Beijing breakfast is not what you think it is

Hotel breakfast in Beijing is a buffet of sad croissants and lukewarm congee. The real breakfast is on the street, costs under 20 yuan, and happens between 06:00 and 09:00 in the hutongs. I have eaten it most mornings for the past several years of guiding, and I still find new things.

This is a guide to what to order, where to find it, and the etiquette that nobody explains to visitors.

The five things you should actually order

Jianbing (煎饼)

A thin batter crepe cooked on a round griddle, cracked with an egg, brushed with hoisin and chilli paste, folded around a crisp fried cracker and a scatter of coriander and spring onion. It takes about ninety seconds to make and about four minutes to eat. Costs 6 to 12 yuan depending on the extras.

Watch how the vendor does it. The good ones spread the batter in one smooth circular motion and never break it. Ask for "bu yao xiang cai" if you do not want coriander.

Baozi (包子)

Steamed buns, usually pork and cabbage or vegetable, sold by the steamer basket. The trick is to buy from the stall with the longest queue, because it means the basket is turning over fast and the buns are hot rather than reheated. A bun costs 3 to 5 yuan.

Youtiao (油条)

Long fried dough sticks, crisp outside, airy inside. Best dipped into warm soy milk. If you only try one thing from this list, make it this. It is the item that most surprises visitors, because it looks like a churro and tastes like nothing else.

Doujiang (豆浆)

Hot soy milk, served either sweet or savoury. Beijing leans savoury. The savoury version comes with vinegar, chilli oil and sometimes dried shrimp. I did not like it the first time. I order it every time now.

Zhajiangmian (炸酱面) for a late breakfast

Not technically a breakfast dish, but many noodle shops open at 07:00, and a bowl of thick wheat noodles with fermented soybean paste and shredded cucumber is a serious way to start a day of walking.

Where to go

The tourist hutongs near Nanluoguxiang have mostly been converted to gift shops and bubble tea. For actual breakfast, walk instead.

• Baochao Hutong and the lanes around it. Quieter, still residential, several morning stalls that have been in the same spot for twenty years.
• The area around Niujie, in the south of the city, which has a large Hui Muslim community and a very different breakfast culture built around beef, lamb and fresh breads.
• Any morning market that is still standing. They are disappearing, but the ones that remain are where the food is cheapest and best.

Do not look for a restaurant. Look for a doorway with steam coming out of it and a cluster of people in slippers.

The etiquette that matters

It is normal to eat standing up

Most stalls have no seating at all, or have three plastic stools that are always taken. Nobody thinks it is strange to stand and eat on the pavement. Do not wait for a table that is not coming.

Have small cash as a backup

Almost all vendors now take WeChat Pay and Alipay, but foreign cards are not always linked successfully. I keep 100 yuan in small notes in my bag for the days when the QR code refuses me. It has saved breakfast more than once.

Do not linger

These stalls serve a neighbourhood on its way to work. Eat, thank them, move on. If you want to sit for an hour and read, go to a teahouse instead.

Early is genuinely better

The best window is 06:30 to 08:00. After 09:00 the good stalls have sold out of the good items and are packing up. I have arrived at 09:30 and found nothing but cold youtiao.

What I would skip

Anything marketed as "traditional Beijing breakfast experience" with an English menu and a photo board. The food is not bad, exactly. It is just three times the price and half the flavour, and it removes the whole point, which is eating alongside people who live there.

The one exception is if you have dietary restrictions that are hard to communicate and you need a menu you can point at. That is a fair trade for one morning.

A morning route I give people

Start at 07:00 at the south end of Baochao Hutong with a jianbing. Walk north, and you will pass two baozi stalls and a soy milk cart. Sit on the low wall at the small square near the Drum Tower with your soy milk and watch the neighbourhood wake up. By 08:30 the streets are busy, the light is good, and you have spent less than 25 yuan.

From there it is a fifteen-minute walk to the Drum and Bell Towers, which open at 09:00 and are worth an hour before the tour groups arrive.

That is the whole guide, really. Get up early, follow the steam, order by pointing at what the person in front of you is having. You will do fine.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.