Beijing's culinary heritage stretches back centuries, and its unique taste is owed to dishes such as roast duck, stewed liver, mutton hot pot, mung bean milk, Shumai, and almond Chatang. To truly experience this heritage, one must visit the time-honored restaurants in Beijing. It is like exploring the city with your taste buds.
1. Tianxingju's Stewed Liver
Tianxingju was first opened in 1862 near Xianyukou Street, just off the Qianmen Avenue. It has gained popularity for its signature dish, stewed liver, which is made of fried pork liver and presents a delightful color and a perfect balance of fat content without being greasy. The dish is moderately thick, and diners can savor its unique flavor without using chopsticks or spoons by holding the bowl in their hands and sipping from the bowl.
2. Chatang Li: Traditional Beijing Afternoon Tea
Chatang Li was established in 1858 and has a long history of over 160 years. It offers a diverse selection of classic Chatang, also known as "tea soup", with ingredients such as almonds, lotus, and water chestnuts. The restaurant also offers a wide range of traditional snacks such as milk cake rolls filled with red bean paste, almond tofu, and prune drinks made with black plums and rock sugar.
3. Nanlaishun Restaurant
Nanlaishun Restaurant is a time-honored brand famous for its traditional Beijing snacks including pea-flour cakes, Yipin sesame pancakes, sweet dough twists, Sangza dough twists, Aiwowo (steamed rice cakes with sweet stuffing), and tofu pudding. Apart from snacks, the restaurant also offers stir-fried vegetables and Guota fried mutton — classic favorites among many local residents.
4. Cui Hua Lou's Shandong Cuisine
Jinfang Snack Restaurant offers a selection of over 40 classic Beijing snacks, ranging from fried cream cakes to glutinous rice cold cakes and sweet baked wheat cakes. At every Lantern Festival, you will invariably see a long queue of customers waiting to buy Jinfang's Yuanxiao, traditional glutinous rice dumplings. For many locals, their Lantern Festival celebration would be incomplete without this traditional delicacy.
5. No. 69 Fangzhuanchang Hutong Noodles
If you're searching for the most iconic noodle dish in Beijing, look no further than fried sauce noodles at No. 69 Fangzhuanchang Hutong Noodles. This restaurant started as a hutong restaurant in old Beijing and has been serving its recipe for fried sauce noodles for three generations. The secret to its success lies in the soybean sauce which is flavorful but not greasy , and takes an hour and a half to prepare.
（Source: The Beijing News）
