Beijing

A potsticker specific restaurant hides in a coumpound

A prestigious baozi store

Traditional handmade Chinese wines and plenty of fried food, fine seafood, and skewers are to be had in this hutong tavern.

A Beijing restaurant providing home-style dishes, such as yutou paobing (鱼头泡饼, fish head with pieces of wheat pancake), roast duck, and home-style pig knuckle to share, as well as焦溜丸子(jiaoliu wanzi, RMB 48, stir-fried meatballs) and芝麻酱糖饼(zhimajiang tangbing, RMB 28, sesame paste pancake).

Laohuihui Xiaochidian offers traditional sweet and savory snacks (RMB 2-15) such as aiwowo (艾窝窝) – red bean paste ans sugar filled glutinous rice ball, mung pea cakes (豌豆黄 wāndòu huáng), táng ěrduo (糖耳朵) – sugary dough, rolling donkeys (驴打滚 lǘ dǎgǔn, RMB 15/500g) – a roll made of glutinous rice with red bean filling, and dusted soybean flour., baozi, deep-fried meatballs, and several braised meat.

Sansheng Shide serves meaty shaomai (RMB 24-30), a type of steamed dumplings that originate from Inner Mongolia and have a thin, pleated outer wrapping. Choose between pork, pork with shrimp, beef, and vegetarian varieties and supplement with traditional Beijing homestyle dishes.

One Meal is a roomy 800sqm in the basement of the Yintai Center with a huge open kitchen that gives a kinetic view of the many cooks working away on Beijing classics.

Tucked away on the second floor of building 1 at Sanlitun Soho, the eatery “Wo Nainaijia de Zhajiangmian, Jiushi Haochi!” (我奶奶家的炸酱面，就是好吃！) has all the Chinese characters in black on a white board, reminds us of the flashcards when we were learning Chinese, meaning “my grandma’s zhajiang noodles, so delicious!” 

With 11 parts of beef or mutton stomach to choose from on the menu (RMB 19-22 for a small platter, and RMB 36-45 to a big platter), Baoduhuang specializes in food that some foreigners will balk at but should try before they judge. Simply dip the fresh tripe into a bowl of special sauce (RMB 7), which includes majiang (sesame paste), soy sauce, shallot, and some cilantro, and enjoy.

Originating in the west of Beijing around Ganjiakou, Lady Chai has been running their small beef noodle business since 1988, etching a firm place in many a local’s memory since childhood. The menu is decidedly simple and includes: soup noodles (RMB 12, without meat), beef noodles (RMB 26), spicy beef noodles (RMB 28), majiang liangmian (cold noodles with sesame sauce, RMB 16), beef bowls (RMB 20), grilled lamb chuan'r (RMB 8), and portions of signature beef (RMB 90/500g), as well as a bunch of cold dishes (RMB 13-36).