Snacks

Some of the cheapest and delicious meals can be had on the streets. Savory pancakes are one of the most popularstreet snacks, eaten from morning till night with most carts operating during the morning commute and then opening again at night for the after-club crowds and night-owls. This delicious pancake is cooked with an egg on a griddle, a fried dough crisp is added, and the whole thing is drizzled in scallions and a savory sauce. Hot sauce is optional. Diehard fans often go on a quest for the best cart in the city. This treat should only cost ¥2, with an extra egg ¥2.50.

Lamb kebabs and other kebabs are grilled on makeshift stands all around Beijing, from the late afternoon to late at night. Wangfujing has a “snack street” selling such mundane fare like lamb, chicken, and beef as well as multiple styles of noodle dishes, such as Sichuan style rice noodles, but the brave can also sample silkworm, scorpion, and various organs all skewered on a stick and grilled to order.

A winter specialty, candied haw berries are dipped in sugar and sold on a stick. You can also find variations with oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas, or dipped in crumbled peanuts as well as sugar. This sweet snack can also sometimes be found in the spring and the summer, but the haw berries are often from last season’s crop.

The most famous street for food in Beijing is probably Guijie, which runs east-west along Dongzhimen Nei Dajie from Jiaodaokou Dong Dajie to to Dongzhimen Lijiaomen Bridge on the Second Ring Road, Dongcheng District. Red lanterns, traditional courtyards, hundreds of restaurants along the street. Eating on Ghost Street is about more than food and drink, it’s a way of life for many Beijingers.