Feel the Burn: Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan Sets Mouths of Fire With Spicy Crayfish and Chuanchuan Xiang
In the wake of TBJ's Hot & Spicy Festival, our fiery restaurant coverage continues with Feel the Burn, in which we look back at what our vendors brought to the event so as to make you sweat. Head to these individual chili-rife eateries to relive and maintain the burn.
If you're a loyal follower of our food blogs, you will likely be familiar with Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan (formerly Dongwai Xiaoguan). One of our go-to venues for the authentic Sichuan chuanchuan xiang (think malatang in hot pot broth), Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan has recently revamped the menu at their Dongzhimenwai-adjacent restaurant, adding a number of homestyle dishes like crayfish cooked in seven different ways, while keeping more popular dishes such as beef with chilies, poached chicken, and poached beef in chili oil.
Having quickly downed a bowl of crayfish in 13 spices, featuring numerous crayfish with tender and tight meat (a sign of good quality), we spoke to co-owner Liu Tao about his experience at our Hot & Spicy Festival.
What did you bring to our Hot & Spicy Fest?
Crayfish and chuanchuan xiang. I previously worked in Jiangsu for four years and found the crayfish there was better than the type found in Hunan, so when I came back to Beijing, I decided to open a restaurant that only sells hand-washed crayfish from Hongze Lake in Xuyi, Jiangsu province. As for the chuanchuan xiang, it is popular at our restaurant for its special broth which is made with Sichuan laoying tea, a balancing agent for the chili and peppercorn-laden broth.
What spicy dishes do you sell in your restaurant?
Spicy crayfish, Sichuan chuanchuan xiang, spicy braised beef, and spicy frogs with ginger are the most popular dishes in our restaurant, and all feature recipes that use key ingredients from Sichuan.
What drink do you like to pair with spicy food?
Since spicy dishes have a strong influence on diners' taste buds, we provide suanmeitang, or sour prune juice. All the ingredients come from the time-honored traditional Chinese medicine drugstore, Tongrentang (同仁堂). Often iced, suanmeitang is full of smoked plum, rock sugar, osmanthus, hawthorns, orange peel, and licorice, and can easily ease the burning sensation on your tongue.
What's the hottest thing you've ever eaten?
I accidentally had a Sichuan bird's-eye chili once, and almost died.
In one word, how does eating spicy food make you feel?
Scratching my ears and head.
If what you're eating becomes way too hot, what do you use to cool off?
A lump of rock sugar should do the trick.
Can you handle more heat? Be sure to check out the latest issue of our Hot & Spicy themed magazine as well as our ongoing chili related restaurant coverage.
More stories by this author here.
Photos courtesy of Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan
