Fishing for Dinner

When my girlfriend breezed through town, we had dinner in between our pedicure and massage.

And we went to a place that was obviously good as people were patiently waiting with number tags for a taste of the restaurant's signature dish, fish that is cooked in spicy oil (the Chinese name escapes me now).

The place looks upscale, with modern table settings, table cloths and booths lining the room. We ended up sitting outside which was nice, but it also meant the mosquitos would come calling. I got bitten but it wasn't too bad.

So we of course ordered the fish dish, catfish in an oil that was infused with chillis and Sichuan peppercorns. These little nasty buggers are tiny bulbs and if you mistakenly eat one, your whole mouth goes numb. You literally had to fish around for the fish with a slotted spoon.

The fish was absolutely delicious. It was roughly chopped up and cooked in this oil so there were still bones to pick through, but the meat was wonderful, and not too spicy either.

We also had chicken wings that were wrapped in lotus leaves and covered in mud and baked. Sort of a quickie version of Beggar's Chicken without the stuffing. The chicken meat fell off the bone and was really moist. The other two dishes we ordered were stirfried vegetables and a mushroom dish fried with bits of meat and chives.

To cool us off we drank a pitcher of plum juice.

We couldn't finish the fish, but the meal was mm-mm good.

Fei Teng Yu Xiang
No. 1 Gong Ti Road
Chaoyang, Beijing