Spuds We Like: Ten Ways to Taste Tubers in Beijing

Though you’re more likely to find rice or wheat on a Chinese table, i t might surprise you to learn that China is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of potatoes. Partly it’s to do with food security: Spuds need less water and yield more calories per acre than other staple grains, and China has over one-fifth of the world’s bellies to fill. Indeed, potato production is on the rise. The upshot is that we’re likely to all be eating a lot more potatoes here as time goes on. And if that’s the case, we might as well do it in style. Here are nine of the best tuber-based dishes in Beijing – plus the single weirdest.

Olivier Salad (RMB 28)
Traktirr Pushkin
Russians rank high when it comes to per capita consumption of potatoes. They boil them, fry them, add them to pancakes (dranniki), fried buns (pirozhki) and soups. The Russian potato salad (often called a “winter salad” or “Olivier salad”) is a muchloved party dish featuring diced potatoes, carrots, dill pickles, canned peas, onion, boiled eggs, chopped processed sausage and oodles of mayonnaise. A Russian saying goes something like: “A New Year spread is not complete without tangerines, champagne and Olivier salad.” And vodka, no doubt.

Baked Potato with Three Toppings (RMB 47)
Vineyard Cafe
Trust the British to have such scant culinary imagination as to simply throw an unpeeled potato in the oven, right? Wrong! The humble baked/jacket potato, with its dark, charred skin and fluffy flesh, is the perfect vehicle for royal toppings like Coronation chicken (boneless meat in a curried mayonnaise) or cheddar cheese with baked beans, or even American-style with Texas chili. The steamy heat from the spud melts and absorbs everything in a delightfully gunky mess.

Warm La Ratte Fingerling Potato with Egg Mimosa (RMB 348)
Maison Boulud
The ever-resourceful Brian Reimer, executive chef at Maison Boulud, has recently procured La Ratte potatoes, considered one of the world’s finest varieties. Says Reimer: “We poach them in chicken consommé, then ‘monte’ the cooking liquid with creme fraiche, peel the potato and allow them to cool. They’re warmed when ordered, and we sprinkle on chopped egg yolk, lemon zest, chives and sea salt. These are served with lemon puree, slow-poached quail eggs with pumpernickel croutons, a salad of dill and ten grams of caviar.” ‘Nuff said.

Batata Wada (RMB 30)
Ganges
A fast food-style street snack much loved in Mumbai, these potato fritters consist of balls of mashed potato flavored with spices, then dipped in a chickpea batter and deep-fried. They’re served scalding hot out of the fryer, accompanied by a piquant spicy-sour dipping sauce. Great as an appetizer or beer snack.

Hakase Tudou 哈萨克土豆 (RMB 20)
Xinjiang Flavor Delicious Restaurant
This curious dish, roughly translating as “Kazakh-style potato,” consists of potatoes sliced like French fries and wok-fried with strips of beef and a thick, gravy-like sauce. Bearing a vague resemblance to Canada’s poutine minus the cheese curds, it’s probably the last thing you’d expect to be served in a Chinese restaurant. Especially if you’re a Canadian.

Ganguo Tudou Pian 干锅土豆片 (RMB 22)
Xixiangzi
This great little Hunan restaurant, located in the alleys south of Houhai, knows exactly what to do with its spuds. Thinly sliced, they are served in a pot over a flame, together with green and red chillies, onion, garlic and, like most Hunanese dishes, a few bits of pork belly. The longer it cooks, the better (and spicier) it gets, and the pork slowly melts away into crispy deliciousness. While you’re there, be sure to try their masterful fried eggs with fermented soybeans (laba doubao jidan 腊八豆爆鸡蛋).

Tudou Wan 土豆丸 (RMB 32)
In and Out
Southwest China’s answer to Tater Tots, this Dai minority favorite consists of marble-sized balls of mashed, fried potato. At this smart North Sanlitun restaurant, they arrive at the table non-greasy, light and fluffy with the thinnest, crispiest membrane imaginable – and served with a lime-flavored, spicy-sour dipping sauce.

Potato Rosti (RMB 35)
Cafe Swiss
Considered something approaching a national dish in Switzerland, rosti are essentially hash browns with added Euro glamour. Par-boiled potatoes are grated and shaped into flat cakes, then fried to a crisp in butter or oil, with a little salt and pepper. At Cafe Swiss you can order it as a side, or as a main with sliced veal and sauce (RMB 150).

Fried Potato with Slow-Cooked Eggs, Onion Confit and Homemade Chorizo (RMB 108)
Agua
Chef Jordi Valles has given this classic huevos rotos dish a DIY twist, where diners smash and bash the eggs into the crisp-edged potatoes and sticky sweet onions to form a delicious mess. “We slow-cook the onions for an hour in olive oil, then fry thin-sliced potatoes until crisp and brown but fluffy in the center,” Valles explains. “The fat from the chorizo mixes with the egg yolk to make a wonderful sauce to flavor the potatoes.”

Poo Funny Mud (RMB 10)
Bian Bian Manwu Fantang
Mashed potato, but not as we know it. At this turd-themed eatery just south of the Drum Tower, everything – including these creamed, oily spuds – is served in little table-top toilets. And when we say served, we mean sculpted into a classic cartoon spiral. Elsewhere on the menu, choose from dishes with names like “feces Chicago toast,” “urinal great noodles,” and perhaps most worryingly, “two women one cup.”

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Photo: Sui