Last Orders: Alisha Bailey of Starfish

“Last Orders” is a regular magazine column in which we ask noteworthy Beijingers to imagine their final meal before leaving the city for good.

The venue
We’ll start at the Great Wall at Jiankou, after a little hike. Clean air, beautiful views, and … er … it’s the Great Wall, man.

The starters
The cold cucumber dish from Dali Renjia. Spicy, peanuty, crunchy goodness. Then vegetarian steamed dumplings from Din Tai Fung. And spicy cold tofu from the Yunnan restaurant inside Deja Vu Hostel on Baochao Hutong. No idea what it’s called, but it rocks my socks. Madoufu (麻豆腐) from Lao Zhaiyuan – it’s perfectly Beijing and perfectly yummy. Finally, our chef Colmann makes these salty, crunchy pickled vegetables for staff meals – I eat them like candy.

The main courses
Hot pot! It’s the perfect meal for social gatherings. Everyone gets involved, and it’s steamy and happy. There are too many people to do just one pot, though, so we will need one from Haidilao (with dancing noodle boys!), and one from Sichuan Ren because their mushroom soup is so good it makes me cry.

The desserts
I’m not a massive dessert fan, but the warm almond milk with youtiao from Shin Yeh is so delicate and perfect that no one can say no to it.

Something from your own restaurant?
Oysters, of course! I’m a big fan of strong-tasting oysters, so I’ll go for Belons, and little Olympias, and some wild Onsets. And some sweeter, buttery ones as well, like the delicate Kumamotos and lovely Yaquina Bays, to mix it up. Yummy. And we need crab cakes, too. Maryland crab cakes made by a real, live Maryland chef!

The music
Some funky disco beats courtesy of my friend Pete.

The entertainment
After a lovely meal at the Wall with some funky tunes, we return to the city for one last night of fun. The rest of the night is about lao Beijing in all its glorious forms. After a costume change, we head to Contempio for dirty martinis and a short Peking opera show in their beautiful restored theater where you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Then we trawl the hutongs and make our own entertainment …

Click here to see the March issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo: Nature Zhang