Beijing Food

Beijing food is as varied as food gets. From the famous Beijing duck (Bei jing kao ya), to Muslim delicacies from China's western Xin Jiang province. The northern capital's tumultuous history has brought not only ostentatious monuments and one incredibly long wall, but a varied cuisine that reads like a history book. Sitting at the edge of the expanding northern desert, Beijing gets whipped by frigid Siberian winds in the wintertime- the hearty food found here is a reflection of this. Legend has it that the Mongols brought with them their mutton hotpot, whose steamboats fog windows here on winter nights. The dumpling descended from Manchuria; its steamy filling and thick wheat wrapper has since become a mainstay of local cuisine. And then there’s Peking Duck, a dish that bears not only the name of the city but ably shoulders its culinary identity and ranks high in the list of Beijing food's most popular. So, for a true taste of the Chinese capital, get your fill of one or all of these robust local favorites.

Mongolian Hotpot

There are two main interpretations of hotpot in Beijing-fiery Sichuan style, and the milder, mutton-centric Mongolian hotpot is served in a steamboat, a tureen-like contraption that is heated beneath, with a small hole in the centre to allow smoke and steam to escape. Raw, paper-thin slices of fatty mutton, the best of which is raised in Inner Mongolia, are plunged into a fragrant broth tableside for a few seconds, until they quickly curl and change color (do not overcook). The meat is eaten along with countless varieties of leafy vegetables, mushrooms, noodles and even dumplings, all dunked in a sauce of sesame paste, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, salt, coriander and chilli (you usually mix your own sauce in this DIY environment). Eating steamy hotpot on a freezing winter’s night is an experience one shouldn’t miss out on in Beijing-and few places are better than trendy Ding Ding Xiang in the Beijing food scenery.

Dongbei Dumplings

Dongbei jiaozi, or northeastern-style dumplings, are a staple in the capital city. You can see them being swiftly folded in restaurants across the city, after which they are boiled or steamed and served piping hot with a side of dark vinegar. Jiaozi can be filled with just about anything, although the most common parcels contain pork, cabbage, and sometimes leek. For dumplings at any hour of the day or night, try Bazhen Jiaozi. For a more polished dumpling feast, head to Orient King of Dumplings, which serves over 30 varieties in clean, modern surrounds.

Peking Duck

Peking Duck (Beijing kaoya), probably the most renowned type of Beijing food, is not a dish to be taken lightly. The birds are raised for the single purpose of roasting, and undergo an aging process where they are hung and pumped full of air to separate their thick skin from the meat. They are then brushed with molasses, and traditionally roasted in a wood-fired oven which renders them chestnut-brown with the crisp-but-juicy skin a soup and occasionally sliced and served alongside the skin. Due to the complexity of this creation, it’s best to visit a restaurant that specialized in Peking duck. After the bird is carved tableside, you can dip the skin in a sweet, brown sauce and wrap it in a thin pancake with julienned leek and cucumber. Try it at the cheap and cheerful Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant located in a tumbledown courtyard residence near Tiananmen Square, or the more upscale Dadong.

Xing Jiang Food

Not a typical kind of Beijing food but nevertheless one of the most popular. Xing Jiang is the far western province in China bordering with a several Central Asian nations. It's provincial city of Urumuqi has had an increasingly large number of Han Chinese (the biggest ethnic group in China), but other areas mostly consist of Uighur people, with customs and cuisines completely different to those of the Han. Beijing hosts many Xing Jiang restaurants, the Muslim neighborhood Niu Jie where a large number of local Muslim Beijingers (Hui Zu ethnic minority) live together with Muslims from Xing Jiang and which has one of the biggest Mosques in Beijing, is a perfect example. Skewers, lamb chops, nan bread and fresh Xing Jiang salads, are some of the main traits of this exquisite cuisine.

---

Please go to our Life in Beijing page to see what else there is to the capital apart from its varied Beijing Food .

 

---