We all shake for … Beijing’s smallest restaurant!

“Fan’er – it means really cool, or handsome!” Li, the restaurant owner shouts as I stand in the alley looking bemused. A handwritten sign on the bright yellow frontage proclaims this place to be Beijing’s smallest restaurant at just 7.2 square meters. And that includes the kitchen. But what Fan’er lacks in size, it more than makes up for in eccentricity.

Inside there’s one chair, a stool, a freezer, a fryer, a blender, Li and me. Fan’er is officially full. From the slightly demented menu of hamburgers, snacks and milkshakes I go for a double beef burger (RMB 11.9) and… a pumpkin milkshake (RMB 12). Yes, pumpkin. But more to the point, why do all the burgers cost .9 mao? “Because it’s funny always giving people one mao change!” enthuses Li. Well, if that’s what passes for fun in these parts …

Browsing the largely well-translated menu reveals “spicy urine chuan’r” in the snacks section. Is this a clanger, or is it one of Li's more experimental marinades? Further down, one of the cutest menu mistakes ever – “hush browns”. Shh! They only cost RMB 6 for 5 pieces, too. The burger arrives in a giant bun with two wafer thin, deep-fried-from-frozen patties. The milkshake is weirdly good, served in a wide-brimmed coffee cup. “Business is OK at the moment,” Li says. Goodness knows what ‘OK’ means for this place. Two customers a day, perhaps?

On the way out, I notice another little hand-written sign in the window: “We all shake for milkshake!” We certainly do. After nearly three years in Beijing, I love this city all over again.

Fan’er. Daily 11am-8pm. 31 Dongsi Liutiao, Dongcheng District (139 1157 6548)
东城区东四六条31-1号