Eating In Translation

En Yuan Ju

A number of old-line food vendors, displaced by the pre-Olympics development transforming the Qianmen District south of Tiananmen Square, have set up shop in an eating hall near the north end of Houihai Lake. En Yuan Ju specializes in the Beijing comfort food called chaogeda (Y12, about $1.50 at the time), fingernail-sized bits of wheat pasta stir-fried with meat (for my order, beef) and vegetables.

The old-fashioned way of making the gnocchi-like nubbins called geda is to cradle a fat strip of dough in one hand while the fingertips of the other nip off small, irregular pieces. Nowadays, passing the dough though a strainer of appropriate perforation and slicing off geda wholesale is a common labor-saving practice.

En Yuan Ju
In the Jiumen Xiaochi snack center
1 Xiaoyou Hutong, Beijing

Sugar-Bun Vendor

With sesame seeds; slightly sweet (0.5Y).

Sugar-Bun Vendor
In a Hutong west of Sanlitun Lu, Beijing

Xin Jiang Muslim Restaurant

Most of the interior is subtly, even dimly lit, but a stage at the one end gives evidence of the entertainment that takes over on many evenings. For lunch, my liveliest item was the Xin Jiang salad of tomato, onion, green pepper, and more onion (Y13), accompanied by a serving of "the pepsi of cola" (Y6) whose red-and-white can showed Atlanta roots. "Fried mutton in Xin Jiang style baked bread" (shown; Y28) tossed the two in a hearty mélange that must be even better during a cold Beijing winter.

Xin Jiang Muslim Restaurant
Gongrentiyuchang Beilu (across from Workers' Stadium), Beijing

Xiao Wang's Home Kitchen

The large, almost banquet-like room was largely empty for a late lunch. Cucumber with salt and garlic (Y6) was a refreshing starter; hong shao rou (twice-cooked pork in a sweet red sauce; Y28), here described as braised pork in Northern-flavored style, was exceptionally tender.

Xiao Wang's Home Kitchen
4 Gongti Donglu, Beijing
(one of several locations)

Sugar-Dipped Fruit Stall

Sweets that have been processed from haws, the fruit of the hawthorn tree, are widely available in New York, but before Beijing I'd never tasted "tanghulu" (Y5), haws rolled in hot syrup. Same nice applelike flavor, plus two or three little applelike seeds in each haw. Also available was an intriguing oval reddish fruit ("fruit" in the botanical sense); I never did manage to try sugar-dipped tomatoes.

Sugar-Dipped Fruit Stall
Near the entrance to Wangfujing Snack Street, Beijing

Kebab stall

They're not merely a fly-by-night novelty for tourists taking the evening air; deep-fried sparrows (Y5) also make appearances outside the center of town. Eat them whole, chew them well. Truth is, many of the kebabs in the heavily touristed areas aren't the freshest, as I later discovered while watching the Donghuamen vendors shut down their operations one evening; just about everything was wrapped in plastic and tucked into ice chests for the next day's customers. Insist on very thorough cooking, as evident here.

Kebab stall
In back of Wangfujing Snack Street, Beijing

Noodle Soup Stall

This beef version (Y8) was nothing special.

Noodle Soup Stall
In back of Wangfujing Snack Street, Beijing

Chongwenmen Caishi Chang

After an hour snapping shots in this well-stocked market for meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables, I stepped into the alley-like snack corridor to one side for a beef roll (Y1) and an oily chive-and-egg pancake (shown; Y1), followed by a bottle of Zhenyuan drinkable yogurt (Y1.50).

Chongwenmen Caishi Chang
Chongwenmenwai Dajie, south of the Chongwenmen metro station, Beijing

Xinqiao Sapporo Bakery

For a mid-morning repast, I snacked on buns flavored with green tea (shown; Y2.50), topped with pork (Y3.50), and stuffed with a paste made from Chinese dates (Y2.20). At about Y8 to the dollar, all three cost me a little more than a buck.

Xinqiao Sapporo Bakery
Chongwenmenwai Dajie, north of the Chongwenmen metro station, Beijing

Dessert Soup Stall

Cooked with an egg — the white had firmed up, the yolk nearly so — as well as rice and some liquid, added just before serving, that smacked of rice wine (Y8). I could do without the egg.

Dessert-Soup Stall
Donghuamen Night Market, Beijing