Feng Bo Zhuang is a funny restaurant which brings the Chinese fictional martial arts world into colorful reality.

The name of this restaurant translates to something like "Storm Village" and its decoration can easily remind diners of the Chinese Kungfu movies and TV dramas. Waiters and waitresses are called "xiao er", an ancient saying meaning "servers" in Chinese. Diners are called "swordsmen" but female customers, of course, are distinguished as "swordswomen".

Anyone who has read the famous Chinese martial arts books written by authors like Jin Yong or Gu Long will find something really familiar in this restaurant. Each dining table is labeled with the name of martial clans, battle sites, or Kungfu masters depicted in those works. For example, the table where I was seated with my dinner companion is called "Hei Mu Ya", a fictional base of a martial tribe.

Dining in such a restaurant is a very fresh experience for me, and maybe also for most people who drop by for the first time. However, the interior environment is far from exquisite. The ceiling, made of bamboos, is very low while the space is too small and often crowded. Tables and chairs are both wooden and ordinary-looking. The Chinese calligraphies which are hung on the wall above each table are roughly written. And my "Hei Mu Ya" table was in an especially weird location - opposite to the kitchen and next to the bathroom, which is called "The Tiger¡¯s Gate".

Diners at the Feng Bo Zhuang have to follow a series of unusual rules. There are no menus there but a "xiao er" in red can help you decide what to have. Thus at the very beginning of my dinner, I had no idea about what is served in this restaurant and what I would eat. These xiao ers are actually very enthusiastic and hospitable. They call eating "martial exer- cises" instead of dining, and during my meal, what I heard repeated again and again was "hao lei" which means "Okay!"

The first dish which all diners must eat in the restaurant is called "Da Li Wan" (powerful bolus), which are big rice balls with pork and cooked yolk inside. The dish is not only an appetizer but also considered as "the first step of martial exercises". What came following the rice balls is said to be the signature dish of the restaurant - boiled fish with soup. The fillets cooked with peanuts and red chili tasted fresh and delicate. The flavor was much lighter than the similar fish dishes but was somewhat greasy.

The steamed pumpkin with white fungus and jujubes was a nice dish but obviously came at the wrong time. The pumpkin was fullycooked, very soft, and very sweet. It easily covered the flavor of the fillets and made my stomach feel full.

The dishes served at the Feng Bo Zhuang all have big portions, especially the last two I had there - sour and spice potato slices and sauteed beef with green pepper and shallots. Both were not that impressive. The former tasted quite refreshing but a bit over-cooked while the latter was really hot and spicy. But the dishes served there are quite cheap, and the dining cost for each person was about 30-40 yuan.

Something really interesting happened when we complained that we had not sampled enough dishes. A Xiao Er refused to serve us any more food because the restaurant calls for a "frugal lifestyle". It was also interesting to hear how they said goodbye to guests - just like reciting an old Chinese poem!

Feng Bo Zhuang
Location: 61 Fengxian Road
Tel: 021-62582982