Although Beijing is mostly famous for its Peking duck, there are many other amazing local dishes that are just waiting to be discovered. Beijing has plenty of exotic, delicious traditional cuisine, with strong flavours that couldn't be found anywhere else on our epic journey. Our peanut allergic son stayed cautious and didn't eat everything we ate, and as a result had no problems whatsoever. Here is the list of foods that you must experience:
Dòufunǎo (豆腐腦)
豆腐腦 (dòufunǎo) is made of soft tofu topped with thick soy sauce and mushrooms. This is my favourite snack because the tofu is soft and the sauce on top is just right.
Miànchá (面茶)
Miànchá (面茶) is made of corn paste mixed with sesame paste. It is very heartwarming to have this as your breakfast. The old Beijingers would drink this soup by lifting the bowl up without using a spoon or chopsticks.
To try both dòufunǎo and miànchá, you can go to 紫腾轩 (春秀路店). It is an amazing little restaurant located near our hostel. The staffs were friendly and accomodating. Besides dòufunǎo and miànchá, their shuànyángròu (涮羊肉) was also highly recommended by our hostel staff. [Google Maps] [高德地图]
Dòuzhī (豆汁)
Another popular old time Beijing food is called 豆汁 (dòuzhī). It’s like soy milk but is made from fermented mung bean. Most of all, it’s very stinky. One day, I asked our host about it and with a smile on her face, she generously shared hers with us. To me, it smelt like sewage and tasted a bit sour. The host, who is a native Beijinger, insisted that it’s good for your body. In fact, they drink it whenever they have toothache or caught a cold. You can buy this in supermarket.
Peking duck
It wouldn’t be a complete trip to Beijing without tasting their famous Peking duck. The Peking duck we had was very juicy. Its skin and its fat merged together into a think and crispy layer. It looked and tasted like roasted pig skin. It was tasty but also expensive. We ordered a whole duck for the family and costed us around CNY 370 (around USD 52) for the duck! It’s worth trying but it’s not something you’d eat regularly.
花家怡园 (Huajia Yiyuan) is famous for its peking duck. Besides peking duck, their other dishes are worth trying too. There are many branches, so just put the Chinese name into the browser and it'd suggest other branches that might be closer to you. Here is one of them: [Google Maps] [高德地图]
Shuànyángròu (涮羊肉)
Shuànyángròu (涮羊肉) is basically mutton hotpot. It was originated from the Yuan dynasty (1271 - 1368) and was popularized in the Qing dynasty (1636 - 1912). Beijing has very good mutton. It was tender and chewy. In fact, it was so tasty that all of us (except for one of my little boys) preferred the hotpot over the duck and it costed a lot less - about half of the price of the duck for the entire meal for five.
If you have shuànyángròu in a Halal restaurant, you can often find another traditional Beijing delicacy, baodu (爆肚) (see picture). It's a halal tripe dish.
Sesame paste
Shuànyángròu hotpot uses a very mild soup base. So, restaurants differentiate among themselves by making their own special sesame pastes which enhances the meat's flavor.
Diǎnxīn (點心)
From left to right: hawthorn pancake (山楂锅盔), red date cake (枣泥糕), cow tongue cake (牛舌饼) - don't worry, it's named after the shape not the ingredients
Besides the foods we mentioned, we also bought some traditional Chinese pastries (點心) from an old bakery shop (established in 1895). We enjoyed them a lot. To be honest, when I was young, I hated Chinese pastry. They were dry and old fashioned. We all preferred western pastries like cake and tart. Now I think that our limited exposure to Chinese pastry is to blame. The traditional pastries we tried in Beijing were very tasty. They will make you feel like a king enjoying the best pastries from the royal chef. Yes, it’s that good.
The word diǎnxīn (點心)
During this trip, I discovered that the word diǎnxīn (點心) means different things in different parts of China. In the southern part of China, like Guangzhou, it means dim sum. In Beijing, it means traditional pastries. To help people differentiate the two, you can use the word gāodiǎn (糕点) to refer to Chinese pastries and diǎnxīn (點心) for dim sum.
In Beijing, you can find traditional Chinese pastry in ** Beijing Daoxiangcun (北京稻香村)**. It started business in 1895. They have many branches. However, there are also many pastry shops in Beijing with the same name. If you want this one in particular, make sure it has the same logo. [Google Maps] [高德地图]
Zha jiang mian (炸酱面) and mutton dumplings
Both zha jiang mian and mutton dumplings are signature dishes in Beijing. Both dishes are not served with soup. You can find them in almost all restaurants. If you are into noodles and dumplings, I suggest you try them in different places, they all taste a little different.
Luzhu huoshao (卤煮火烧)
Luzhu huoshao (卤煮火烧) is basically pork stew with bread. It is a traditional Beijing street food. The main ingredients are pork, pork lung, pork intestines, pork liver, tofu, and chives. It does have a strong odor and is not acceptable by everyone. Legend has it that this dish was originated from within the palace. When the common people tried to imitate the dish, they couldn't afford the pork belly, which was the main ingredient of the original dish. Instead they subsituted the pork belly with the more affordable pork intestines, lungs and other pork offal. Personally, I found the taste a bit too strong but one of my sons loved it. So, you never know.
We tried the luzhu huoshao in 北新桥卤煮老店 (东四店) [Google Maps] [高德地图], which is a popular spot for this dish.