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Dai Restaurant in Beijing
By admin on 2015-01-30

A Dai Feast: Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chicken; Ban San Si (sliced chicken, cabbage, noodles, and potato powder); Fried Potato Balls, and Steamed Pot Chicken.

By Angela Pruszenski

Baoqin Daiwei Restaurant is one of many ethnic selections near Minzu University, but the cuisine, native to the Dai minority of Yunnan province, stands out for its light, tropical, but dynamic flavors.

The restaurant was opened on July 1st 1997. "It was the same day that Hong Kong was returned to China, so we thought it would be a lucky day," explained owner Ma Shoubing. "We opened our doors at exactly twelve noon that day."

The former Minzu University philosophy professor, who also taught Chinese language to foreign students, is a native of western Yunnan and part of the Dai ethnic group.

While many of the common ingredients, such as the meat, are bought locally, the ingredients that create the distinctive flavor of Dai food are sourced from Yunnan. Many of the special ingredients cannot be bought locally, including sour bamboo. The rice wine is made in-house from alcohol and fermented sticky rice, though the alcohol content is weak compared to other Beijing liquor.

Lemon flavorings and sour cabbage are also popular in Dai cuisine, along with cuisine cooked with pineapple or papaya. The pineapple sticky rice, actually served in a pineapple, is a special treat, as is the sweet and sour pineapple chicken. The lemongrass-flavored roasted fish rivals any from a tropical island.

Dai cuisine is also famous for being spicy; the Shuan Shuan La pepper is an important ingredient with an interesting story behind its name. Shuan means "to rinse" in Chinese. "A family would stir the soup broth with the pepper, and that would make the soup very spicy," said Ma Shoubing. "They could give it to another family, and they would do the same. One pepper could make spicy soup for a whole village."

Baoqin Daiwei Restaurant's staff in traditional Dai dress.

The Pineapple Sticky Rice is served in a hollowed pineapple.

The restaurant's steam pot chicken has more neutral flavoring, with the broth reminiscent of western home-made chicken soup. But, the soup is not what draws western guests to this restaurant; Ma Shoubing noted that his restaurant's fried potato balls are particularly popular among his foreign guests, with many groups having to order more than one heaping plate of them.

While Ma Shoubing admitted he has toned down the intensity of the flavors just a bit for Beijing tastes, he has found other ways to bring the Dai atmosphere to his restaurant. The dining room is decorated with green bamboo, and the beverage bar near the front resembles a tiki bar. The chopsticks are made of reusable bamboo; they are washed and boiled at the end of the day.

The staff all come from Dai villages in Yunnan; Ma Shoubing travels to the province to recruit staff for his Beijing restaurant. The servers all wear Dai ethnic costumes consisting of long, silky skirts, and in the warm weather, yellow short sleeved blouses.

To round out the decorations are wall photos representing the Dai minority. The largest photo in the restaurant, however, is actually of Zhou Enlai, the first premier of China, meeting a group of students in 1958. One of those students is owner Ma Shoubing. While he was a student at Minzu University, he was chosen as a Dai representative to meet Zhou Enlai during an official visit. At that time, Ma Shoubing was unaware that a photo was taken. In 1977, a year after Zhou Enlai's death, a Beijing museum held a memorial photo exhibition. An old teacher of Ma Shoubing attended the exhibition and was surprised to find his former student in a poster-sized portrait of Zhou Enlai. After hearing of the photo, Ma Shoubing was able to track down a copy for himself.

The restaurant bustled with local professionals during lunch hour, and Ma noted that the restaurant can serve up to 200 guests a day, more on weekends. He currently employs about 20 staff members, including 4 cooks who have been trained in-house. However, he has no plans to expand or open any branches. He says he's not concerned about how to make the most money, but how to improve the dishes offered by the restaurant.

The prices of Ma Shoubing’s dishes are extremely fair, considering the generous portions of quality food. Prices range from about 10-50 yuan, with the majority of dishes falling between 15-30 yuan.

The Baoqin Daiwei Restaurant may be out of the way for many Beijing residents, but the owner is friendly and the dynamic southern flavors are worth the trip.