Yaoji is one of the best-known old snack shops in Beijing, open since 1989. Decades of serving the same old-Beijing food have made it a landmark for visitors. The local saying — to eat fried liver, turn the corner at the Drum Tower — is about this shop.
The basics
- Address
- The best-known branch is the Drum Tower shop at 311 Gulou Dongdajie in Dongcheng. There are others at Guijie and Longfusi.
- Spend
- Roughly 25 to 50 yuan, which is very good value.
- When to go
- Breakfast or a light meal, and it fits naturally into a walk around the Drum Tower, Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang.
What to order
- The fried liver
- Despite the name it is not stir-fried. It is a thick, starch-bound stew of pork intestine and pork liver, and the garlic is strong. The intestine is cleaned properly and comes out soft; the liver stays silky.
- Pork and scallion bun
- Soft steamed bun, generous juicy filling, and the standard partner to the liver. Beijingers dip the bun in the gravy, or alternate mouthfuls of each.
- Luzhu
- A generous, deeply flavoured offal stew — intestine and lung, cleaned well, long-simmered in an old broth, with a piece of flatbread underneath that soaks it all up.
Old Beijing snacks
Besides the main dishes, the snacks are worth ordering, and between them you can cover a lot of old Beijing in one sitting.
- Fried sausage
- Crisp outside, soft inside, and it must be dipped in the garlic water — that is what makes it work.
- Douzhi with a fried ring
- The iconic pairing. Douzhi is fermented and sour, and people either love it or cannot finish a glass — try it with caution. The fried ring is crisp and good floated in it.
- Almond jelly
- Cold, slippery, strongly almond, only moderately sweet. A good dessert to finish on.
How to eat it, and what to avoid
- How it is eaten
- People do not spoon it. They hold the bowl and slurp around the rim, turning it as they go. Partly because it arrives very hot, partly because that is simply how it is done.
- On the taste
- The sauce is thick and the garlic is heavy. If you do not usually eat offal, or you dislike strong garlic, order the small bowl (about 14 yuan) first rather than starting with the large.
- On the queue
- The Drum Tower shop is busy all year, especially at mealtimes and on holidays, when the wait can pass half an hour. Go off-peak, and earlier is better.
- What to skip
- Visitors report the zhajiang noodles (about 22 yuan) are a small portion and nothing special for the price. Save your appetite for the liver and the buns.