Dart west between the new designer stores and tourist shops on Qianmen Avenue and you'll find a very different Beijing. Rundown sex-shops, boarded-up hotels with crumbling facades, and this place: one of Beijing's few remaining guo ying, or state-run bar/restaurants. Behind this counter, a barkeep in a white lab coat pours baijiu by the glass - RMB 1 for 1 liang (50ml) in chipped porcelain cups. A handful of regulars, hunched over their Beijing wan bao, knock back the firey spirit and munch on little dishes of peanuts. The menu is similarly humble - a throwback to a time where food was nourishment and not a lot more. This has to be the most rustic bowl of dao xiao mian (RMB 5) we've eaten - no garnish beyond hunks of fatty pork, a meaty broth (three types to choose from) and a jug of vinegar on the side.
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