Donghuamen Night Market, China
When considering dinner, rather than defrost the same old ground beef or prepare the usual chicken dish, you might want to consider an appetizing dish of fried goat brains. Are your children picky eaters? No worry, there is always crispy duck neck, or seahorse on a stick, to offer the little ones for dinner.
While not quite the nuggets and fries commonly asked for, these, as well as many other culinary delights that might easily be seen on the set of a horror film, are available for a reasonable price at the Dong Hua Men Night Market. A feast for the eyes, an abundance of aromas for the nose, and certainly a world of surprises for the taste buds, a visit to Beijing, China just wouldn’t be complete if you miss the DongHua Men Night Market.
Located within walking distance of the luxury shopping district Wanfujing, it enjoys a historic location near the Eastern Palace City Gate. Once a market visited by the staff of the rich, it now lures tourists into its arms to see, smell and taste the unusual food offerings that may, or may not, be on the dining table in a typical Chinese home.
When Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008, the Chinese government imposed new regulations on the market, and although the food choices may be considered weird by many standards, sanitary conditions and food safety concerns are met. This is important, as the DongHua Men Night Market enjoys surprising visitors from all over the world with its tasty morsels. Vendors with outstretched arms offer samples to be tasted, hoping that you will enjoy the taste, as well as the bragging rights to say that you have in fact consumed such oddities as sea urchin, caterpillars, cockroaches and silk worms. In fact, it is thought that if a creature moves, it can be cooked.
Not for those with a weak constitution, no doubt it would still be an adventure to visit the market. And if the idea of eating the reproductive parts of a bull or sheep doesn’t tempt you, there is always a familiar American fast food chain located nearby.
