Last Orders: Josh Durham, Owner and Operator of Paper Pounder Press
Each month, we ask noteworthy Beijingers – leaving or not – to imagine their final meal before departing from the city for good.
Josh Durham’s time in Beijing was mostly spent pounding paper with a century-old, cast-iron, sexy monster of a machine. Despite loving their time in the city, living here was only meant to be temporary, and now with children reaching school age, he and his family are moving on.
The venue
We will have to start this shindig at the original Great Leap location. Many a blissful evening have I squandered watching the night descend on the hutongs from this courtyard corner of heaven. This is the only venue that makes sense. It has been my “Cheers,” my “Moe’s,” and essentially my “water cooler” where I went to make friends, to vent frustrations, and to enjoy tasty beer. Even though it can be fun in the winter getting all crammed into that tiny structure, my imaginary “last supper” takes place in the late spring. I want to observe the blue sky through the frame of that high-walled polygon, and find peace with the chaos of the city in its hutongs, where it all comes together.
The starters
While sipping ales, we will abate our growing appetites with chuanr and nan from the Xinjiang restaurant on the corner at Mao'er Hutong. Since this is my happening, it's going to be a rolling tour of personal favorites and old haunts, but before we jump on our bikes to go elsewhere, we'll have to munch on an assortment of Mr. Shi's jiaozi (dumplings).
Before leaving the hutongs, we'll make a quick stop by Mai Bar for a whiskijito.
Main course
From Gulou, we'll pedal our merry selves just east of Third Ring road. We will slide into Vin Vie for boxes of sake and to savor their tasty “My Sausages!” It's a shame that I only just recently found this place, because I loved everything we had. It certainly made an impression, so this time we'll spend hours sampling everything they have to offer, and then going back for seconds of the best dishes.
Dessert?
We'll get dessert on the go, tanghulu (candied fruit skewers) and digua (sweet potato). Yum!
Any other entertainment?
At this point, my friends and I are feeling a little competitive, so we'll hit up the go-cart track near the IKEA.
We will finish the night off down in Sanlitun where we'll post our bellies to the bar at Revolution and tell stories of days gone by. We'll ride those Irish Mules as far as they will take us.
Read more articles from our January Ice issue online.
