Best 12 Street Foods in Beijing: Snack Food Street in Beijing
After dinner, why not take a stroll along Beijing's food street and enjoy some snacks to freshen up your palate? The street is bustling with activity at night, and you can hear vendors calling out to attract customers. Don't miss out on these Beijing street foods.
1. Tanghulu 糖葫芦
Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack. Wild fruits are skewered on bamboo sticks, then coated with malt syrup. After being blown by the wind, the syrup hardens quickly, and the snack is made.
It's a popular snack in Beijing, usually made with hawthorns, but sometimes with strawberries or grapes. There are about five fruits on each stick, and they taste both sour and sweet.
2. Baozi 包子
Baozi uses fermented flour as its outer skin. It is filled with a variety of rich fillings, including different types of meats, vegetables, as well as sesame and red bean paste. In Beijing, baozi is an indispensable breakfast food for locals. Paired with a cup of warm soy milk, it offers a truly delightful experience.
3. Jianbing 煎饼
The original version of the jianbing only used youtiao as the filling. Later, as the variety of ingredients kept increasing, Beijing locals started to use ham sausage, crisp fritters, and meat floss as substitutes for the traditional youtiao. The golden-colored pancake skin, brushed with oil and sauce, wraps around these ingredients, making the jianbing taste more delicious.
4. Lamb Skewers 羊肉串
Lamb skewers are a kind of food that cuts fresh lamb into small pieces, threads them onto bamboo skewers, and then grills them over charcoal until they sizzle and ooze with oil. After that, sprinkle some cumin, chili, and other seasonings on them, and the aroma will instantly fill your nose.
They are perfect to eat in winter. Lamb is warm, and when it's grilled hot, it can warm your stomach and drive away the cold. In summer, a can of cold beer and lamb skewers are simply a perfect match!
5. Douzhi 豆汁
Those who can drink down douzhi are real heroes. It has a smell like something moldy, but that doesn't mean it has gone bad and can't be eaten. That's just its natural flavor.
Douzhi is made by grinding green beans into a paste and then fermenting it. When you eat it, having some pickled vegetable shreds and jiaquan as accompaniments can make it easier for you to accept its strange taste.
6. Beijing Yogurt 北京酸奶
Old-style Beijing Yogurt is made by heating milk and adding sugar so it can have a sweet taste and be kept at room temperature. The yogurt is kept inside ceramic jars, which are topped with white paper and blue writing.
These cute little jars can be returned to the vendor for reuse, so it is suggested to drink the yogurt on the spot. If you want to take the ceramic jar to go, you need to spend an extra yuan or two.
7. Fried Insect 炒昆虫
Going to a night street in Beijing, you can find various insects there- scorpions, ants, silkworms, grasshoppers, etc. If your guts allow you to overcome the shock factor, eat it. Don't worry, fried insects are harmless to eat; it's just a matter of courage to try them.
The name of this dish sounds a bit scary, and it takes some courage to put it into your mouth.
8. Pea Cake 豌豆黄
Pea Cake is a typical spring delicacy in Beijing, which became well-known because Empress Dowager Cixi loved it very much. It is made from peas. The finished cake has a light yellow color, a delicate texture, and melts in your mouth. It tastes sweet and refreshing.
9. Rolling Donkey 驴打滚
Donkey Rolling is a kind of pastry with three distinct layers of yellow, white, and red. When making it, people need to sprinkle soybean flour on the surface, which looks just like the yellow dust kicked up by a wild donkey when it rolls on the ground. That's why it's called Lvdagun.
10. Aiwowo艾窝窝
Aiwowo looks like a round ball as a whole. Its outer layer is made of cooked glutinous rice, while the filling is a mixture of white sugar, sesame seeds, walnut kernels, melon seeds, candied green plums, and haw jelly.
It is said that this delicious food can help strengthen the spleen, nourish the stomach, replenish vital energy, and also provide some relief for a poor appetite.
11. Egg-filled Pancake 鸡蛋灌饼
Making egg-filled pancakes is quite a test of one's cooking skills. When the pancake skin is half-baked, make a hole of just the right size in the middle, pour the egg mixture into it, and then continue to pan-fry until it is fully cooked. The finished egg-stuffed pancake tastes crispy and delicious. It contains vegetables and eggs, making it highly nutritious.
12. Mending Roubing 门钉肉饼
Men Ding Rou Bing is fried in oil. It gets its name because it looks like the door studs on traditional Chinese gates. Be careful not to burn your mouth when eating it, as the meat filling is full of savory juice. Before taking a big bite, you can first make a small opening and suck out or pour out the juice.
Night Market in Beijing to Enjoy Street Food
Having talked so much, you might wonder where you can taste Beijing snacks. Now, let me introduce several famous food streets and snack streets in Beijing and tell you how to get there.
Wangfujing Street
- Address: North Side of East Chang'an Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
- How to Get There: Take Line 8, get off at Jinyu Hutong Station, and exit from Exit C.
Qianmen Street
- Address: Southeast side of the intersection of Dajiang Hutong and Xiaojiang Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing
- How to Get There: Take Line 2, get off at Qianmen Station, and exit from Exit I.
Guijie
- Address: Dongzhimennei Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing
- How to Get There: Take Line 2, get off at Dongzhimen Station, and exit from Exit A.
Huguosi Street
- Address: Huguo Temple Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
- How to Get There: Take Line 4, get off at Ping'anli Station, and exit from Exit B.
Yandaixiejie Street
- Address: No.48 Di'anmenwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
- How to Get There: Take Line 8, get off at Shichahai Station, and exit from Exit A2.
Beijing Food Tour
Do you want to have a unique food-making experience in Beijing? Hurry up and book your trip with us! We'll take you deep into the hutongs to explore how Beijing locals live their daily lives. Then, under the guidance of the locals, you'll get to make an authentic Beijing dish by yourself.