Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan Sets Mouths of Fire With Spicy Crayfish
In the wake of the Beijinger's successful Hot & Spicy Festival, our fiery restaurant coverage continues with this Feel the Burn
series. Those of you who acquired a taste for all things hot at the
fest can maintain the burn by visiting these chili-rife eateries.
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.
Think you can handle more heat? Then be sure to check out the latest issue of our hot & spicy-themed magazine and more of our ongoing chili-related restaurant coverage so that you can keep the burn going.
Photos courtesy of Ci Dongwai Xiaoguan
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