“Last Orders” is a regular magazine column in which we ask noteworthy Beijingers to imagine their final meal before leaving the city for good. This month’s host: Ignace Lecleir, general manager at Temple Restaurant Beijing (TRB).

The venue

Preferably, the feast would begin at 11am in the morning, if not at dawn, and last all the way until midnight. I’d want to have the focus on the Chinese cuisine I’ve grown to love over the years. The menu will contain a selection of Chinese and Western dishes that would awaken my taste memory. I’d like to have my entire team, some friends and family to join me. The venue of my choice will be Temple Restaurant Beijing, where I’m currently working.

“Wokipedia” is a regular magazine column in which we introduce aspects of Chinese gastronomy, one letter at a time.

… shao 烧
Originally it meant “to burn,” but shao has become a time-tested Chinese cooking technique. Regional variations exist, but most people agree that shao involves pre-cooking ingredients, adding stock and seasoning and then stewing, with an initial burst of intense heat. Darker sauces or stocks produce a reddish result, named hongshao (红烧), while lighter stocks like chicken are called baishao (白烧.) On the other end of the spectrum is shaokao, or open-flame grilling. Some northern Chinese cities are littered with shaokao restaurants, huge emporiums dedicated to char. They offer far more than the traditional lamb kebab – think tripe, chicken hearts and oxtail.

“A Taste of Home” is a regular magazine column in which we ask the natives of a particular country to introduce us to their national cuisine.

“This has really become the meeting place for us,” says Czech Embassy staffer Veronika Musilova, sipping a glass of Staropramen at Czech Pub. “I can’t come here at the weekend without meeting some of my Czech friends,” laughs Veronika, before confessing that some of her mates may even show up later that evening. This was a Monday.

Seems no matter where in the world you wind up, you’re never far from a curry. Last summer I had a damn fine lamb biryani in Ulaanbaatar, of all places. Nowadays, over 20 Indian and Pakistani restaurants crowd Beijing, with more opening up all the time. Have we moved beyond butter chicken? Let’s find out.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

Thumb through any of Beijing’s Indian menus (or indeed any Indian restaurant from Baltimore to Budapest) and it’s northern-style cuisine that reigns. The Punjabi region strad-dling India and Pakistan is the home of tandoor-baked chicken tikka and naan bread, gravy-based curries like butter chicken, biryanis and dishes featuring paneer (fresh curd cheese). Regions like Kashmir are also represented in dishes such as rogan josh.

A school friend of mine had a peculiar food foible. He would insist that his baked beans be served apart from his sausage and chips. Far apart, as in a separate bowl. This inconsequential tic lay dormant in my subconscious for years … until I had the dipping ramen (RMB 29-35) at Moon Concubine Izakaya. Noodles, pork, egg and nori in one bowl, soup in another. The menu warns that on no account should you add the soup to the noodles. Presumably doing so would usher in a reign of Akira-esque chaos. Or maybe it’s just something about dulling the texture of the noodles. Cleverly, the soup is thick and salty enough to ensure each dunking imbues a satisfactorily saucy coating. Lots of fun, but they also have regular ramen for you stick-in-the-muds.