Plan your Beijing tour? Beijing has a strong gastronomic tradition and no Beijing tour is complete without getting a taste of some of its local foods.
We’ve rounded up the top 10 must-taste foods unique in Beijing with pictures and descriptions easy for you to follow on your trip to Beijing. Some of the top 10 foods mentioned may sound a bit bizarre or weird.
1. Beijing Roast Duck （北京烤鸭）
Eating Beijing Ducks and walking on the Great Wall are the two must-do things while travelling Beijing for the first time. The making of Beijing roast ducks dates back to 150 years.
Generally, there are two ways of making ducks – Roasting ducks by using an oven without a door and roasting is done in an enclosed oven heated with crop stalks as the fuel.
Quanjude Roast Ducks are representative of the ducks roasted in an oven without a door while Bianyifang Roast Ducks of the ducks roasted in an enclosed oven.
After roasted and dried, the duck will look brightly dark red, shining with oil and with crisp skin and tender meat. Few people could resist its temptation due to its attractive appearance.
Recommended Beijing duck restaurants:
Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
Add: 32 Qianmen Dajie, Chongwen District
Open hours: 11am-1:30pm, 4:45pm-8pm
By bus: take lines 110, 120, 20, exit at Dazhalan
Tel: 6710 1379
Hepingmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
Add: 14 Qian Men xi dajie, Xuanwu District
Open hours: 11am-2pm, 4:30pm-10:30pm
By bus: take lines 14, 7, 15, subway line 2, exit at Hepingmen
Tel: 6301 8833
Xingfudajie Bian Yi Fang Roast Duck Restaurant
Add: 36 xingfu dajie, chongwen District
Open hours: 10:30am-2pm, 4pm-10pm
By bus: take lines 8, exit at xingfu street
Tel: 6711 6545
Yutingqiao Bian Yi Fang Roast Duck Restaurant
Add: 73 Tian tan Donglu, chongwen district
Open hours: 11am-9:30pm
By bus: take lines 39,39special, 43, 807, 958, exit at dongce lu
Tel: 6702 0904
2. Mutton Hot Pot（涮羊肉）
Mutton Hot Pot is one of the traditional cuisines in Beijing. Here the mutton hot-pot refers to the Mongolian style hot-pot.
The lamb slices are put into the hot-pot, which is a copper pot containing a boiling soup base. After a few seconds the lamb slices are done and dip them a sesame butter sauce. Mutton hot-pot is especially popular in winter.
Donglaishun Mutton Hot Pot
Address: No.198, Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Phone: 010-63023042
3. Fried Lamb or Cow Stomach (Baodu 爆肚）
Fried Lamb or Cow Stomach is a traditional snack in Beijing. Put lamb or cow stomachs in boiling water, then take them out and cut them into thin slices. Then spread some sauce on the sliced stomachs. Fried Lamb or Cow Stomach is pronounced “Baodu”.
Recommended restaurants for “Baodu”:
Baodu Feng Restaurant
Add: 17 Qianhai Dongyan, Shichahai, Xicheng District, Beijing 西城区什刹海前海东沿17号(银锭桥南)
Tel:010-64057412
Baodu Feng Restaurant
Add: 56 Langfang Ertiao, Menkuang Hutong, Qianmen, Xicheng District, Beijing 西城区前门大街门框胡同廊坊二条56号 公交/驾车
Tel:010-63083296
4. Fried Pig Liver (炒肝)
Fried Pig Liver is a traditional Beijing snack. Its ingredients include fat sausages, pig livers and garlic. Yaoji Fried Liver Restaurant (Gulou)
Check out Beijing Yaoji Chaogan Restaurant for more information.
Add：311 Dongdajie，Gulou, Dongcheng District, Beijing 东城区鼓楼东大街311号
5. Bittern flapjack （卤煮火烧）
Bittern flapjack is a traditional snack in Beijing. The pig intestines and lung are cooked together with bean curds tablets, blood tofu, and sold in a bowl of hot soup. Chenji Luzhu Xiaochang (陈记卤煮小肠）
Add: Jia 16-17, Huayuan North Road, Haidian Ditrict, Beijing 海淀区花园北路甲12号16-17门牌
Tel: 13520510701
6. Mending Meat Pie (门丁肉饼）
“Mengding” in Chinese literally means “door nails”. The meat pie looks like a door nail in the past, hence the Mending Meat Pie.
The yellow and crisp pastries contain hot meat.The best place to eat Mending meat pie is Mending Li (门丁李).
Tel:010-81624868
Add: 20 South Road, Capital Stadium, Xicheng District, Beijing 北京西城区首体南路20号
7. Steamed Stuffed Buns
Beijing is well-known for its yummy steamed stuffed buns, quite different from Tianjin’s stuffed buns known as “Goubuli”.
Beijing’s stuffed buns look more beautiful, not oily.It provides plentiful stuffed buns.You are highly recommended to eat the stuffed buns at Qingfeng Stuffed buns. You may visit one of its chain restaurants.
Qingfeng Stuffed Buns Head Office
Add：178 Nandajie, Xinjiekou, Beijing 北京市新街口南大街178号
Tel：010-66182812 010-66124087
8. Shoulder Bag-shaped Cake 褡裢火烧
Place fillings into two dumpling wrappers, and put them into boiling oil wok. The fried cakes look like ancient shoulder bags, hence Shoulder Bag-shaped Cake.
Ruibinlou Restaurant (瑞宾楼）
Add :7 Zhaogongkou, Fengtai District, Beijing 丰台区赵公口7号楼
Tel:010-87263302
9. Noodles with Fried Bean and Meat Sauce ( Zhajiang Mian 炸酱面)
Noodles with Fried Bean and Meat Sauce is most typical of Beijing. It is a unique and traditional way of making noodles. Add shredded cucumbers, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, scrambled eggs, fresh soybeans and hot sauce.
Zhajian Mian in Chinese literally means Noodles with Fried Bean and Meat Sauce.
Lao Beijing King of Zhajiang Mian. 老北京炸酱面大王 Tel: 010-66180788
西城区 西什库大街31号院1楼(近北大医院) Add: 1 Floor, 31 Xishikou Charch, Shanghai.
10.Wonton (馄饨)
Wonton is one of Beijing traditional snacks. Often placed in the bowl of hot made soup, which includes dried purple seaweed, parsley and sesame.
Wonton Hou (Xinjiekou) 馄饨侯(新街口店)
Tel: 010-66537143
26 Neidajie, Xizhinmen
西城区西直门内大街26号(近新华书店)
Tip: Hassle-free Beijing Guided Tours
If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours, here are some options for Beijing guided tours:
Car Rental in Beijing
Beijing Day Tour
Beijing Tour Packages
Beijing Winter Tour
Great Wall Tour
Beijing Tours
China City Tours
China Tour
Further Readings
Best Time to Visit Beijing
How to plan a trip to Beijing
Top 10 Attractions in Beijing
How to Visit Forbidden City
How to Visit Temple of Heaven
How to Visit Summer Palace
How to Visit Ming Tombs
How to Visit the Great Wall of China
How to Visit Tiananmen Square
How to Visit Hutongs
How to Visit Olympic Sites
Top 10 Markets in Beijing
Top 10 Shopping Malls in Beijing
Beijing Shopping
Wangfujing Night Snack Street
Qianmen Commercial Street
Beijing Huguosi Street
Any questions, just drop a line.
