In Mandarin, xi ding means sea urchin. In Taikooli North, Xi Ding means a sea urchin dumpling restaurant that appears to only play the pop hits of international superstar Rihanna.
In short, we went to Xi Ding for the sea urchin dumplings, and left with a newfound appreciation for Rihanna chart-toppers.
Sea urchin dumplings, xi ding jiaozi, are a fun, briny twist on the more traditional pork jiaozi. And Xi Ding is a fun, stylish twist on the home-style shops in coastal Dalian where you’d typically find them: black walls; sleek, shiny tables; and the sexy beats of Barbadian Goddess Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty.
The savory dumplings (RMB58) smell faintly of the sea, steam rising above them as if they’re screaming for us to eat them. Or as Rihanna sings in her staggeringly self-assured anthem of female sex-positivity ’Birthday Cake’: I know you wanna bite this, it's so enticing; nothing is like this, imma make you my bitch.
Anyway, here’s how the rest of the Xi Ding experience goes.
Our waitress brings us glasses of red wine with no explanation. We do not pay for them. Somehow this is tied in with a Dianping deal. Cheers to the freakin’ weekend, I’ll drink to that, Rihanna sings.
Then the waitress brings us our dishes: Shandong classics like lightly flavored peas with shrimp (RMB48), a hearty vegetable-and-tofu stew (RMB78), and thin vermicelli noodles (RMB68). These are nicely executed and, best of all, inexpensive – not a small feat in these Sanlitun environs.
As we are in the basement of Taikooli North, our window seats look out upon the bucolic view of designer clothing store Anna Kiki and a fancy juice place. Inside the restaurant, however, our view is of the waitresses, who are all young and conventionally attractive women in matching powder-blue Mao jackets and short black skirts. There are even photos of them on the menu, as if they’re dishes we can eat. Sexism is so cute sometimes!
At the end of our meal, we realize Xi Ding’s greatest feat of the night is not the sea urchin dumplings, lovely as they are. It’s that not a single Rihanna song was repeated. That is two full hours of RiRi hits – starting with ‘Umbrella’ and ending with ‘We Found Love.’
We laugh, but ultimately we don’t mind – because we like the dumplings, and we like the price even more.
And you can trust us because, as Rihanna proclaims in her 2009 hit ‘Rude Boy’: Babe if I don’t feel it, I ain’t faking, no no.
Images by Holly Li
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