Beijing 3. the pure gold on the street

Golden glazed lambs on sticks, fried small and big scorpions, centipede, grasshoppers … Beijing is probably the only place where you can find such special and weird things. I’ve been to the snack streets at Wang Fu Jing once and the food hasn’t changed since my last visit back in winter in Beijing. It’s those kind of tourist place that is overrated and both times I ended up feeling disappointed because of the below-average quality food. However, it’s a good place to start with some Chinese snacks for people visiting China for the first time. There are a huge varieties of different munchies here, like grilled little duck, frog, lamb, different kinds of insects and all sorts of fried goods.

I didn’t try this one but I did take a bite of the big scorpion and a whole piece of grasshopper (with my eyes tightly closed), I can only tell you that they have a really crunchy and oily texture. It’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime experience.

the anticipation before gulping down the food is always the best. this fried milk wasn’t anything special after all.
the hamster looking triumped with his lamb sticks. I swear we can never get sick of this roasted glistening lamb.

One of my favourite spots in Beijing, all the good munchies are at this little alley in Sanlitun. They always tell us not to eat street vendor food….. but I just can’t resist them as long as they’re good. and they definitely are.
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It’s the best spot to sit at the stall as you can choose whatever you want directly from this pool of sinful sticks. Be careful though. ‘Cause before you realize, you’ll have at least 30259 sticks on your plate (but it still costs dirt cheap). And don’t get the roasted corn, it’s barely cooked and it feels like you’ve put a chunk of brick into your mouth.

the pure gold on the street. it’s the Beijingers’ forever 羊肉串 lamb sticks (it’s pronounced as yang rou chuan, make sure to say it in the Beijing way and pronounce ‘chuan’ as ‘chuarrrrrrn’) Once you start chewing you can taste the mix of cumin, spice and lamb running through your taste buds. oh it gets even better, when the fat dissolves and lingers …..

Literally translated as hand-caught pancake. I love anything that’s pan fried and with green onion

This is officially my latest love in Beijing: fried pumpkin sticks with salty egg yolk. Sliced into chubby strips and deep fried to a perfect crisp, this little mountain of golden pumpkin sticks are just SO.  RIDICULOUSLY. SCRUMPTIOUS. And I’ve learnt that the salty egg yolk and sweet pumpkin are meant to be and they shall never be apart from one another again.

Wanfujing Photo credits: Zesa

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