Top Food

Beijing Roast Duck

If you had to choose just one dish to try while in the capital, Beijing Roast Duck is definitely the one to go for. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, authentic versions of the dish serve mostly skin with a little meat. Light pancakes will be given into which you can pile a slice of duck alongside condiments including cucumber, scallion and fermented bean paste. To prepare the duck, chefs first inflate the poultry by blowing air between the skin and body. They then prick the skin and pour boiling water over the duck. Some chefs add malt sugar to the skin so that it turns golden brown once roasted.

Most restaurants offering this dish do so by carving the duck beside your table. More established restaurants usually feature a short demonstration on the correct way to assemble the Peking Duck Wrap using chopsticks. Not to worry, the wrap does not need to be well constructed to be delicious! A highly recommended local trick is to dip the crispiest pieces of skin in sugar before eating.

Dumplings

Image by Phillip Tang / Lonely Planet

Lots of myths surround the history of the Chinese dumplings, a dish closely associated with Chinese tradition. Dumplings have a delicate wheat-flour skin, filled traditionally with minced pork, ginger and leek. However, you can find restaurants offering all types of different fillings like moist prawn and pork. Ingredients in the dumplings include chestnuts, garlic chives, and more surprising ones such as corn and yam. The crescent shaped dumplings are served either steamed, fried or in a soup. Use the chopsticks to pick the dumplings up and be ready to dip them into little dipping sauce dishes with black rice-vinegar or smoky chili-oil. Be ready for the juicy contents to burst with flavor in your mouth.

Noodles with Soybean Paste — Zhajiang mian

Traditional Beijing Cuisine would be incomplete without this popular noodle dish. Firm, hand pulled wheat noodles are topped with minced-pork in soybean paste. The addictive saltiness of the chunky sauce is balanced out by fresh vegetables laid to the side in this classic Beijing noodle dish. It is an ideal lunch time snack for the visitors with limited time as it is prepared quickly. As an added bonus, the price is reasonably inexpensive. Vegetarians can also swap the pork for tofu.

Mongolian Hotpot

The Mongolian hotpot dish dates back over 1000 years in history and is a dish that is about the enjoyment of cooking as much as it is the taste. Mongolian hotpot usually involves diners sitting around a large pot of boiling soup, cooking their own food, such as lamb, other meats, vegetables and breads. All these are thinly sliced to ensure that they cook quickly and evenly. With less emphasis being placed on the ingredients that are cooked rather than what they are cooked in, this style of hotpot uses soup which is less spicy and generally less flavorful than other types.

Donkey Burger

Beijing has adopted the donkey burger as its own, with restaurants offering this dish serving different styles of donkey meals, Shredded donkey meat is served in a piping-hot, crunchy bun with a green pepper relish.

Apart from its novelty value, the mouthwatering meat, crunchy bun and sweet radish make this a dish so yummy that you would unlikely stop at only one. Look out for a big 驴肉 (donkey meat) sign clearly visible on the front of all restaurants offering this meat.

Mung-bean milk

You will either love it or hate it. One of Beijing’s most famous and unique flavors is this grey-green drink that locals have proudly adored since the Liao dynasty. Translated as “soymilk”, Beijing’s douzhi is actually made from mung beans, has a mild sourness to it and is not as sweet as traditional soymilk. You’ll find this drink throughout the city from street stalls to restaurants. To help mung-bean milk go down, try accompanying it with strips of spicy pickles. Rich in protein and fiber, it is said to have health benefits and also help cool you down on a hot summer day and warm you up during winter.