One Meal Opens With Homestyle Beijing Cuisine at Yintai Center
In just a few short weeks Chinese Spring Festival will be upon us. Sitting down with family and close friends for a meal is China's preferred way to share the love, especially during the New Year.
Opened at the end of December, One Meal has a spacious set up perfect for hosting groups of any size across their 800 square meters in the basement of In01, Yintai Center. Walking in, you will see a huge open kitchen full of cooks hustling, and seven modern chicken statues in seven colors. Why chicken? Well, chicken in Chinese pinyin is ji, which sounds the same as lucky (吉 ji), so it couldn't be more suitable for a traditional family restaurant.
Our meal began with a cold dish platter (RMB 78) featuring marinated bean curds, long kidney beans, pig’s trotters, and intestine; and preserved cherry tomatoes (RMB 28) which were refreshing and appetizing with the addition of preserved plum.
A Chinese traditional meal is not complete without pork and chicken. When the stewed pork with green pepper (RMB 88) was served, we could immediately smell the intense peppery aroma. The pork belly was cooked to perfection, and the pepper wasn’t too hot. If you are up for a heavily flavored dish, try the braised chicken and pork intestines (RMB 138), featuring a large portion of chicken and pork intestines, buried in spicy chilies, there are also typical vegetables such as lettuce, enoki mushrooms, and mu’er for a healthy balance.
Fish plays the leading role in the family meal during holidays, especially at the Spring Festival dinner, because in Chinese culture, having fish (鱼 yu) every year (年年有余 niannian youyu), literally translates as more than sufficient every year, meaning yo0u will have prosperity in the new year. The yutou paobing (鱼头泡饼), a signature dish here, was a huge sumptuous fish head stew (RMB 108 per 500g), that you dip wheat pancake slices in to sop up the delicious soup with. We were assured that the fish was fresh from Qiandao Lake, instead of the frozen ones often used, and that this made the difference to the dish's flavor.
A meal isn’t complete without Chinese pastries. You can go for rose cakes, ludagun, kidney bean rolls, (RMB 20-28 for six pieces or RMB 38-48 for a dozen), or just order a platter (RMB 68) of mixed ones. We especially loved the rose cakes (玫瑰饼 meigui bing), with their sweet rose filling.
Surprisingly for a new opening, we found the place to be full during our visit on a weekday lunchtime, not only with working bees but also groups of friends. “What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories,” as George Eliot put. You could share the silent moment with your beloved ones while eating delicious traditional Beijing dishes at One Meal. You might not be able to walk when you’re done stretching your belly to extremes, but that's the spirit of holidays, isn't it.
Daily 11am-2.30pm, 5-9.30pm. B1, In01, Yintai Center, 2 Jianguomen Waidajie, Chaoyang District (8517 2808)
壹炖饭：朝阳区建国门外大街2号银泰中心in01地下一层
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure
Photos courtesy of One Meal, Tracy Wang.
