Round-the-clock feast at Beijing\'s legendary foodstreet

Tag : Bamboo Slippers
It is hard to connect tasty cuisine with a thoroughfare nicknamed"Ghost Street." But this 1.5-km east-west street ineastern downtown Beijing has won the hearts of local food lovers.

There are many tales of how Guijie got its name. The superstitiousone is that, according to old people, only restaurants couldsurvive on this street because business was strong only afternightfall, when the hungry "ghosts" came out.

The legend might have some roots in history. In ancient times, thisstreet was a path that people took to bring the deceased tocemeteries outside the then-walled city. A wholesale grocery fairwas set up, and it usually started at midnight and ended in theearly morning. The vendors, working beneath dim kerosene burners,looked like ghosts. And the coffin shops and morticians along thestreet added to the spooky ambience.

Today, there's no remnant of this era. Instead, about 100restaurants line both sides of the wide street.

A more prosaic explanation comes from Sun Xuejun, head of Guijie'scommunity committee: the street was named Ghost because it was thefirst place in Beijing where restaurants were open round the clock.

In any case, perhaps for luck, the Chinese character for ghost wasreplaced by another character that sounds the same but means foodbasket.

The busiest time at Guijie is between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. Spicy foodsset the tone. Several old restaurants are well known for dishessuch as hot and spicy crayfish and roasted fish with chili sauce.

Nights here belong to locals. They come in shorts and slippers,order a full table of red hot dishes or steaming hot pot withbottles of cold beer and talk as if competing with others at thenext table.

According to Sun, the street has undergone some changes for thesake of the Olympics. Servers were trained to use simple Englishand taught about foreign customs, hygiene was improved and Englishmenus were provided.

It is easy to find the street. Get off subway Line two atDongzhimen station and you will find yourself at the east end ofthe street. Get off subway Line five at Beixinqiao station tocomefrom the west end. It is about two blocks south of Lama Temple,the famous Tibetan Buddhist temple and popular tourist site.

The restaurants we list here are unique but not the only good ones.If you wander along the street, you may find something much more toyour taste.

Huajieyiyuan

The restaurant is one of the oldest and most famous on the street.It sits in a private courtyard and has a grand traditional Chinesearchway at its gate, painted in red and gold. But it's moreexpensive than others on the same street.

It won fame with hot and spicy crayfish but then developed otherdishes in its own style. For instance, it offers roast duck butserves it with slices of honeydew, pineapple, cucumber and hawthornfruit as well as sweet soy sauce and wasabi. That's quite differentfrom conventional roasted ducks. The plum juice here is stronglyrecommended.

It also offers evening performances of traditional Chinese musicand drama.

Address: No. 235 Dongzhimennei Street, Dongcheng District

Telephone: 8610-8407-8288

Open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. next day

Accepts credit cards and has an English menu.

Cost per person: 60 to 100 yuan (8.7 to 15 U.S. dollars)

Xiaoshancheng Hot Pot

Spicy, very spicy. That's the common impression of hot pots here.But you can choose less spicy versions, as it offers seven kinds ofhot pot soup base. You can pick two or three kinds of soup base andthe restaurant will put them into one pot in separate compartments.They have special pots that have two compartments, which look likethe Taichi symbol from above. The one with three compartments lookslike a Mercedes-Benz symbol from above and it is named Benz hotpot.

What to "rinse" in the hot pot (a term commonly used byChinese about boiling raw foods in a soup base) varies widely. Itincludes fish, beef, mutton, vegetables, toufu, mushrooms andfrogs. Frogs, raised specially for eating, are strongly recommendedby frequent customers here.

Many red lanterns are hung in front of the restaurant under itshuge golden symbol. It is very noisy inside during prime time.

Address: No. 251 Dongzhimennei Street, Dongcheng District

Telephone: 8610-8402-0856

Open 24 hours.

Accepts credit cards and has an English menu.

Cost per person: 50 to 70 yuan

Yingxiong Shanzhuang, or Hero's Castle

This "theme" restaurant portrays itself as a scene fromChina's martial arts tales. Remember in almost every martial artsmovie, there is a fight at a restaurant or inn? You will feel as ifyou are a Kung Fu master when stepping into Hero's Castle.

The waiter will greet you with "Come in please, master"and guide you to a table named after a famous martial arts school,such as Wudang or Shaolin. The wall is decorated with traditionalpaintings on martial arts topics, windows have bamboo grids andwooden tables and chairs are made in old style.

Chopsticks are called Nanchaku and dishes are also named aftermartial arts terms or dishes discussed in famous martial arts worksof fiction. There is no menu -- the owner, or "Lord of Hero'sCastle", will arrange the meal for you.

Address: No. 181 Dongzhimennei Street, Dongcheng District

Telephone: 8610-8403-5851

Open from 11:30 a.m to 2 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Does not accept credit cards and has no menu in any language.

Cost per person: 30 to 50 yuan.

Source:Xinhua