, try the Deep-Fried Scorpion or Grasshopper.

Not to mention maggot-ka-bobs! And pretty much anything on a stick, wow!

Along with some pretty modern malls too...

Pretty cool - I will check this area out if I get time! Thanks!

Wang Fu Jing Avenue

North of East Chang An Avenue, Chao Yang District

Beijing 100005

Nearest Train: Dong Dan Station; Wang Fu Jing Station

BTW, is there a good online map of Beijing anywhere? And with English on it would help too...

[tlevine]

I don't know about online maps; I'd check Google Maps. I know you can maps from the kiosks on the street.

I'm pretty sure that Wang fu jing is just one long street and that at one end there's this sort of street food markety-like place.

[roddy]

Off-topic for the 'vegetarian food' discussion perhaps, gentlemen

Online maps I think we have a discussion on already, try a search and if not start a new topic.

Edit: And they're not maggots, they're silkworms. Actually quite tasty for my money, I'd quite happily eat them even when not showing off. Quite easily available either on a stick or a big plate.

[adrianlondon]

My fave map of Beijing, and pdf so you can save it to disk and use it on our laptop whenever you like

http://www.mapmatrix.com/asia/02101.pdf

Being veggie in Beijing is fine if you don't take it too seriously. There are loads of lovely veg dishes (steamed or flash fried with soy and/or oyster sauce) and many tofu dishes. However, some of the sauces may be meat based. I suppose you could ask them to substitute cardboard for the pork ...

[billiardsmike]

Thanks for the input Roddy. I've always hesitated to try the silkworms, and I'll eat just about anything once. I'm even debating trying a dog meat place I just noticed.

For all of the people rushing to Wang fu jing, the culinary challenge section is on the sidestreets to the west of the main drag, toward the southern end. The row of vendors on the northern end end is interesting, especially if you don't mind a little La Duzi.

[imron]

For China, I find Sogou maps to be better than Google maps. They seem to have greater detail when it comes to building names, as well as the names for smaller streets/hutongs (especially when still at a higher zoom level). It's only in Chinese though. And just to bring this post back on topic, here's a Sogou map link to Wangfujing.

[gougou]

The first time I had scorpion actually was at Quanjude (全聚德).

[cdn_in_bj]

My fave map of Beijing, and pdf so you can save it to disk and use it on our laptop whenever you like

That's a great map, thanks Adrian!

Pretty cool - I will check this area out if I get time! Thanks!

To find the famous small-eats street, just walk up Wangfujing until you get to the intersection where cars are allowed. Then turn left (east) and you will see the line of food vendors. The street is called Donganmen, and becomes Donghuamen as you approach the Forbidden City.

It's a good area to kill a day, not only is there Oriental Plaza, but there are some other interesting stores along Wangfujing, as well as Sun Dong An plaza. And if you feel like finishing your day off with a movie, there is a theatre in Oriental Plaza as well as on Dongdan ave. to the east of the plaza.

Oh, when you're out and about, watch out for the english and art "students".

[cdn_in_bj]

I have not had the courage to try the scorpians or silkworms yet, but one of my favourite Beijing small eats is the rice starch fried in oil, and served in garlic "water". Though I have noticed on a few occassions that they do not cook it well on the small eats street - it's better to try this in a 老北京 restaurant.

[roddy]

The silkworms (actually silkworm . . . larva? silkworm babies, anyway ) aren't as yucky as you might think. All you've got is a shell and then the inside is basically just a paste. Something with internal structure can be kind of off-putting (ugh, something just burst in my mouth) but these are just a pale, uniform kind of . . . stuff. If you showed a squeamish alien a plate of silkworms and a plate of shrimp he'd choose the silkworms - no heads, no legs, no tails. Hell, you could probably convince him they were a kind of nut.

Now scorpions I haven't tried and aren't likely to - far too much hassle what with heads and legs and tails to take care of and more importantly you rarely (ever?) see them outside of places like Wangfujing which makes a point of bizarre food. It's not food, it's showing off.

[cdn_in_bj]

Actually I think they are pupa. If I remember correctly from grade school science, larva have legs and crawl around whereas pupa just hang from a tree/plant and metamorph... (yeah!) into flying critters. You are right - a lot of seafood is actually just as gross as bugs, but bugs just really freak me out.

In Hangzhou I saw a place that kept the scorpians live and you got to choose your meal and they would fry/roast/whatever them on the spot. It seemed like a circus show.

[gougou]

far too much hassle

Actually you're not supposed to peel them...... I hope!

[deezy]

adrianlondon - Wow, AWESOME map! Too bad I can't print it out for some reason - maybe it's too big?

So, Sogou is like the Chinese Google maps, heh...

To find the famous small-eats street, just walk up Wangfujing until you get to the intersection where cars are allowed. Then turn left (east) and you will see the line of food vendors. The street is called Donganmen, and becomes Donghuamen as you approach the Forbidden City.

Oh, when you're out and about, watch out for the english and art "students".

Cool. But what do you mean about watching out for those "students?"

And the silkworm pupae sound good, btw. As far as the scorpions - hey, they can't be that much worse than shrimp, right? They are actually even both in the same phylum, just different classes:

Class Insecta, within the Phylum Arthropoda. Also in this phylum are the crustaceans, in the Class Malacostraca. This class includes crabs, shrimp, and lobsters (three of my favorite sea foods), barnacles, and a number of other less familiar forms. One other arthropod class is the Arachnida, including spiders, scorpions, and ticks.

[imron]

Google also has google maps for china at http://ditu.google.com, however I don't find them to be as detailed.

[gougou]

For maps, you might want to refer to this thread (and ideally also continue discussion in there).

[johnd]

Cool. But what do you mean about watching out for those "students?"

See this thread about The Beijing Tea Scam

[deezy]

FEAR FACTOR FOOD REVIEW:

Silkworm pupae were not that great. Kind of mealy inside, like a big bug's belly might taste. Weren't that horrible, but I'd say verging on bad...

Scorpions had little taste, just real crispy. Maybe like an extra crispy hashbrown or something. Not bad at all - although there's just not much there. You're paying more for the experience than an actual meal.

Dog tasted greasy like duck. Not much meat in the dish, either - but mostly bones and fat.

Anyhow, the exotic stuff is more just for novelty. More typical and better-tasting xiao chi include chicken/beef/lamb-ke-bobs, Beijing pancakes and drinking coconuts with straws. Although the (chicken?) hearts on a stick were also surprisingly good.

[Ari 桑]

Wangfujing's 蝎子串 are amazing.