Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Eat pancakes off a cycle rickshaw, use a shuttlecock for
keepie-uppies, and walk backwards, barefoot, along pebbled
pathways; you're in Běijīng now, where people do things a
bit differently.
Eating
Běijīng Cuisine
Běijīng has pretty much every type of world cuisine covered - be it Chinese or interna-
tional - but there are still a few restaurants knocking out genuine old-Běijīng tucker.
Breakfast
Skip the expensive fry-up and coffee in your hostel and head to any restaurant between
6am and 8.30am that has bamboo baskets stacked up at its entrance. This indicates that
they do dumplings. Order
'yītì bāozi'
(a basket of dumplings) with
'yīwǎn zhōu'
(a bowl
of rice porridge), and tuck in. You'll pay less than one US dollar. Other favourite breakfast
combos here include
yóutiáo
(fried dough sticks) with
dòujiāng
(soy milk); and
húntún
(wonton soup) with
shāobing
(sesame-seed roasted bun).
Snacks & Street Food
Things to look out for in the evenings include
yángròu chuàn
(lamb skewers) - any place
with a large red neon sign does them. During the day, look for
jiānbing
(savoury pan-
cakes), often cooked off the back of a cycle rickshaw.
Food Markets
Western-style supermarkets are on the rise, but thankfully there are still some atmospheric
food markets in Běijīng where you can stock up on fresh fruit as you watch locals pick
