Yin San is the standard-bearer of douzhi, the fermented mung-bean drink. Old Beijingers and visitors alike make the trip on purpose, to see whether they can take the real thing.
The basics
- The original address
- 176 Dongxiaoshi Jie in Dongcheng, 150 metres north of the Temple of Heaven's north gate on the east side of the road. It sits up a small hutong and feels entirely of the neighbourhood.
- Hours
- It opens at 5:30 in the morning and sells out by 12:30. Arrive late and there is nothing left.
- Cost per person
- Around 15 to 20 yuan, which is very little for what it is.
- The recommendation
- The room is small and plain, but it has been in the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand list for several years running. It is busy, and there is usually a queue in the morning.
What to order
- Douzhi
- The point of the place: thick, with a deep fermented sourness. Warm or iced, though old Beijingers take it warm, where the sourness is softer.
- Jiaoquan
- The crisp fried ring that goes with it. Dip it, or eat it on its own; either way it is good.
- Miancha
- Strongly recommended by regulars: a thick millet porridge under a heavy layer of sesame paste, with a little pickle alongside.
- Sesame-paste shaobing, or the sweet one
- Warm from the oven, salty-savoury and sesame-rich, and filling — which is what you want against the sourness of the drink.
- The five-piece douzhi set
- If ordering is the difficulty, take the set: a bowl of douzhi with jiaoquan, pickle, hawthorn strips and the rest, so you taste the classic combination in one go.
What it tastes like, and how to drink it
- The taste
- Douzhi is fermented from mung beans and has a sour, faintly turned smell — somewhere between pickle brine and lactic acid. A first-timer may find it hard going. Sip it; do not knock it back.
- How to drink it
- Do not drink it iced and fast. Warm it in a water bath to around 60°C, where the sourness softens and the bean comes through. Take it with jiaoquan and shreds of spicy pickle: the pickle blunts the sourness and the ring rounds it off.
- For a first attempt
- If the warm version defeats you, the Nanluoguxiang branch sells douzhi ice cream and the iced drink, both much milder and an easier introduction.
Other branches
Beyond the Temple of Heaven original there are several branches — Nanluoguxiang, which majors in the iced version and the ice cream, one at Qianmen Dashilan, one at Jiaodaokou. Regulars still hold that the shop by the north gate is the real one.