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Unexpectedly, this draft is so popular :joy:, so let’s improve it

This article mainly comes from an experienced foodie teacher of mine who doesn’t go to work every day and just eats, no wonder he is so big (pang).
Mixed with some personal subjective feelings (based on the consumption level of an ordinary college student and the dietary habits of an ordinary Northerner). Feel free to discuss in the comments if you have any questions.

Several Food Areas

Guijie (Spicy Crayfish, Hotpot)
Huguosi (Pastries)
Niujie

Friendly Reminder

If it’s your first time in Beijing and you want to eat roast duck, go to Ziguangyuan, which is cheap and generous in portions; Sijiminfu is more upscale (haven’t been there); Bianyi Fang is said to be good too (haven’t been there). I won’t recommend the old-school roast duck places as I haven’t tried many of them either. Orz

Snacks

Various Pancakes (Baked Pancakes, Stuffed Pancakes…)

  1. Sesame Baked Pancake (Niujie)
    1. More than twenty layers when torn open
    2. No hard dough chunks
    3. Sesame paste ratio
  2. Minced Meat Baked Pancake (Beihai Fangshan)
    1. A hollow left in the middle when baking
    2. Then add peas stir-fried with meat
  3. Spiral Baked Pancake
    1. Combination of puff pastry and ordinary dough
  4. Water Chestnut Baked Pancake
    1. Softer texture
  5. Sugar Crisp Baked Pancake
  6. Toad Spits Honey / Opened Bean-filled Pancake
    1. More bean filling
  7. Dahlian Huoshao (Menkuang Hutong)
  8. Mendin Meat Pie
  9. Resembles mendin (door nail)

Others

  1. Spring Rolls
  2. Spring Pancakes

Desserts / Sugar and Oil Mixtures

  1. Fried Triangle (Duyi Place)
  2. Fried Huaitou (Fried Return)
  3. Dunbobo / Sugar Dun (Huguosi Snacks) — bad review… too hard
  4. Qiegao (Rice Cake) — average
  5. Doumian Cake / Lu Dagun (Donkey Rolling) — delicious!
    1. Glutinous rice flour mixed with hot water forming a soft dough
    2. Sticky mung bean flour rolled inside
  6. Aiwo Wo — delicious!
    1. Glutinous rice wrapped with filling
  7. Bowl Cake
  8. Basin Cake
  9. Yuanxiao (Glutinous Rice Balls)
    1. Fried yuanxiao
    2. Fry a while, then tap to let out air
2. Stir-fried yuanxiao
  1. Small Wotou (Fangshan)
  2. Silver Thread Rolls
  3. Fried Juanguo (Huguosi Snacks) — weird, average rating
  4. Cream Fried Cake (Huguosi Snacks) — delicious!
  5. Sanzi Mahua (Fried Dough Twist)
  6. Crispy Mahua
  7. Honey Mahua
  8. Sugar Ears
  9. Hawthorn Cake (Huguosi) — delicious!
  10. Candied Hawthorn (Commonly seen) — delicious!
  11. Pea Jelly (Huguosi) (Niujie) — delicious!
    1. Peas peeled and simmered into flour
    2. Sifted
  12. Small Red Bean Jelly — haven’t tried
  13. Almond Tofu (Huguosi) — delicious!
  14. Dried Fruits (Sold everywhere) — ordinary
  15. Persimmon Cakes (Sold everywhere) — ordinary
  16. Dragon Beard Cake — haven’t tried, but Xinjiang’s Dragon Beard Pastry is delicious!
  17. Kidney Bean Roll (Fangshan) — haven’t tried
  18. Marinated Fried Tofu — haven’t tried
  19. Cheese (Cheese Wei) — delicious!
    1. Cheese holds shape when bowl is flipped
  20. Cheese Roll, Curd (Huguosi) — delicious!
  21. Stir-fried Red Fruit (Huguosi) — delicious!

Daily

  1. Drink Fermented Liquor — haven’t tried
  2. Fried Rings — weird, average rating
  3. Kaikouxiao (Open Mouth Laugh) — haven’t tried
  4. Tofu Pudding — northern salted tofu pudding varieties are similar
    1. Steamed lactone tofu is fine
    2. Or old tofu
  5. Shiitake Mushroom Soup — haven’t tried
    1. Put some shiitake mushrooms (three?!!) in pot
    2. Soak shiitake first (the soaking water can be used for stir-frying)
    3. Cut into pieces, simmer with soy sauce, scallion, ginger, star anise, and peppercorns (use sparingly)
    4. After simmering, add more starch and less water, then add eggs over low heat
  6. Douzhi (Fermented Mung Bean Drink) (Ciqikou) (Jinfang Douzhi) (Huguosi Branch) — please do not try :nauseated_face:
    1. Fermented leftover mung bean starch mainly made from pea husks
    2. Drink hot
    3. Eat with salty pickles—Beijing spicy vegetables/fried rings make it authentic
  7. Ginger Sauce Paicha (Niujie) — haven’t tried
  8. Tea Soup (Cha Tang Li) — haven’t tried
    1. Proso millet flour
    2. Important to mix properly
  9. Miancha (Flour Tea) (Huguosi) — delicious!
    1. Drink while swirling the bowl
    2. Possibly millet flour?
  10. Steamed Buns (Qingfeng Steamed Bun Shop, Xisi Steamed Bun Shop) — delicious!
  11. Shaomai
    1. Duyi Place (120 pleats) — haven’t tried
    2. Annei Old Ma Shaomai — delicious!
  12. Wonton Hou Wonton — not tasty, not as good as southern town fast-food wontons in Beijing
  13. Gut Chang (Blood Sausage-style Stick) — not tasty!
    1. From Fengnian Guanchang, Yaer Li Ji, etc.
    2. Fried in lard
  14. Fried Geda (Dumpling Gnocchi) — haven’t tried
  15. Mustard Greens Stew — haven’t tried
  16. Fried Doufu — haven’t tried
    1. Douzhi kept heated continuously
    2. Fried with lamb tail oil
  17. Fried Gezha Box — haven’t tried
  18. Doumian (Bean Flour) — haven’t tried
  19. Sour Plum Soup
    1. The traditional place is Liulichang Changdian, water-soaked sour plums—I haven’t tried
    2. Xin Yuan Zhai from there I tried; glass bottled okay, but market formulas have been greatly simplified. See here :right_arrow: C013同仁堂酸梅汤 - 淡言水SpokenSolution | 小宇宙 - 听播客，上小宇宙
  20. Autumn Pear Syrup (Tong Sanyi) — haven’t tried

Pastries

  1. Traditional Manchu Pastry Shops
    1. Zhengmingzhai
    2. Fuhuazhai (East of Huguosi, North of Temple)
    3. Nanwei Pastry Shop
    4. Daoxiangcun/Daoxiangchun/Guixiangcun/Guixiangchun (only this one is a counterfeit, others are authentic)
    5. Halal Pastry Shop
    6. Dashunzhai (Tongzhou)
  2. Other Emerging Shops
    1. Bai Nian Yili
    2. Lifa Yuan
  3. Sugar Huoshao

Types of Pastries

  1. Baked Goods

  2. Oil Pastry Types

    1. Walnut Crisp

  3. Starch Skin Types

    1. Tapioca Mooncake

  4. Puff Pastry Types

    1. Jing Bajian (Beijing Eight Snacks)
    2. Sugar Alcohol Baiguo (Daoxiangcun)
    3. Ox Tongue Biscuit
    4. Black Sesame Pepper Salt
    5. Walnut Crisps
    6. Yipin Shaobing
    7. Sesame Paste Crisp Strips

  5. Mixed Sugar Types

    1. Hawthorn Guokui
    2. Jujube Paste Crisp
    3. Top Scholar Biscuit
    4. Red Bean Bun
    5. Chestnut Paste Crisp
    6. Jujube Paste Block

  6. Hard Crust Types

    1. Zilaihong / Zilai Bai
    2. Hawthorn Crisp Biscuit

  7. Fried Goods

    1. White/Red Sachima
      1. Eggs and flour without water
      2. White sugar + maltose → syrup
    2. Jiangmi Stick
    3. Honey Treat
    4. Honey Three Knives

  8. Steamed Goods

    1. Osmanthus with Sandy Filling

  9. Others

    1. White/Black Sesame Cake
    2. Osmanthus Jar Stove (Daoxiangcun) (good for pregnant women recovering after dizziness)
    3. Sugar Huoshao (Beijing Dashunzhai soft) (Tianjin Guishunzhai hard)
    4. Sesame Paste and Brown Sugar — enough amount