Just north of the Third Ring Road sits the unassuming Shandong Provincial Government complex and its adjoining white and airy restaurant, masked from the parking lot by beige chiffon drapes. Visiting on a Sunday night, the restaurant bustled with families savoring one last hearty meal before the work week commenced. The staff were friendly, patient, and willing to walk us through the sizable menu of Shandong delicacies (lu cai for short), considered to be one of the eight great Chinese cuisines.
Shandong’s deep influence on China’s northern dishes may not be immediately apparent at your run-of-the-mill restaurant but here that rich history of cooking methods – quick frying, stewing, roasting, and boiling – and ingredients – heavy on the ginger, onions, vegetables, and seafood – come together for a Prov Gov menu far superior in breadth than many of its competitors, eschewing lackluster staples for innovative takes on traditional dishes. A prime example would be the fried radish balls (RMB 48) which come neatly piled in a deep-fat fryer basket, a deft touch rarely seen in these official outlets, and loaded with a satisfying chewiness and a hint of dried squid.
The Shandong-style pancakes (RMB 58), ostensibly several deconstructed jianbing, were a workout for the jaw given that the porous wraps sported a texture akin to once-wet-but-now-dry cardboard. Luckily the accompanying soybean sauce with shredded pork helped each mouthful slip down. The cured muntjac sausage (RMB 68) was a homestyle novelty with subtle flavors of chili, aniseed, and baijiu but its stronger notes rendered it an acquired taste. A lighter option would be the “get fold green food” (RMB 28), otherwise known as zucchini thinly sliced edgeways and soaked in a slightly sweet sauce. This dish is yet another testament to the beautiful care that the staff devote to presentation, the vegetable knotted in a wave pattern and each mouthful of strands giving a crisp bite.
However, it was the hot and sour soup (RMB 38) that stole the show thanks to a perfect balance of sourness and generous chunks of warming duck blood, sliced onion, and poached egg as well as a slow-burn chili finish to dismiss the cold from your bones. Despite Shandong Prov Gov scoring high marks for its modern twists, we left feeling disappointed by the limited flavors and textures on offer, which had instead been seemingly replaced by a broad chewiness. That made us wonder: Did we miss a trick by not ordering one of the many (read: six pages worth) sea cucumbers on offer, another of Shandong’s rubbery specialties? I guess we’ll just have to wait till next time to find out.
Shandong Provincial Government Restaurant
Daily 7am-9pm. 2 Madian Nanlu, Haidian District (6201 1070)
海淀区马甸桥南路2号七省大院山东宾馆1楼
This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2018 issue of the Beijinger.
Read the issue via Issuu online here, or access it as a PDF here.
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Photos: Tom Arnstein, Will Griffith