Hutongs are old Beijing neighbourhoods that have been around since the Mongolian dynasty. The word 胡同/衚衕 came from the Mongolian word meaning water well, depicting how houses were arranged around the well.

Fast forward to the morning day hutongs, some of these have been converted to really rustic and interesting eats, like Old Beijing Hotpot 老北京涮羊肉 and Liu Residence 劉府大院.

Baofang (Newspaper) Hutong 报房胡同

There’s plenty of history for Baofang Hutong. One history was the location of the Imperial Gazette was located inside this Hutong, hence it was referred to as the “Newspaper” hutong. Another history was that it was the location of the leopard 🐆 （pronounced as Bao) and other big cats enclosure for the imperial family.

For more information on this hutong, use this external link.

Old Beijing Hotpot

Serving the traditional Beijing instant boiled mutton 涮羊肉 (read this blogpost for a detail explanation what this is), this is one of the top favourites in the local food search apps. The dinner I was there, it was full of young people and whole families.

It serves the traditional charcoal and copper pot. and for sauce they only have the standard sesame sauce, chives and preserved tofu. I would recommend their hand cut mutton strips 手切羊肉, marinated lamb strips 豐澤居秘製羊肉 and lamb kidney 羊腰. the handcut mutton is as good as other bigger stores, but it was the lamb kidney that is outstanding. Instead of the small slices, they give you really good, thick cuts.

Of course, this place if value for money. The whole dinner cost only less than RMB 250. When I was settling the bill, the lady boss took out the abacus and started to sum up my check. Ah, memories are made of these!

Old Beijing Hotpot 老北京丰泽居涮馆·铜锅炭火
53 Baofang Hutong, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China 报房胡同53号
Tel : 010-85117802

Date Visited : Jul 2019

Liu Residence Restaurant

Located just behind National Art Museum of China, this quaint little restaurant with a really thick menu serves pretty decent Beijing fare in a 四合院.

I really like the rustic nature of this restaurant. You sit in the courtyard that has been converted to a dining hall. You sit around a square table on long benches. The four sides are rooms that have been converted to private’s dining rooms that can cater to 8-20 people. Here’s the blogpost for another visit.

Liu Residence Restaurant 刘宅食府
美术馆东街蒋家大院胡同8号(三联书店斜对面胡同内)
电话：13520028821,+86-10-64005912

Date visited : Apr 2019

Door Post Hotpot

 

老门框爆肚(金宝街店)
地址： 金宝街东段59号(鄂尔多斯酒店对面)
电话： 010-83886698
营业时间： 周一至周日 11:00-14:00 17:30-22:00 修改