Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Fish in the bathroom

I ate like an emperor yesterday.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as great as I'd thought it be.

This all happened when me and my classmates went to Beijing's Beihai Park, a large imperial garden where emperors would go.

Situated in one of  the park's palace buildings is the  famous Fangshan restaurant (坊膳饭庄） that was founded by royal chefs.  All the food and the decor at the restaurant have been made to be fit for an emperor.

Everything seemed to have a bit of gold paint on it, from the ends of the chopsticks, to the imperial air conditioners.  It made the room feel unnaturally bright, with one of my classmates saying the glow hurt his eyes.

The food was good, but not as amazingly fantastic as I thought it'd be. We each paid 200 RMB, or $30, which is the most I've ever paid for a meal in China before. But all we received was ordinary food; some sweet and sour chicken, some sauteed pork, and a few other things we easily could order elsewhere.

It was a bit of letdown, since the ads for the restaurant showed extravagant entrees with statues of boats or dragons on the food. Those dishes, however, were only reserved for big-spenders, with some meals costing more than $150 per person. Instead the closest we came to any artsy dishes were tiny pyramids stacked out of cheese-like blocks.

It was a good experience nonetheless. I had never been to Beihai park and the views were quite beautiful. One surprise was the bathroom at the restaurant. I wonder if the real emperor's had fish tanks in their bathrooms.  Or perhaps one of the royal chefs decided to just say one day:  "Hey, let's put a fish tank in the bathroom!" Brilliant.