Beijing Eats: Must-Try Beijing Specialty Dishes, Street Food & Snacks (北京特色菜.小吃)
- Rick
- Dec 23, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Dec 26, 2025
When it comes to specialty dishes / street food / traditional snacks in Beijing, the list can go on and on. Beijing's must-try foods range from the iconic Peking Duck served in renowned restaurants to street snacks found in bustling areas like hutongs and food streets.
When trying traditional food in Beijing, a term that can be seen commonly is "非物质文化遗产" or "非遗", meaning "intangible cultural heritage", on food wrappers or signboards. These food are passed down through generations and are part of Beijingers' lives and culture.
In this article, I will share the most popular specialty foodstuff of Beijing that I was able to try on one recent trip. More will be added if I visit the capital city again — there are still a lot more to discover.
1. Peking Roast Duck (北京烤鸭)
Peking Roast Duck (北京烤鸭) is one of the most famous and iconic dishes of Chinese cuisine, known for its exceptionally crispy, golden-brown skin and tender, succulent meat. Originating in the imperial courts of ancient China, it has evolved into a culinary art form and a symbol of Beijing.
Authentic Peking duck is created via a complex process involving specific techniques and using specially-bred ducks. A chef typically presents the whole roasted duck at the table before carving it into thin slices, often serving the crispy skin separately at first. The meat and skin are traditionally enjoyed by wrapping them using thin wheat-flour pancake, after spreading a layer of sweet bean sauce, adding few pieces of duck with slices of cucumber and scallions, and then rolling it all up. In many authentic restaurants, the meal concludes with a soup made from the remaining duck bones.
Peking duck is considered a must-try dish for visitors to Beijing and is served in renowned restaurants such as Quanjude (全聚德) and Da Dong (大董烤鸭) — both are Michelin-recommended too.
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2. Beijing-style Zhajiangmian (北京炸酱面)
Beijing-style Fried Sauce Noodle / Zhajiangmian (北京炸酱面) is an old Beijing dish popular in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It is an indispensable part of Beijingers' daily lives, especially during the hottest days of summer, when eating the cool noodle dish is preferred over hot dishes.
The dish uses chewy noodles, a rich fried bean sauce (made by stir-frying diced pork, soybean paste, sweet bean sauce), and a variety of seasonal toppings (such as cucumber shreds, bean sprouts, green beans, etc). The noodle is usually served warm (after being cooked) with cool toppings and has a unique flavour after being mixed well and eaten.
Beijing's Zhajiangmian (炸酱面, fried-sauce noodle) is not the Zajiangmian (杂酱面, mixed-sauce noodle) that some people may be accustomed to. The latter is often associated with Sichuan or Southwestern China, using spicier, more complex sauce with ingredients like broad bean paste, chillies, and fermented black beans, offering a different flavour profile. As such, Zhajiangmian (炸酱面) is usually sweet-savoury and Zajiangmian (杂酱面) is spicier and more intense.
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3. Donkey Meat Huo Shao (驴肉火烧)
A well-known saying in Hebei goes: "In heaven there is dragon meat, on Earth there is donkey meat" (天上龙肉、地下驴肉) as donkey meat is known for being leaner than beef, with finer texture and lesser fats. Originated from Hebei province, donkey meat huo shao (驴肉火烧) — often translated as "donkey burger" — is a popular street food in northeastern China, including Beijing.
Huo shao is a style of savoury, flaky, oven-roasted flatbread that is crispy outside, soft inside and often stuffed with meat to create a satisfying meal. And donkey meat huo shao are stuffed with braised donkey meat, often include other ingredients and some greens.
In most restaurants serving donkey meat huo shao, horse meat huo shao (马肉火烧) is also available. As donkey meat is much pricier than horse meat, two variants of donkey meat huo shao are usually offered: 1) the cheaper Standard Huo Shao (标准火烧) will use mixes of donkey meat, horse meat and jelly-like menzi (焖子); 2) Specialty Huo Shao (精品火烧) will use solely donkey meat and cost a little more. Both types of huo shao offer different taste experience. Try the horse meat huo shao too.
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4. Burst Belly (爆肚)
"Burst belly" (爆肚), meaning "exploding stomach", is a traditional, savoury Beijing snack that is historically served in cold weather but is now available all-year round. The term "exploding" describes the rapid cooking method, rather than eating experience, where thinly sliced beef or lamb tripe is quickly "blanched" in boiling water for few seconds to maintain its tender and crisp texture. It is then eaten with a special sauce made using rich sesame paste, garlic, chilli, cilantro, etc. The tasty old Beijing snack is seldom too salty nor spicy, emphasising flavours and freshness over strong tastes.
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5. Doornail Meat Pie (门钉肉饼)
Doornail Meat Pie (门钉肉饼) is an iconic Beijing street food named for its resemblance to the large bronze studs (doornails) on the Forbidden City's gates. It features a crispy, pan-fried exterior and a juicy, savoury filling of seasoned minced beef and scallions, often enjoyed with a splash of vinegar and chilli sauce to balance the oiliness. This historical snack is known for its rich flavour and juiciness. There is always an eatery offering the popular meat pie along any streets in Beijing city.
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6. Rolling Donkey (驴打滚)
Beijing has a wide range of specialty traditional snacks that are passed through generations for several centuries. Among these snacks, Rolling Donkey (驴打滚) is the most symbolic and famous snack in Beijing and northeast China, and can be seen in every corner of Beijing. Aside from rolling donkey, other must-try snacks include aiwowo (艾窝窝), golden pea cake (豌豆黄), kirin crisp (麒麟酥), and many others.
Top-left: The Rolling Donkey (驴打滚) is made by rolling steamed glutinous rice with red bean paste and then rolled again in roasted soybean flour, giving it a "dusty" appearance — like a donkey rolling in dirt. Despite its appearance and ingredients, it is mildly sweet with mochi-chewiness. The Golden Pea Cake (豌豆黄) — a popular imperial snack from old Beijing — uses yellow pea to give a yellow hue and is mild-sweet too with a rich flavour and a texture like yam cake.
Top-right: The Aiwowo (艾窝窝) is another imperial snack with skin made from soft sticky glutinous rice and coated with rice flour. It is stuffed with either single or a variety of sweet fillings. It is sweet with sugar-like texture and fragrance from the fillings and coatings.
Bottom-left: Unlike the others, the Kirin Crisp (麒麟酥) has a hard, crumbly crust that is coated with coconut shreds (or sugar icings) and filled with dried red bean paste. It offers a harder bite from the softer pastries.
Bottom-right: The Toad Spitting Honey (蛤蟆吐蜜) is a Beijing-Tianjin traditional snack that has a sesame seed-covered baked bun with red bean paste filling that oozes out during baking. It is not-too-sweet and with fragrance of roasty sesame seeds.
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7. Fermented Mung Bean Juice / Douzhi (豆汁)
Douzhi (豆汁) is a traditional, fermented Beijing drink made from mung beans with a history of over 300 years and very popular among Beijingers. It is known for its unique sourish taste and slightly pungent flavour with a light green-greyish colour. The drink is often served hot with pickles as a classic Beijing snack. It is a common drink that can be found in many food streets, traditional eateries and food-related shops.
Some people may find the taste of douzhi to be challenging but for those who can accept unsweetened soy milk or unflavoured Greek yogurt, it should not be that bad. A stall located in a hutong / alleyway near South Luogu Lane (南锣鼓巷) claimed that its douzhi is the most "bad-tasting", find it and take up the challenge!
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8. Candied Hawthorn Skewer / Bingtanghulu (冰糖葫芦)
Bingtanghulu (冰糖葫芦) is a traditional Chinese street snack featuring fresh fruits (hawthorns, strawberries, grapes, or mixed) skewered and coated in a hard, glassy shell of caramelised sugar, offering a delightful crunch, and a balanced flavour of sweet sugar shell and the natural tang of the juicy fruit inside. It is very addictive.
Chinese hawthorn (山楂) is traditionally used for the candied skewers, which offers a more intense, sour-sweet flavour and apple-like texture compared to other fruits. This is the original bingtanghulu experience but a mixed fruit skewer offers more flavours and textures.
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Want more? This shop's mutton noodle / soup and sesame pastry are must-tries:
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