I had an enjoyable day at Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) today. It’s a great lab — and part of the reason I’m so psyched to work for Microsoft. It really is a global company with global resources.

Coincidentally, Nick Craswell, from MSR - Cambridge (MSRC), and Josh Goodman from MSR were also visiting MSRA. So that night, some of the senior folks at the lab treated us to a dinner at South Beauty, which from the URL is probably really pronounced qiao jiang nan.. We were treated to a number of specialties… no, not fresh-killed snake (which apparently is quite the dish), but a couple other interesting plates. The weirdest name was literally translated as “husband wife lung slice” — which is named after a husband & wife restaurant owner who made the dish up. Essentially, it’s thinly slices ox tongue in a spicy broth, and surprisingly good. There was also a fish dish (and the live fish was brought out for us to see) that was amazing, and a host of others that I can’t at all remember. Oh, and we had South Beauty Stout — mmmm…. dark beer! The restaurant was also gorgeous to see… a koi pond indoors and lotsof greenery (fake, but still looked cool). Good stuff.