Yummy Eats at the Mall

There's a slick mall about a 15-minute walk from my place. It's called Jia Run Shopping Centre. I was impressed to see Sephora, Hagen Daaz, Watson's (a Hong Kong drug store) and a giant supermarket downstairs that sells live turtles. I don't want to know what locals do with them...

BUT... there is a food court downstairs and one of the stalls is... Beard Papa.

It's a franchise store originally from Japan that sells awesome cream puffs. My cousin introduced me to them in San Francisco and there's a store in New York too. But there's one here in Beijing and it's only 6RMB (US$0.78)! For the uninitiated, it's a large cream puff pastry that's crunchy and as soon as you place an order, a vanilla custard is pumped into it so it isn't soggy, and then sprinkled with white icing sugar. It's so sinfully good.

And last night I checked out another stall where a guy makes noodles on the spot, pulling the dough into thin strands. I ordered niu rou mien (beef noodle) and it was a large bowl, filled with the freshly-made noodles, a few thin slices of beef, turnip and garnished with chopped coriander and green onion. The noodles were cooked just right, kind of a Chinese al dente. The only complaint is the MSG in it... but for 8RMB (US$1.04) you can't complain too much!