Prevue July-August 2018 - 22

3 Ways to Dine Like a Local in Beijing, China

1

Matcha Mania
In the summer time, attendees will find matcha
shops-green tea at its finest-a cool way to
cool down when in Beijing. At the Matcha Cafe
groups can try decadent matcha fondant, peach gum
matcha, or the classic dessert matcha daifuku (a dessert
stuffed with sweet filling), while Uji Matcha features
Uji matcha ice cream and its signature drink, matcha
tea, a mix of salty and sweet. The Guancha Experience
Shop offers tastings of creations like matcha chocolate
with almond filling, and after a day of meetings, Mujia
Japanese Dessert's cheese matcha ice cream and
signature eleven-dessert ice cream, featuring all of the
desserts in the shop, is hard to beat.

2

Bird Bites
Beijing's National Stadium, whose interlacing
steel architecture garnered the nickname "the
Bird's Nest," immerses up to 1,000 attendees
in the city's culture, in part, due to its regional dining
options (some stadium-side), as well as its Olympic past.
Guided tours through the cultural center, Golden Hall of
Auspicious Clouds (used for heads of state, dignitaries

and senior officials of the Olympic Committee) and Silver
Hall of Flowing Water add to this vibe, as does the China
Studio Restaurant, with more than 15,000 sf with 22
themed private boxes. The "steel forest" on the fifth floor
is a popular spot for receptions, while the Outdoor Square
offers views of Zen Mountain and the Olympic torch-a
perfect spot to impress convention groups.

3

Subway Sensations
An array of delicacies await groups within
Beijing's Line 1 subway, including chaoshan hot
pot restaurants serving handmade beef balls at
Sihui Station, Sajiao fried chicken with chilli at Dawanglu
Station, a signature dish of Sajiao Chilli Restaurant, and
youtiao, a golden deep-fried strip of dough served with
oyster sauce from Taoyuan Village. Some consider the
rice noodles at Jianguomen Station, often served with
tomato-flavored beef cubes, to be downright addictive,
while ganbeixiaxie porridge with dried shellfish, shrimp
and crab, and jinsha red rice sausage are must-dos at
Dongdan Station.
n-s.cn

Below: Texas Live! in Arlington Texas

and gardening tips followed by a culinary
workshop, just 30 minutes from New
Orleans' French Quarter. In Abita Springs,
small groups can peruse the oddball
collections of the Abita Mystery House
and then hunker down in the recently
opened Abita Springs Hotel, a beautifully
restored 1890's home that offers five

suites for slumber or meetings with private
entrances from a wraparound porch.
"Jazz'n the Vines," featuring Louisiana
artists and potentially blankets, lawn chairs
and a picnic for your attendees, can be
found at the Pontchartrain Vineyards in
Bush, which also offers a behind the vines
tour that touches on the secrets of the

vineyard's French table wine. Groups can
enjoy tastings of five to seven different wines
after the tour. The biggest culinary to-do
in St. Tammany happens this August with
the "Tammany Taste of Summer" festival,
a month-long extravaganza of localized
prix fixe meals, samples and tours. The
festival draws into the limelight an array of
local creations, whether honey from the
hives (and monks) at St. Joseph's Abbey,
unexpected festival fare like deep-fried
oysters wrapped in bacon, a Louisiana spin
on traditional Chinese food at Trey Yuen or
French bouillabaisse at Oxlot 9, or a pickyour-own blueberries experience at Blue
Harvest Blueberry Farm.

TEXAS
Rumor has it that ballpark nachos were
invented at Arlington Stadium, former
home of the Texas Rangers, and while that
particular stadium is ancient history, its
replacement, Globe Life Park in Arlington,
continues on with the city's tradition for
offbeat bites. Concoctions like the dilly dog
(a fried dill pickle stuffed with a hotdog),
Cheetos jalapeno bacon dog (hotdogs
wrapped in bacon, covered in Cheetos

22 | prevuemeetings.com
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue July-August 2018
