Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide maps issue 40 of the series, featuring a Ghanaian halal restaurant in Sanlitun, Stone Hearth Grill and Tea, Arabic food, tomato beef flatbread, luosifen hot pot, sturgeon feast, and Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles.

Beijing Halal Food Map (40) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Ramadan has just ended, so we can get back to checking out all kinds of halal food. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Ramadan has just ended, so we can get back to checking out all kinds of halal food. The restaurants in this guide are all new, and they each have something special. The first one is a West African Ghanaian halal restaurant, which is very rare in China. It is a big step for Beijing as it works to become a global capital for halal food.

Here is the list of halal restaurants for this guide:

1. Tribe Garden African Restaurant

2. Stone Hearth Grill and Tea (Shishangweilu)

3. Ma Bei'er Bistro

4. Carthage Arabic Restaurant

5. Fan Manyu Tomato Beef Flatbread (Paobing)

6. Stinky Star Snail Rice Noodle (Luosifen) Hot Pot

7. Mulaixuan Sturgeon Feast

8. Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles

1. Tribe Garden African Restaurant



A new halal restaurant featuring West African flavors recently opened on the first basement level of Sanlitun SOHO. They specialize in Ghanaian cuisine. The staff are all Black Muslims who speak fluent Chinese, and one young lady from Kenya is especially cute.



Ghana is a country in West Africa where about 15% of the population is Muslim, yet the national banknote features a mosque with a unique style.



Larabanga Mosque

The Larabanga Mosque on the banknote was built between the 14th and 15th centuries. It is the oldest mosque in Ghana. Its architectural style is unique to West Africa, built from yellow mud and wood, making it very iconic.



The restaurant decor also has a strong African vibe, including the wall hangings.







African goat meat mixed rice

African goat meat is a bit tough, but it has no gamey smell. The mixed rice is salty and spicy.



Non-alcoholic mojito and fruit punch



African specialty egusi (egusi)

You eat this dish mixed with the cassava flour paste shown below. Eating the cassava flour paste is just like eating rice cake.





Fufu (fufu)

The white dish is called fufu, which translates to rice flour paste in Chinese. It is a staple food for Ghanaians.



Friday special dish

They have a special dish every day. This Friday special is made with beans and rice, served with some noodles and dipping sauce. It tastes sour, salty, and spicy all at once.



Grilled tilapia

This is an African-style grilled fish. It tastes great. Even though the skin looks charred, the meat inside is white.



A young lady from Kenya recommended this milkshake to us. It is very creamy and delicious. The whole meal cost 530 yuan for four people, which is 130 yuan per person.

2. Stone Hearth Grill and Tea (Shishangweilu)



This is a newly opened light meal and coffee shop on the ground floor of the West District of Changying Paradise Walk. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Beijing, and we chose to have a small gathering here for Eid al-Fitr.



Thirty of us ate every single item on the menu twice.



They serve light meals during the day. Besides these pretty salads, they also have burgers and pasta.





The M3 beef burger uses a patty hand-pressed by the owner, and all the meat is sourced from Li Wei's shop in Changying.





This is an Italian-style sandwich, listed on the menu as a panini.



Barbecue is served in the evening. If you want a simple Western-style meal at night, you can call ahead to book. Everyone gave the simple meals and barbecue great reviews. The average cost per person is about 130 yuan.



3. Ma Bei'er Bistro



Ma Bei'er is a new brand started by the original management team of Jubao Yuan after they split up. Next to the main Ma Bei'er hot pot (shuanrou) restaurant on Nanheng West Street, there is also a small Ma Bei'er bistro that specializes in Beijing-style stir-fry dishes.



This stir-fry bistro is just as busy as the hot pot restaurant. We tried a few signature dishes and had a good experience. Everything was delicious and worth recommending. The average cost per person is about 100 yuan.



Stir-fried mixed vegetables (chaohecai)



Quick-fried beef tripe with coriander (yanbaosandan)



Deep-fried meatballs (ganzhawanzi)



Braised yellow croaker in northern style (kuadunhuangyu)



Slow-cooked beef (weiniurou)



Scallion pancake (conghuabing)

4. Carthage Restaurant



This is a Tunisian restaurant. It is owned by the same people as La Medina Tunisian restaurant in Sanlitun. You can find it on the first floor of the Atour X Hotel in Sanlitun.



During Ramadan, they offer an iftar buffet for 120 yuan per person. It includes all the signature dishes you would expect, plus drinks and desserts.



Tunisia is a North African country. Its food habits are a bit different from West Africa, and North African flavors are usually easier for most people to enjoy.

















5. Fan Manyu Tomato Beef Flatbread (Paobing)



A new specialty shop just opened on the basement level of the West Zone at Tongzhou Wanda Plaza. They focus on tomato beef brisket with flatbread (paobing) and various other tomato-based dishes.



The staff uniforms are covered in tomato drawings.









Vinegar-stir-fried egg and meat (culiu muxu)



Lychee-flavored cherry tomatoes



Mapo tofu





Their food is prepared very delicately and tastes great. The environment is clean, the prices are affordable, and the average cost is under 80 yuan per person.

6. Stinky Star Snail Rice Noodle (Luosifen) Hot Pot



There is a halal snail rice noodle (luosifen) shop on the ground floor of the Golden Street in the West District of Tongzhou Wanda Plaza. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Changchun who used to work at iQIYI before opening this physical shop. The small shop has two floors and mainly serves halal snail rice noodles and clam rice noodles (huaji fen) in small hot pots.



The snail rice noodle hot pot comes with a wide variety of toppings that you can add to the pot to cook together.







This set meal for two costs 78 yuan and is enough for two or three people to eat.



The set includes Guangxi cassava sweet soup (mushu tangshui).



Add all the side dishes to the pot and cook for one minute before you start eating. The taste is quite authentic.

7. Mulaixuan Sturgeon Feast



Across from the Doudian Mosque in Fangshan, there is a restaurant that specializes in sturgeon (xunlongyu). This place is unique because it has no menu and you cannot order dishes. The owner decides the size of the fish based on how many people are in your group, and all the dishes are made from the fish you choose.





You pick the sturgeon from this fish tank, and they are all quite large. The sturgeon costs 58 yuan per jin, and the smallest fish weigh over five jin, making it perfect for groups.



After picking the fish, you just wait for the owner to serve the food. This is actually nice because it saves you the trouble of ordering.





The standard dishes include salt and pepper fish skin, sweet and sour fish bones, fish offal, fish and radish soup, and stir-fried fish fillets. The main course is sturgeon dumplings. The fish is very fresh, and every dish tastes great.















8. Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles



The long-standing Lanzhou brand Saddam Beef Noodles has expanded into Beijing's Fengtai District. Known as the Eastern Heretic of the Lanzhou beef noodle world, the shop opened in eastern Lanzhou in the 1990s. It got its name because the owner looked just like Saddam. Other famous shops include the Western Poison Ma Anjun, the Southern Emperor Guobao, the Northern Beggar Cangying, and the Central Master Ma Zilu.





You can tell the beef noodles will be good just by looking at the chili oil, which is fragrant but not too spicy. I tried it and found it very authentic. My friends from Lanzhou would not be disappointed if they came here to eat. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal street food guide maps issue 34, covering Fangshan hot pot, Shidu Xinjiang food, farm-style halal dishes, clam vermicelli, local snacks, and places worth saving for Muslim travelers.

Beijing Halal Food Map (34) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: The WeChat official account has a search feature. Just tap the search icon in the top right corner of the homepage to look for articles using keywords. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

The WeChat official account has a search feature. Just tap the search icon in the top right corner of the homepage to look for articles using keywords. This works for all official accounts, so there is no need to set up automated keyword replies in the backend. I always see all sorts of strange words in the backend, and I really cannot reply to them all.



1. Hengxingxiang



This is a Beijing-style hot pot restaurant. The meat tasted great while I was eating. When I paid the bill, I noticed the payee was Doudian Yisheng. I asked, and it turns out it is run by the Doudian Yisheng beef and mutton shop, which also has a stall selling beef and mutton on Niujie Street.



The restaurant is in Fangshan and is quite large with two floors. I heard they have live vegetables, which are hydroponic greens brought straight to your table for the hot pot. They are incredibly fresh, though I did not get to try them when I visited.













Aorta (huanghou)





Their sesame flatbread (shaobing) is delicious, soft, and unique. I recommend trying one. There is free parking at the entrance; just tell the security guard you are there to eat.

2. Yinsha Halal Restaurant



Shidu in Fangshan is a beautiful summer retreat in the Beijing suburbs. I found three halal restaurants along the road between Badu and Jiudu. This Yinsha Halal Restaurant is run by a friend from Kashgar (adaxi) and is located in Jiudu. These restaurants all offer lodging.



They serve traditional large Xinjiang dishes as well as local farm-style food, such as grilled rainbow trout and stir-fried wild vegetables.



The family from Xinjiang was preparing lung and tripe (mianfeizi) for Eid al-Fitr that day and even invited us to taste it.







Deep-fried prickly ash buds (zhahuajiaoya)



Stir-fried river shrimp (chaohexia)



Grilled rainbow trout (kaohongzunyu)

3. Muyi's House



This is a halal Beijing-style restaurant in Badu, and the owner is a Hui Muslim from Fengtai.



We ordered a few traditional stir-fried dishes, but they were all quite salty. We prefer lighter flavors, so keep that in mind. The Shidu tofu is a specialty dish and it tastes quite good.







Shidu tofu (shidudoufu)



Egg sauce noodles (jidancuanmian)

The egg sauce for these noodles is extremely salty. Add it little by little when you eat. Most people definitely cannot handle the whole serving of sauce.

4. Clam vermicelli (huajiaphen)



This is an unassuming little shop in the Xiguanshi market. It looks very ordinary, but the taste is excellent.



The clam vermicelli is made of glass noodles with clams and some side vegetables. It has a slightly numbing, salty, and savory flavor. You can add chili separately.



You can add any of these side dishes. The portions are small, and one order of large shrimp is just one single shrimp.



The ingredients are quite fresh. The vegetables and seafood cook quickly when blanched, and they taste good.



It comes wrapped in foil and sits on a bowl so you can carry it without burning your hands, because this clam vermicelli (huajiafen) is really piping hot.



5. Huawei Beijing Research Institute Halal Canteen



The Huawei Beijing Research Institute has four halal stalls, and they are owned by the same person as the halal canteen at the Bantian base in Shenzhen.



You can use cash at the big tech company's halal canteen, as long as you can find a way to get inside.



If you have job offers from many big companies and do not know which one to pick, Huawei's halal canteen is a plus.



Huawei employees have a high happiness index. Working and living on the campus is convenient, and the environment is beautiful.



The design style of the canteen and the campus is consistent with the Shenzhen headquarters.







The sour soup dumplings (suantang shuijiao) are really delicious. The last time I had such good sour soup dumplings was in the Muslim Quarter (Huifang) in Xi'an, and these dumplings at Huawei are just as good.



Crispy baked buns (supi kaobaozi)





6. Xiguanshi Halal Night Market



The parking lot at the entrance of Xiguanshi Village in Changping now hosts a halal night market from 5:00 PM to 11:30 PM, which is named Crescent Food Plaza.



The night market is quite large, with four rows of food stalls on both sides offering dozens of different halal dishes.





Various deep-fried snacks.



Grilled meat on a round iron plate (zhizi kaorou) and grilled fish.





All kinds of small snacks.



Steamed chicken in chili sauce (koushuiji).



Teppanyaki.



The grilled squid from the teppanyaki stall is delicious.





Japanese-style desserts.



They have fresh salmon sashimi and sushi.





Electric-grilled skewers and mung bean jelly noodles (liangfen).



Deep-fried stinky tofu (zha chou doufu).





Grilled oysters and grilled scallops.





Pot-pot chicken (boboji).



Pot-pot chicken (boboji) is a dish of cold skewers that are already cooked.



Fruit salad (shuiguolao).





Charcoal-grilled skewers.







Iced jelly (bingfen) and ice cream.



We tried almost everything at the night market. It was not cheap, and the three of us spent over 400 yuan. The Japanese food and grilled skewers were the most expensive, with two stalls costing over 200 yuan. Of course, there are cheaper ways to eat there.

7. Yuejing Lanwan Japanese Buffet Restaurant.



This is a halal bathhouse that opened recently in Changying, and the Japanese buffet inside is a halal restaurant. You can choose a bath and buffet package for 199 yuan, or just come for the Japanese buffet. The buffet with sashimi is 165 yuan, and the one without is 127 yuan. You can buy group deals on Douyin by searching for "Yuejing Japanese Buffet".



Even though it is a buffet, the food quality is just as good as ordering a la carte. You scan a code to order whatever you want. Each dish is made as a single serving, prepared fresh when you order, and you can eat as much as you like. I think the lamb and seafood at this restaurant are excellent, and the desserts are high quality too. It is a great value.









































The third-floor lounge has an entertainment area and a self-service station for fruit and drinks. Everything is unlimited, and there is plenty of Yili ice cream.



The lounge at this bathhouse isn't as nice as the one at Shuiguo Tangquan, but it is much cheaper. The Japanese restaurant here is a great deal. If you ordered these dishes separately, they would be expensive, but they are very affordable as part of the set meal. There is free parking at the entrance and a children's play area, so it is a good place to bring kids.



8. Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Ethnic Restaurant



The halal canteen at BUPT is called the Ethnic Restaurant. The owner is from Lanzhou. I came to BUPT because they have halal snail rice noodles (luosifen). This is my first time eating halal luosifen in Beijing. I prepared myself mentally on the way here, thinking it would smell very strong. When I actually ate it, I didn't think it was bad at all. It just had a strong smell of pickled bamboo shoots, and it was quite tasty. You can add fried eggs and side dishes to it.



The Ethnic Restaurant has a lot of good food. We also had steamed rice rolls (changfen), and the price was so low it felt like it was free. BUPT students are really lucky.



The campus isn't fully open yet, so you have to find a way to get in if you want to eat here.



Here are some other stalls at the BUPT Ethnic Restaurant, including Chongqing spicy noodles (chongqing xiaomian). I have eaten at many university halal canteens, and BUPT has the widest variety.















9. Peking University Tongyuan



The history of PKU Tongyuan goes back to 1946. That year, PKU established the Department of Oriental Languages and the Department of Arabic. Professor Ma Jian proposed building a canteen for Hui Muslims at PKU. It was the first canteen for Hui Muslims built at a Beijing university and was named the PKU Dongfanghong Hui Muslim Canteen. Later, because the number of Muslim students at PKU increased rapidly, the canteen wasn't big enough. In 1986, PKU raised 500,000 yuan to build a new 400-square-meter halal restaurant on the site of the old Tong Mansion on campus, naming it the PKU Tongyuan Halal Restaurant.



Looking at the halal restaurants at different universities now, Tongyuan at Peking University is on the smaller side. Because it has limited space, it only serves lunch to ethnic minority students, and you cannot pay without a campus card. However, after dinner, Tongyuan opens up to all students and staff for late-night barbecue.

I have been to Tongyuan many times, and they recently added spicy hot pot (mala xiangguo) and spicy soup (malatang) to the menu.











That is the end of this post. The text and photos are original, and unauthorized reproduction is not allowed. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal street food guide covers issue 29 of the author’s map, including shaomai, savory Hui-style guobaorou, stewed pigeon, grilled fish, pepper chicken, and shrimp hotpot.

Beijing Halal Food Map (29) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I have found many new restaurants in Beijing over the past month. Friends complain that the places I write about are getting further from the city center, often in far suburbs like Fangshan or Daxing. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I have found many new restaurants in Beijing over the past month. Friends complain that the places I write about are getting further from the city center, often in far suburbs like Fangshan or Daxing. This is because it is hard to find new, unique restaurants inside the Fourth Ring Road. Lower rents and a quieter environment in the suburbs help many small shops survive. These shops far from the city center usually have more consistent flavors and more 'wok hei' (the smoky flavor from high-heat stir-frying), with less artificial additives.

1. Traditional Steamed Dumpling (shaomai) Restaurant



This is a Northeast Chinese restaurant. It has been open for three years, but I only just discovered it. It is located in the South District of Jindi Green Garden in Tongzhou District. What drew me here is that they can make savory-style stir-fried meat in batter (guobaorou). You need to tell the chef when you place your order.



Savory-style stir-fried meat in batter is a specialty of Hui Muslims in Harbin, which is different from the sweet version made with pork.



Northeast-style starch noodles (lapi)

For our main course, we tried the beef and lamb steamed dumplings (shaomai), but they were not as good as the ones in Inner Mongolia.



Beef and lamb steamed dumplings (shaomai)

The method for making savory-style stir-fried meat in batter is quite particular, and it is hard for most families to recreate the restaurant flavor. The best savory-style stir-fried meat in batter I have ever had was in Harbin.



Savory stir-fried meat in batter (guobaorou)

Besides Northeast Chinese food, this restaurant also serves some Southern dishes. We tried the chopped chili fish head, a Hunan dish. It tasted pretty good, but for authentic halal Hunan food, you have to go to Shaoyang. Shaoyang has the best halal Hunan restaurants I have ever eaten at.



Chopped chili fish head (duojiao yutou)

2. Yilan Pavilion (Yilan Ge)



We noticed Yilan Pavilion while looking for the Daxing Tongying Mosque. The shop is right across from the mosque.



Stewed pigeon

This large restaurant in the village serves delicious stewed pigeon and grilled fish. It was a pleasant surprise.



Grilled fish



Chive pockets (jiucai hezi)



Deep-fried shredded meat (zha songrou)

The deep-fried shredded meat was fresh out of the fryer, and the owner invited me to try some. In my experience, it is hard to find good versions of this Hui Muslim home-style dish in restaurants because they usually skimp on the meat. One bite confirmed my suspicion.

3. Yanfu Restaurant



Yanfu is not far from Tongying Village. It is another large halal restaurant where I unexpectedly found they could make savory-style stir-fried meat in batter (guobaorou).



Beef tendon and brisket stew (jintou banao)

Experience shows that if you order stir-fried meat in batter at a non-Northeastern restaurant, you should be ready for a disappointment. Currently, the only place in Beijing that makes authentic savory-style stir-fried meat in batter is Uncle Oyster's Iron Pot Stew (Houshu Tieguo Dun).



Dry-fried green beans (ganbian doujiao)



Homestyle griddle-baked flatbread (jiachang laobing)



Savory stir-fried meat in batter (guobaorou)

4. Daquan Feizai Braised Beef Noodles



This is a chain restaurant specializing in old Beijing-style beef noodle soup (jiaotang niuroumian). The beef noodles are quite tasty, and you can choose to add extra meat.



Beef noodle soup (jiaotang niuroumian)

5. Muhelan Ningxia Tanyang Hand-Grabbed Lamb



The owner of Huiwei Palace invested heavily to open this new Ningxia cuisine flagship store. They brought all the local specialties from Ningxia to Beijing.



During the soft opening, the restaurant is giving away steamed lamb (zheng yanggaorou). It is steamed to order, which is quite unique for Beijing.



Steamed Ningxia salt-lake lamb (longzheng tanyangrou)

Ningxia salt-lake lamb (tanyang) has become very popular in Beijing over the last few years. The meat is tender and has a perfect balance of fat and lean, making it great for grilling or hot pot.



Peppery and numbing lamb tripe (jiaoma yangdu)

I am most looking forward to their upcoming Wuzhong morning tea, which should arrive by the end of the year. Wuzhong morning tea has only been around for 20 years, but it has already become a local cultural staple that deserves to be shared. Halal breakfasts in Beijing are limited and not very healthy, so I hope Muhelan's Wuzhong morning tea can fill that gap.



Yinchuan cold skin noodles (niangpi)



Jingyuan yellow beef (huang niurou)



Cold hand-grabbed lamb (liang shouzhuo)



Bowl dishes (wancai)

6. Habibi Arabic Food



My team found this Arabic takeout spot near Jiugong. I happened to be nearby, so I went to check it out right away. Since they only do takeout and have no seating, and I couldn't get into the market, I had to order and pick it up at the door. The food was surprisingly delicious and very affordable.



Corn tacos, Turkish kebab, and hummus (humusi jiang)

7. Daqi Stewed Meat Noodles



Their stewed beef over rice is better than their beef noodles. The best part is that they do not sell alcohol. Honestly, it is rare to find a traditional Beijing restaurant that doesn't serve alcohol; this is the only one I have seen, which really surprised me as a local. You can also get free soup and noodle refills, so I highly recommend it.





Beef noodles



Stewed meat over rice



8. Fatty's Classic Quality Pan-Fried Buns (shuijianbao)



This Henan spicy soup (hulatang) shop in Dayuan Village, Liangxiang, is run by people from Zhengzhou. Everything from the shop's style to the taste is very Zhengzhou.



They are only open for half a day, closing at 2 p.m. They serve classic Henan breakfasts like spicy soup (hulatang), pan-fried buns (shuijianbao), fried dough strips (youmotou), and fried vegetable pockets (caijiao), along with Anhui flat noodles (banmian).



The flavors are very authentic and the prices are affordable. They have been in the village for five or six years with steady business.



Fried vegetable pockets (caijiao) and fried dough strips (youmotou)



Pan-fried buns (shuijianbao)



Flat noodles (banmian)



Beef spicy soup (hulatang)

9. Bayi Laoye Workers' Stadium Flagship Store



This flagship store next to the Workers' Stadium is the most spacious and has the best environment of all the Bayi Laoye locations.



The private rooms are beautifully decorated, the food is delicious, and there is free parking at the entrance. Business is booming.



Hand-torn cabbage



Hand-grabbed rice (shouzhua fan)



Hot pot lamb offal (guozai yangza)



Xinjiang spicy chicken (Xinjiang lazi ji)



We arrived on Wednesday at noon. Every seat filled up quickly, which shows people really love Xinjiang food. Bayi Laoye stands out as a top brand among the many Xinjiang restaurants.



10. Heiyaochang sugar oil pancake (tangyoubing) and lamb spine hot pot (yangxiezi)



Heiyaochang recently added lamb spine hot pot in their basement. You have to wait in line at the door to buy the sugar oil pancake, but if you eat the lamb spine hot pot in the basement, you can order the pancake directly.



The lamb spine tastes good, but there is not much meat on the bones. We also ordered the crispy stir-fried meat (xiaosurou) and small fennel fried dough sticks (huixiang xiaoyoutiao). The dough sticks were delicious.



Crispy stir-fried meat (xiaosurou)



Small fennel fried dough sticks (huixiang xiaoyoutiao)

11. Ritan Hot Pot (Financial Street branch)



I work out in Financial Street and always felt there were not enough halal restaurants nearby. Recently, I found that Tofu Burger started using imported Australian halal meat again, and this Ritan Hot Pot branch opened right across from the Financial Street Shopping Center. Now I do not have to worry about where to eat after training.





Ritan Hot Pot uses individual small pots. Even though it lacks the charcoal flavor, the meat quality is excellent. Their small sesame flatbreads (shaobing) taste just like the ones at Jubao Yuan, and their various Beijing-style snacks are very well-made.







12. Huainan Beef Scald (niuroutang)



I used to think the Huainan Beef Scald shop in Shunyi had a typo and should have been called Huainan Beef Soup (niurutang). I only realized it was actually called Beef Scald after seeing this shop in Fangshan. The two shops are run by a brother and sister. The owner in Fangshan is the younger brother, a Hui Muslim from Anhui.





Mixed beef tendon



Beef soup (niurutang)



Sesame flatbread (shaobing) with beef

13. Northwest Station: Salt-lake lamb (tanyang)



This is a new salt-lake lamb restaurant opened by people from Gansu. They also have Uyghur staff who prepare Xinjiang-style dishes.



They have all kinds of Gansu snacks here. Among the hand-grabbed lamb (shouzhuayangrou) from the five northwestern provinces, I like the texture of the Dongxiang style from Gansu the best.



Hand-grabbed lamb (shouzhuayangrou)



Roasted potato (kaoyangyu)

Roasted potato served with pickled chives, a unique way of eating in the Northwest.



Stewed yak meat with Chinese yam



Hezhou steamed buns (Hezhou baozi)



Dingxi wide glass noodles (Dingxi kuanfen)

Our friends from Gansu and Qinghai gave this place a thumbs up. The prices are fair and the service is very friendly. The waiter even told me which dishes weren't good and advised me not to order them. You don't see staff that honest very often.

14. Western Regions Yipinxian Hot Pot (Xiyu Yipinxian Huoguo)



This place is listed as Chongqing-style hot pot on Dazhong Dianping, so it caught my eye and I came to check it out right away.



Duck intestines, beef tripe, marbled beef, brown sugar rice cakes (hongtang ciba), and a sesame oil dipping sauce are my go-to order for Sichuan and Chongqing hot pot.



Duck intestines



Beef tripe



Yellow rice cakes (huangmi ciba)



Small fennel fried dough sticks (huixiang xiaoyoutiao)



Marbled beef

Overall, the food here is delicious and the ingredients are fresh. The dipping sauces are very flavorful. It is a bit quiet since it just opened, and the location on Fengyi South Road in Fengtai is a bit out of the way.



15. Wanping Li's Snacks



After visiting the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, we saw this Wanping Li's nearby. It has a huge sign and includes a snack shop, a beef and mutton shop, and a hot pot restaurant. The snack shop caught our eye.



Wanping Li's is famous for its beef noodles, but I think their rice dishes are even better. We chose the abalone sauce steak rice and the seafood sauce fried rice. Both tasted great and were made with Wuchang rice. The seafood sauce fried rice was especially fragrant.



Cold tossed okra



Braised beef noodles



Mutton jelly noodles (liangfen)



Seafood sauce fried rice



Abalone sauce steak rice

16. Heqingzhai Wang Po Shrimp



Heqingzhai brought in Wang Po Shrimp. I have eaten the halal version of Wang Po Shrimp in Hangzhou before. I have always loved shrimp, and this shrimp pot serves large, fresh shrimp that taste very good.



After finishing the shrimp, you can add broth to cook vegetables. Heqingzhai is a brand from Yangfang Town in Changping, and their lamb spine hot pot (yangxiezi) is also delicious.





Yellow rice sticky cake (ciba) as a staple food



Large shrimp and squid pot (daxia youyu guo)

That is all for this collection. The text and photos are original, and you are welcome to share them. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food map covers new Muslim-friendly restaurants opened around Ramadan, including Korean-style barbecue, Yanji cold noodles, Anhui banmian, Turkish food, Indian food, and local Hui Muslim dining.



— Hello, Travel —

This is the third Ramadan I have spent during the pandemic. In March, I was locked down for nearly a month in Dachang, which had zero confirmed cases. I could only move around within the community, so I could not go out to visit restaurants. When Langfang lifted the lockdown in early April, I immediately packed my bags and took my family back to our home in Beijing overnight.

Back in the capital after a long absence, I was greeted by many halal restaurants that had just opened. I had only been away for half a year, but halal restaurants in Beijing were opening one after another. Overall, although some shops closed, the speed of new openings was slightly faster than the closures, so I do not have to worry about having nothing to write for my official account.

During Ramadan, we visited a new restaurant almost every night. Sometimes I treated everyone to iftar, and sometimes others treated me. There is a reward for feeding someone who is fasting, so everyone scrambled to pay the bill. The thrilling part was that just as I finished visiting the new restaurants on my list, Beijing suspended dine-in services during the May Day holiday.

This issue (the 25th issue) is very rich in content, with new additions including halal versions of Yanji cold noodles (lengmian), Anhui flat noodles (banmian), Northeast-style barbecue, Turkish food, Indian food, Korean barbecue, and new-style Chinese cuisine.

1

Korean-style Xiaohuiniu Barbecue



Xiaohuiniu Barbecue is located in the ground-floor shops of Maying Village in Zhangjiawan Town, Tongzhou. It is near a residential area for Hui Muslims and close to Universal Studios, so there are many halal restaurants nearby. We even saw a barbecue night market on the roadside with stalls selling halal deep-fried stinky tofu and grilled skewers. This kind of lively atmosphere is hard to find in Beijing nowadays.



We bought a 4-person set meal on Dazhong Dianping for 288 yuan, which is 70 yuan per person. Overall, the price is cheaper than in the city center. The quality of the beef in the set is good, there are servers to help grill the meat, and the restaurant environment is spacious, making for a comfortable dining experience.



The set includes a portion of Hui beef belly and thick-cut beef tongue, as well as lamb butterfly chops and Orleans-style chicken wings. Paired with some cold dishes, it basically satisfies the appetites of four people.



The main courses are a portion of cold noodles (lengmian) and a portion of stone pot bibimbap. These two are the standard main course pairings for Korean barbecue. Both are quite delicious, and the portions are not too large, so there is no waste.



A major highlight of this place is the self-service sauce bar, which offers many flavor options. There are various dry and wet dipping sauces, and I suggest trying each one. I personally prefer the dry dipping sauces.



I have tried grilling meat at home, but a drawback is that the smoke fills the whole room. So, whenever I want to eat barbecue, I still recommend going to a restaurant. There are now several halal Korean barbecue restaurants in Beijing, such as Toupiqi and Qingu in Changying, as well as Japanese-style places like Chidao Yakiniku and Niushi, all of which are good restaurants.



Address: Shop 5, Ground Floor, Maying Village, Zhangjiawan Town

Phone: 17610562606

2

Taihe beef flat noodles (banmian) from Anhui.



We originally planned to break our fast at Xiaohuiniu, but when we arrived at Zhangjiawan, we stumbled upon this halal Anhui flat noodle shop. It is located right at the entrance of the street where the Zhangjiawan mosque stands. The guys and I agreed immediately to eat our noodles here to break our fast before heading off for barbecue. Sometimes plans just cannot keep up with changes.



Taihe beef flat noodles are a specialty snack from Anhui that originated during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty. Taihe is a place in Fuyang, Anhui. The name flat noodles comes from the way the dough is flattened with a rolling pin and slapped against a cutting board.



To save room for the barbecue at Xiaohuiniu, we each ordered a small bowl of noodles. The small bowl was actually quite large and cost 10 yuan. The beef broth was rich and the wide noodles were chewy. My teammates could not stop praising them. It was everyone's first time having halal flat noodles, and we all felt the trip was worth it.

3

New Chinese-style pastries: Tanggusu and Guiyizhai.



Tanggusu and Guiyizhai are the same business, located right next to each other with an interior connection. Tanggusu is the takeout window, while you can walk into Guiyizhai to shop. Young people who are not used to traditional pastries can find new flavors here.



They have halal meat floss cakes (xiaobei), egg tarts, jujube cakes, chocolate pies, muffins, Napoleon cakes, and sweetheart cakes (laopobing), as well as sugar-free cakes.



The chocolate pie is their best-selling dessert and is cheap at 8 yuan each. Given the limited options for halal desserts, this shop is quite affordable, even if it is not as good as what my wife makes.



The chocolate pie was packed with filling. Since I was still fasting, I did not get to taste it; my wife ate it all (nursing mothers do not have to fast).



Napoleon cake.

Address: Bungalow 1, Courtyard 2, Jiaomen Road.

Phone: 01067532366.

4

New-style Beijing cuisine: Yimanxuan.



One evening, Tiantian had the intention (niyyah) to treat everyone to break their fast. Since we wanted to keep the cost per person reasonable, I specifically chose this newly opened restaurant near Xidan.



Qianlong cabbage.

Qianlong cabbage (qianlong baicai) is a cold dish made with Chinese cabbage, sesame paste, honey, and sugar.



Dry-fried young chicken (ganbian ziji).

This Sichuan-style dry-fried young chicken is deep-fried first, so it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It is topped with dried chili strips for a spicy, fragrant flavor that is just right.



Stir-fried lamb (baohu).

Baohu is basically stir-fried lamb, but cooked over higher heat for a longer time. You eat it with sesame flatbread (shaobing), which is soft enough to stuff the meat inside. This dish is quite popular.



Fried cornmeal buns with stinky tofu (zha wotou choudoufu).

This is a favorite among old Beijingers. You spread stinky tofu on fried cornmeal buns. Don't smell it; just hold your breath and eat it, and you won't notice the smell.



Noodles with thick gravy (dalu mian).

We chose these noodles with thick gravy as our main course. One big bowl serves three people. The handmade noodles and the gravy are both carefully prepared and highly recommended.

5

Northwest cuisine at Lili Yangke.



During Ramadan, Lili Yangke provides dates for those fasting to break their fast. They also prioritize serving food to guests breaking their fast; just tell the server it is an iftar meal, and the chef will serve it on time.



The waitresses at Lili Yangke wear headscarves, and I saw them performing namaz after breaking their fast.



We use boiled dates to break our fast, following the Sunnah.



The deluxe version of eight-treasure tea (babao cha), also known as three-cannon tea (sanpaotai) in Lanzhou, is always filled to the brim when you visit a home in the Northwest.



Hezhou steamed buns (Hezhou baozi) are not a main course here; in the Northwest, they are served as an appetizer before the meal.



Milk and egg fermented rice soup (niunai jidan laozao) is a Northwest dessert that can be eaten before or after a meal.



Their Dongxiang free-range chicken (Dongxiang liuda ji) is excellent. The meat is tender and has a great texture that is clearly different from regular chicken.



The golden bread roasted lamb leg (huangjin mianbao kao yangtui) is their signature dish. You need to order it an hour in advance because it is baked to order. Once the bread is cut open, it is filled with pre-cut pieces of lamb, and the quality of the meat is excellent.



The small fried dough (youxiang) is fluffy and delicious, and you can eat it like a snack. Many places do not fry youxiang regularly, only on important days, which makes the food feel sacred. There is even a custom that you must break it by hand to eat it. These are local traditions that do not come from the Quran or Hadith. We respect these traditions, but we should also know where they come from.

Address: No. 15 Guangqu Jiayuan, Guangqumen Outer Street.

Phone: 13777836511.

6

Xinjiang Cuisine: Ziyuan.



There are Xinjiang restaurants everywhere in Beijing now, but this one stands out for its decor. People say they hired the famous Japanese designer Shuhei Aoyama. The master's design fee was as high as 2,000 yuan per square meter, which shows the owner has very high standards for aesthetics.



Since they hired a master designer, they are naturally careful about choosing ingredients. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Xinjiang, so the ingredients come directly from Xinjiang.



We saw a note on the menu: 'The restaurant's chefs all come from ethnic minority regions in Xinjiang.' This description speaks for itself. Those who know, know. This is how ethnic restaurants from Xinjiang write it these days.



Actually, before eating at Ziyuan, we had already broken our fast at a nearby Yunnan restaurant called Dianxinyuan. We just happened to pass by here and thought, since we came all this way, we might as well go in and sit for a while.



We ordered a meat-filled flatbread (rou nang). Even though we were very full, we still thought it was delicious. It had plenty of filling and lots of meat.



We also ordered a skewer of grilled lamb liver and a skewer of red willow grilled meat (hongliu kaorou). The ingredients were all very fresh and satisfying.



Address: Block B, Podium Building, AVIC Plaza, Ronghua South Road.

Phone: 13511041942.

7

Turkish Cuisine: SIMIT PALACE.



This is a newly opened Turkish restaurant in the Asian Games Village. The owner is a Turkish man from Istanbul, and his wife is from Beijing. In 2005, they opened a Turkish restaurant called Osman on Lucky Street.



The restaurant has only one floor, with the kitchen on the second floor. The first floor serves desserts, bread, and coffee, making it a great spot for a casual afternoon tea.



I bought some bread to try. It was made very delicately, and after my wife checked it, she said it was quite good.



I love drinking coffee and enjoy the feeling of relaxing in a cafe. Since we cannot drink water during the day in Ramadan, we went at night. I couldn't resist ordering a cup of strong Turkish coffee, even if it meant I might not sleep well later.



The coffee cups here are very delicate and decorated with patterns of dragon robes.



Rice pudding (sutlac) is a small dessert that originated in the Middle East, made by baking cooked rice with milk and butter.



Usually, you should eat Turkish food at a Turkish restaurant, but I saw fried chicken, french fries, and burgers on the menu and couldn't resist. After all, halal Western-style fast food is not as common in Beijing as Turkish restaurants, and we consider Turkish food to be Western cuisine anyway.



The fries and burgers are made to order. The cheese and meat patty in the burger were delicious. This burger combo costs over 50 yuan.

Address: First floor, Building 17, Courtyard 5, Anding Road.

Phone: 13718618634.

8

Yanji Cuisine: Xiangyu Jubinyuan.



This place also opened recently. They serve halal Yanji cold noodles (lengmian) and double-stir-fried meat (guobaorou), which my friends from Northeast China will recognize.



The double-stir-fried meat is sweet and sour, and it is eaten as a side dish with the cold noodles.



Although this is the first restaurant to focus on halal Yanji cold noodles, many barbecue restaurants in Beijing serve halal cold noodles that taste just as good.



Spicy shredded pollock (ban mingtaiyu si).

Spicy shredded pollock is a specialty snack of the Korean ethnic group. It is mixed with Korean chili paste and has a salty, sweet, and slightly spicy taste.



Spicy mixed beef (la ban niurou).

Spicy mixed beef is also a common cold dish for the Korean ethnic group, but they usually use dog meat. Since we cannot eat dog meat, we use beef instead.

Address: No. 1 Beicaochang Hutong, a century-old classic.

Phone: 18501952822

9

Fusion cuisine, Qingxiangge Crayfish, and Anhui Flat Noodles King.



Qingxiangge opened a crayfish shop in Tuanjiehu, specializing in fresh, spicy crayfish. They also opened an Anhui Flat Noodles King (Anhui banmian wang) next door. The iron pot stew (tieguo dun) upstairs and the two shops downstairs all belong to Qingxiangge.



As usual, we couldn't resist ordering a bowl of beef flat noodles (niurou banmian) from next door. Coincidentally, they also sell hot dry noodles (reganmian), so we brought both bowls over to the crayfish shop to break our fast.



Hot dry noodles (reganmian)

In my opinion, the hot dry noodles are better than the beef flat noodles. The hot dry noodles are a bit spicy but very fragrant, similar to what I ate in Wuhan. For beef flat noodles, I prefer the place in Zhangjiawan.



Beef flat noodles (niurou banmian)



The crayfish are fresh, and you can taste it. You must order at least two jin (one kilogram). The price is a bit high, but the chef can help peel the shrimp. You can add noodles to the leftover sauce after eating the shrimp. It is very fragrant but also quite spicy. If you cannot handle spice, I suggest choosing the thirteen-spice (shisanxiang) flavor.



The hand-rolled noodles mixed with the sauce are delicious. The texture of the noodles is similar to noodles with stir-fried meat (guoyourou banmian).



Spicy chicken (lazi ji)

The spicy chicken at this shop is very delicious. The chili peppers are especially fragrant, and it is worth recommending.



Spanish mackerel dumplings (bayu shuijiao)

Qingxiangge started by selling Dalian seafood, so their menu naturally includes Spanish mackerel dumplings. The filling is made of whole mackerel meat, which is pure, soft, and savory.

Address: Five single-story houses on the south side of Building 20, Baijiazhuang Dongli.

Phone: 18911210255

10

Indian Cuisine: Love in Curry



This shop is tucked away. It has been in the basement of Hongqiao Market for five years, but I only found out about it this year.



The space is small, just a stall in the basement food court, but it is clean and hygienic. They do not sell alcohol. Honestly, I have never seen an Indian or Pakistani brother run a restaurant that sells alcohol.



When eating Indian food, curry and naan bread (nangbing) are must-haves. If I want more options, I add fried rice or roasted chicken. Naan and curry come in many flavors, but I recommend the butter naan and lamb curry.



Indian and Pakistani barbecue has bright colors because it is marinated with spices. The green dipping sauce is made from spinach juice.



Deep-fried vegetable curry puffs (samosa)

Address: B1 Food Court, Hongqiao Market, Chongwenmen Outer Street

Phone: 15210944043

11

Beijing Cuisine: Yuelangzhai



In Xiguanshi Village, Changping, there is a halal restaurant with a famous history. Before I arrived, I learned that the restaurant was once an Imperial Escort Agency (yushan biaoju), named for protecting Empress Dowager Cixi during her escape to Xi'an.

Yuelangzhai Restaurant started in 2014. The Li family ancestors were professional escorts. Although that trade no longer exists, the descendants of the Li family are good cooks. Using their ancestral property, they decided to open a restaurant.



At the entrance, a screen wall is carved with the four characters for Imperial Escort Agency. Research confirms it was indeed bestowed by the emperor. The Imperial Escort Agency was originally called Xiguangyu Escort Agency. To protect Empress Dowager Cixi as she left Beijing, the owner Li Entao recommended Yang Juchuan to accompany her all the way to Xi'an and back to Beijing.



The front hall has a dragon chair with a yellow robe hanging nearby. In the center hangs a plaque that reads Yuelangzhai, showing that this shop once served the royal family.



Walking through the porch into the main hall, the space is wide. The interior uses a traditional Chinese style that is simple and elegant. The restaurant has two floors: the first floor has open seating, and the second floor has private rooms.



Inside a private room, the decor remains traditional Chinese with square tables and wooden stools. Calligraphy and ink paintings hang on the walls, creating an atmosphere that feels like traveling back to the late Qing Dynasty.



Vinegar-fried wood-ear and egg (culiu muxu) is a common Beijing home-style dish found in many restaurants. It should be called culiu muxi because the fried eggs look like osmanthus flowers (muxi). It requires high culinary skill; it looks simple, but it is not easy to make well.



Manager Li highly recommended these beef meatballs. He said he usually avoids ordering this dish at other restaurants because they often use too many fillers and not enough beef, but the beef meatballs at Yuelangzhai are made with real, quality ingredients. I picked one up and took a bite. It was just as Manager Li said, full of beef flavor with no taste of starch or other fillers. The meatballs were soft, delicious, and melted in my mouth.



Pan-seared tofu (guota doufu) is a classic Beijing-Shandong dish. You cut the tofu into 5-centimeter squares, mince shrimp into a paste, and mix it with egg wash. Dip the tofu in the egg mixture, pan-fry it over low heat, and when the oil is about 60 percent hot, slide the tofu into the pan. Fry both sides until golden brown, then cover and simmer until the sauce reduces.



For the main course, we had grilled noodles (zhizi kaomian). I had heard of grilled meat (zhizi kaorou) before, but never grilled noodles. Manager Li said he invented this dish. He seasons hand-rolled noodles and stir-fries them on a hot iron grill, similar to stir-fried noodles. The high heat of the grill adds a lot of aroma and texture, and it is very popular with diners.

Address: No. 8, Houchang Street, Xiguanshi Village, Yangfang Town

Phone: 01069760863

12

Northeast Chinese Cuisine: Baixiaobei Northeast Barbecue



This is the only halal Northeast-style barbecue restaurant in Beijing. It just opened, so we organized a group of friends to visit during the trial period. Northeast barbecue is known for small skewers, which is different from Northeast stir-fry dishes that come in large portions.



Boiled beef tripe (shuan niudu)

I don't mind small portions because it lets me try more flavors and helps avoid food waste.



Stir-fried screw snails (baochao dingluo)

Once the tips of the screw snails are broken off, you just suck on them to pull the meat out. The texture is crisp, tender, and chewy.



Fruit cold noodles (shuiguo lengmian). I have to say, the cold noodles here are quite authentic and taste much better than the halal Yanji cold noodles I mentioned earlier.



The skewers are called 'Five Elements Lacking Skewers' (wuxing que chuan). I don't know what that means, but I can tell it's beef, and the yellow part is cheese.



This dish is called 'Super Big Salad' (wocao chaoji da shala) because it is served on a huge plate. People from the Northeast love eating raw vegetables, and the owner gave us this cold salad for free.



Grilled oysters and scallops are a must. The ingredients are very fresh, but they are not cheap.



Deep-sea turbot head (shenhai dieyutou). This fish has sharp teeth and a fierce temperament. The more aggressive the fish, the firmer and tastier the meat.



The cold-tossed fish skin (liangban yupi) has no fishy smell, which shows it is very fresh, and it tastes crisp and refreshing. Cold-tossed fish skin is a classic home-style dish in Northeast China. I wanted to try the roasted silkworm pupae (kao canyong), but my friend talked me out of it because they were scared.



Shenyang chicken rack (jijia) is also a very famous local specialty in the Northeast. The chicken rack is fried until it is golden and crispy, and you can even chew the bones. This shop has a wide variety of small skewers, covering almost all the signature barbecue dishes of the Northeast. The prices are a bit high, with an average cost of over 150 yuan per person.

Address: Ground floor shops on the east side of Dajiaoting International Business Hotel, Guangqu Road.

Phone: 13041118808

13

Beijing Cuisine · Xingyuanzhai Halal Restaurant



It is not easy to find a halal restaurant near the Mutianyu Great Wall in Huairou. Fortunately, there are two halal restaurants right next to each other in Sanduhe Village. I introduced one before, called Sudan Pakistan Restaurant, and the other is this Xingyuanzhai. Xingyuanzhai is a farmhouse-style restaurant with a spacious, two-story layout. In the summer, you can also sit in the courtyard to eat barbecue.



The owner is a Hui Muslim from Shunyi. This shop was originally located in Shunyi and is related to the famous Fushouzhai Hot Pot Restaurant in Shunyi. They just moved to Huairou during the pandemic.



A must-eat in Huairou is the roasted rainbow trout (kao hongzunyu), which is a local farmhouse specialty. Rainbow trout is a cold-water fish with teeth in its mouth. It has a fierce nature and requires high water quality, so its meat is quite delicious.



I originally said I wanted to eat small skewers, but the owner recommended that they have freshly slaughtered lamb, so I could have a pound of freshly grilled large skewers, which are even more fragrant.



Cornmeal flatbread (hubing) stuffed with chives and eggs.



Address: Sanduhe Village, Bohai Town, Huairou District.

Phone: 18910316080

14

Fusion Cuisine · Sayierier



Sayierier Silk Road Cuisine focuses on food from the Silk Road, so it should not be seen as just Xinjiang-style. It also features Mediterranean specialties, as well as Sichuan, Huaiyang, Hunan, Cantonese, and seafood dishes, making it a fusion restaurant.



The environment is upscale and the prices are not cheap, with an average cost of around 200 yuan per person.



There is free ice cream and snacks you can help yourself to while waiting for a table.



The complimentary bread and spicy onion salad (pilahong) served before the meal are also delicious, not just some thrown-together freebie.



For the Mediterranean salad, the dragon fruit and mango are shaped like roses.



Four of us shared a classic grilled meat platter for 328 yuan, which included beef, lamb, vegetables, and seafood. Adding a few carb-heavy sides was plenty. The food tasted great and the service was attentive. I plan to bring more people next time to try other dishes.

Address: 1st Floor, No. F2 Huayuan Road

Phone: 13161344588 view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food map issue 54 focuses on barbecue and snack spots, including Subuha electric-grilled skewers, Ali Northwest barbecue roujiamo, Ganmaya Yunnan Zhaotong barbecue, Shunhexiang Harbin halal food, Xi'an Old Lan Family barbecue, Japanese-style barbecue, Northeast halal cuisine, fried chicken, and Hotan barbecue.

I added an AI smart reply feature to my official account. You can ask the AI directly about any restaurant information. It is still in the testing phase, so the answers might not be perfectly accurate. It is best to describe your questions clearly and accurately when you ask, and double-check the information after you get a reply. If you are not happy with the answer, please do not be mean. That is AI Yahya, not the real Yahya.

The halal restaurants featured in this issue are as follows:

1. Subuha Electric Grilled Skewers (Subuha Dian Kaochuan)

2. Ali Northwest Barbecue Meat Burger (Ali Xibei Shaokao Roujiamo)

3. Ganmaya Yunnan Zhaotong Barbecue (Ganmaya Yunnan Zhaotong Shaokao)

4. Shunhexiang Harbin Halal Small Restaurant (Shunhexiang Haerbin Qingzhen Xiaoguan)

5. Xi'an Old Lan Family Barbecue (Xi'an Lao Lanjia Shaokao)

6. Sun Moon Stars Japanese-style Barbecue (Riyue Xingchen Rishi Shaorou)

7. Zhenming Yihua Zhai Restaurant (Zhenming Yihua Zhai Fandian)

8. Ma's Northeast Halal Cuisine (Maji Dongbei Qingzhen Meishi)

9. Little Yu Barbecue and Fried Chicken (Xiaoyu Shaokao Zhaji)

10. Hotan Barbecue (Hetian Shaokao)

1. Subuha electric-grilled lamb skewers.



This is a halal snack shop run by Hui Muslims in Beijing. Their signature items are almond tofu (xingren doufu) and electric-grilled skewers. Their almond tofu uses high-quality ingredients and has a top-tier texture. It is the best almond tofu I have ever had in Beijing.



I usually order the signature snacks when I visit a shop. The almond tofu is a must. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered a coffee cheese (kafei nailao) afterward.



It costs 10 yuan per serving and comes with a small bag of sugar water. The sweetness is just right—a light, refreshing taste that is neither sticky nor cloying.



The coffee cheese is just as smooth and creamy. The shop also sells mini bottles of zero-sugar lemon tea. The owner cares about health, so many products have no added sugar, but they still taste great and go well with the skewers.



I tried both the beef skewers and the lamb tendon skewers. I think the lamb tendon is more tender and tastes better than the beef.





They have two locations now, one in Qinghe and one in Jiaodaokou. I visited both, but I prefer the Jiaodaokou shop. The skewers at the Qinghe shop were a bit salty, while the seasoning at Jiaodaokou was perfect. The almond tofu tastes the same at both places.



The Qinghe shop has free parking spaces, making it easy to park. The Jiaodaokou shop only has a few parking spots on the side of the road, which makes parking difficult.

2. Ali Northwest Barbecue Meat Burger (Ali Xibei Shaokao Roujiamo)



This is a Gansu-style barbecue stall near Minzu University. Their specialty is grilled flatbread (kaobing) stuffed with everything.



Students nearby often order delivery from here. I have eaten here twice and ordered the set meal both times. For 20 yuan, you get a set with grilled steamed bun (kaomo), beef skewers, an egg, green beans, and oil-wheat lettuce (youmaicai). It makes for a very tasty and satisfying meal.



3. Ganmaya Yunnan Zhaotong Barbecue (Ganmaya Yunnan Zhaotong Shaokao)



A new Yunnan-style barbecue restaurant just opened in Beijing. Gamaya is a well-known brand from Zhaotong.



We visited on the first day of their soft opening and tried the Yunnan-style hot pot chicken and barbecue.



Small-skewer barbecue (xiao shaokao) is a Zhaotong specialty that is very popular in Yunnan, and it has a spicy kick.





Their standout dish is the fresh beef broth rice noodles (mi xian). You can really taste the freshness of the beef soup, and the bowl is authentically Yunnan.



4. Shunhexiang Harbin Halal Small Restaurant (Shunhexiang Haerbin Qingzhen Xiaoguan)



A new Harbin halal eatery called Shunhexiang just opened in Tongzhou. It is a chain brand in Harbin and this is their first shop in Beijing.



The stir-fried dishes at Shunhexiang are excellent. This place is currently the best restaurant in Beijing for halal Northeast-style stir-fry.







I chose the stir-fried chili with dried tofu (jianjiao gandoufu), a classic Northeast home-style dish that tastes great.



The Majiagou celery with sea urchin is also delicious. It is cold, refreshing, and has a sweet and sour flavor.



The beef steamed dumplings (shaomai) are made well, but for shaomai, I personally prefer the Inner Mongolian style from Lianying.



Their sweet and sour pork (guobaorou) is a solid choice, and it tastes just as it should.



Stir-fried potato, eggplant, and pepper (disanxian) is a classic home-style dish in Northeast China. Everything together cost only 200 yuan, and the portions were just right for two people.

5. Xi'an Old Lan Family Barbecue (Xi'an Lao Lanjia Shaokao)



The newly opened Xi'an Lao Lan Jia BBQ restaurant in Tongzhou Cool Car Town serves both barbecue and Xi'an-style noodles.



Lao Lan Jia has been open for over twenty years with a location in Xi'an as well.



I have been here twice and tried all their signature dishes. The barbecue tastes exactly like what you get in Xi'an.



Xi'an barbecue is known for these small iron skewers, served in bundles of 10. The flavor is a bit on the salty side.



Their eight-treasure porridge (babaozhou) is quite good. It has a mild flavor and is not too sweet.



The stir-fried beef with peppers (xiaochao huangniurou) uses beef coated in starch. I personally prefer the stir-fry texture found in Hunan cuisine.



As one of Xi'an's signature dishes, the stir-fried crumbled flatbread (xiaochao paomo) tastes great.



Braised dough bits (hui mashi) is a specialty noodle dish from Northwest China. Mashi are small dough dumplings, and the soup base is delicious.



This dish is called night market stir-fried bean sprouts. It is refreshing, tasty, and has that distinct smoky flavor from the wok.



Shaanxi-style hot oil noodles (youpo mian) use wide noodles. They must be served plain to be truly good, and the drizzled chili oil is fragrant without being too spicy.



Stir-fried beef with crispy rice crust (guoba). The millet rice crust is crunchy, and I highly recommend this dish.



Hot and sour beef tripe (suanla shuan niudu). It was a bit too salty, and I prefer lighter flavors these days.



Guokui flatbread with spicy sauce. Eating one of these when you are hungry really hits the spot. The crust is baked until crispy, and it pairs perfectly with the spicy chili sauce and peppers. It is delicious.

6. Sun Moon Stars Japanese-style Barbecue (Riyue Xingchen Rishi Shaorou)



A new halal Japanese restaurant has opened on the basement level of the Sun and Moon Stars Hotel (Riyue Xingchen Jiudian) in Huangcun, Daxing.



This restaurant is part of the hotel, so you get free parking when you come to eat. They have a very complete selection of Japanese food, including all kinds of grilled meats, sashimi, and sushi. They have pretty much every Japanese dish you can name.



The prices are also cheaper than other Japanese restaurants, costing about 100 yuan per person.



A single-person Japanese ramen set costs only 63 yuan and includes a salad, sushi, fruit, ramen, side dishes, and yogurt. The taste and ingredients are both good, making it a great value.













7. Zhenming Yihua Zhai Restaurant (Zhenming Yihua Zhai Fandian)



There is a halal breakfast shop near Huangcun in Daxing that also serves full meals. Their specialty is selling sesame flatbread (shaobing) with any filling you want.



Something unique they sell is sesame flatbread (shaobing) stuffed with shredded pork in garlic sauce (yuxiang rousi).





This freshly baked sesame flatbread (shaobing) tastes great with anything inside. A big one filled with shredded pork in garlic sauce (yuxiang rousi) costs only 4.5 yuan. Add a bowl of tofu pudding (doufunao) for 4 yuan, and the total for breakfast is 8.5 yuan.



8. Ma's Northeast Halal Cuisine (Maji Dongbei Qingzhen Meishi)



A halal Northeast Chinese restaurant that has been open for many years near the Tongzhou Grand Mosque.



The braised meat strips (ba routiao) do not look very appetizing, and the taste is just so-so.



Stir-fried lamb liver with chives. The lamb liver has a bit of a gamey smell, and their dishes are generally too salty.



The lamb soup is not salty, but it is too thin and watery.



The steamed dumplings (shaomai) are also very average. You can stop by for a quick meal if you are passing by, but it is not worth a special trip. The average cost is about 60 yuan per person.



9. Little Yu Barbecue and Fried Chicken (Xiaoyu Shaokao Zhaji)



A very small fried skewer shop in Shilihe. They sell various fried skewers, fried chicken, and barbecue. It is mainly for takeout, though you can eat inside, but there are only two tables.





They sell grilled cold noodles (kao lengmian) and grilled gluten (kao mianjin), and they have a good variety of fried skewers.



The prices are cheap enough. This handful of four types of skewers cost 15 yuan in total.



10. Hotan Barbecue (Hetian Shaokao)



A few hundred meters from Xiaoyu Fried Skewers (Xiaoyu Zhachuan) is a newly opened Hotan barbecue shop. The shop is located in a parking lot, so there are plenty of empty parking spaces right in front, which is very convenient.



This is an authentic Xinjiang barbecue shop, and the only other Xinjiang specialty dish they serve is big plate chicken (dapanji).



The shop has a nice, spacious environment, and the servers are Uyghur girls.



The shop sells several types of soda from the Xinjiang brand Abide.



A barbecue set meal costs 48 yuan and includes quite a lot of food, enough for one person.



The meat skewers taste great, but the vegetable skewers are just average; when it comes to barbecue, I still love the meat the most. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food map issue 49 starts with advice about halal signs and then covers Yujiawu BBQ, Tengzhou vegetable pancakes, buffet hot pot, claypot rice noodles, Asen Eight Great Bowls, Qiqihar BBQ, and one of Beijing's rare halal Hunan restaurants.

As usual, I have a few complaints. A few days ago, I posted an article about the Grand Mufti of Egypt saying not to dig too deep into whether meat is halal. The article was barely 800 words long. It clearly stated at the beginning that it was about how to eat halal in Europe and the basic principles of what is halal. I thought the logic was simple and clear, but some people still did not understand it and even reached the exact opposite conclusion. The lesson for Hui Muslims in China is that if a restaurant clearly displays a halal sign, you do not need to dig deeper. You have already made the intention (niyyah) to find halal food, and the restaurant has provided a halal sign, so the responsibility lies entirely with them. Even if they trick you with fake halal food, it has no effect on your worship. There is no such thing as accidentally eating non-halal food damaging your worship. As for those who insist on going to a halal restaurant and then questioning whether the ingredients are truly halal, that is just deceiving yourself and asking for trouble. It is not practical. Even if the owner of a halal restaurant performs all five pillars of Islam, unless they slaughtered the meat themselves, they cannot 100% guarantee the meat is halal. How could you possibly dig any deeper than that?

The halal restaurant information for this issue is as follows:

1. Northeast Halal Charcoal Earth Oven BBQ (Dongbei Qingzhen Tanhuo Dilu Kaorou)

2. Tongxinzhai Tengzhou Vegetable Pancake (Tongxinzhai Tengzhou Caijianbing)

3. Xijia Xike Buffet Hot Pot (Xijia Xike Zizhu Xiaohuoguo)

4. Shili Xiang Claypot Rice Noodles (Shili Xiang Shaguo Mixian)

5. Wanfu Halal Boiled Pot Base (Wanfu Qingzhen Cuanguodi)

6. Halal Asen Eight Great Bowls (Qingzhen Asen Badawan)

7. Yang's Qiqihar BBQ (Yangji Qiqiha'er Kaorou)

8. Mr. Mu Sichuan and Hunan Stir-fry (Mu Xiansheng Chuanxiang Xiaochao)

1. Northeast Halal Charcoal Earth Oven BBQ (Dongbei Qingzhen Tanhuo Dilu Kaorou)



There is a small Northeast-style ground oven barbecue shop on the street in the Hui Muslim village of Yujiawu in Tongzhou. An elderly couple runs the place, and the dining atmosphere is quite cozy.



The meat is all displayed out in the open, so you can pick whatever you want. Besides barbecue, they also serve some Northeast snacks, like roasted moth pupae (yanglaguan)—the pupae of the stinging caterpillar. It is not cheap, costing 108 per plate.



I just got back from Qingdao, where the seafood is both cheap and fresh, so I felt their seafood was a bit expensive.







They also have Northeast cold noodles (lengmian) and small Northeast-style barbecue skewers.



This transparent one is called needlefish (bangyu). It tastes pretty good and has a texture like dried fish.



2. Tengzhou vegetable pancake (caijianbing)



This is the first halal Tengzhou vegetable pancake shop in Beijing, and it is not far from the Northeast barbecue place mentioned earlier.







Tengzhou is a place in Shandong. The special thing about vegetable pancakes is that you can mix in several kinds of vegetables, making them quite healthy and nutritious.



After choosing your side dishes, they are paired with the crispy crust unique to Shandong pancakes (jianbing).



They also serve Shandong-style pan-fried buns (jianbao), with a choice of beef and green onion filling or chive and egg filling.



3. Xijia Xike Buffet Hot Pot (Xijia Xike Zizhu Xiaohuoguo)



A new, very delicate and fresh-style conveyor belt hot pot restaurant has opened in Fengtai.



It costs 59 yuan per person, and you can choose from dozens of snacks. However, the conveyor belt only has chicken and seafood. If you want beef or lamb rolls, you need to order them separately for 9.9 yuan a plate.



I think it is already a great deal just eating the various vegetables, snacks, desserts, and treats on the conveyor belt.









They have many types of tea to choose from. You pick your own and add hot water to brew it yourself.



This shop is already popular, so you have to wait in line during meal times.

4. Shili Xiang Claypot Rice Noodles (Shili Xiang Shaguo Mixian)



This is also a very delicate little restaurant run by a girl from Ningxia, serving clay pot rice noodles (shaguo mixian) and small barbecue skewers.



The clay pot rice noodles taste great, and they are perfect when paired with a baked flatbread (kaobing).





Their small barbecue is Yunnan-style meat skewers that are seasoned and very delicious.



The restaurant is very small and has a little loft on the second floor. The average cost is 30 yuan per person.

5. Wanfu Halal Boiled Pot Base (Wanfu Qingzhen Cuanguodi)



This is another hot pot restaurant serving boiled soup base (cuanguodi) opened by the owner of Wanfu Iron Pot Stew in Daxing.



For a boiled-base hot pot (chuanguodi), you first cook various seafood in the pot, finish that, and then go downstairs to get different ingredients to dip.





This way of eating is a bit like Cantonese hot pot (dabianlu), but it is the first halal boiled-base hot pot shop in Beijing.



6. Halal Asen Eight Great Bowls (Qingzhen Asen Badawan)



This is a traditional Hui Muslim Eight Great Bowls (badawan) shop in Fengtai, where you can choose what to eat as soon as you walk in.



Eight Great Bowls is a classic Hui Muslim banquet, mostly consisting of meat dishes with one or two vegetable dishes.



This shop uses a very traditional method, and their stewed beef is excellent.









7. Yang's Qiqihar BBQ (Yangji Qiqiha'er Kaorou)



This Yang's Daqi Barbecue (Yangji Daqi Kaorou) is quite popular in Shanghai, and it is said they now have 60 chain stores, including both company-owned and franchised locations.



The one in Beijing is the original shop, and the owner is from Qiqihar, where he started out selling barbecue at a street stall.



I think their best feature is the value. A 198-yuan group-buy set for two is basically all meat, and the service is great, with staff helping to grill everything and responding to every request.



We all really like eating these small grilled sausages.



When I eat at Daqi Barbecue, I usually only choose beef, as I think beef tastes better than lamb when cooked on this kind of iron plate.



They also serve frozen pears (dongli) from Northeast China. Because they are located in Wudaokou near many students, the prices are cheap. They have been open for less than a month, but you already have to wait in line to eat there.

8. Mr. Mu's Halal Sichuan and Hunan Stir-fry



This shop is quite interesting. I noticed it when it first opened and thought it was just a takeout stall with no seating. After a while, a friend discovered they actually have a dining area, though it is very small.



There are only four small tables at the entrance, but it is very clean. The shop specializes in Hunan cuisine, and everything is stir-fried to order.



Seeing the halal sign, I knew right away this shop must be run by Hui Muslims from Qinghai.



The menu clearly states they serve wok-fired stir-fry, not pre-made dishes. I chose two classic Hunan dishes: stir-fried yellow beef and Changsha stinky tofu (chou doufu).



Both dishes were very authentic and tasted just like Hunan. I have eaten traditional halal Hunan food in Shaoyang, Hunan, and I can say the cooking here is just as good. Hunan food is truly spicy and goes well with rice. They also use high-quality rice.



As the first halal Hunan restaurant in Beijing, it is rare to find such authentic flavors. It is worth noting that they do not sell alcohol, and I hope they keep it that way. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide continues the 2024 must-eat list with Xiaoyao hulatang, vegetable flatbread, Doudian barbecue, suancai fish, old Beijing snacks, Xinjiang-style dishes, and several newer halal restaurants worth trying while they are still around.







28. Yuziwei Xiaoyao Spicy Soup



I recommend this newly opened Henan Xiaoyao Town spicy soup (hulatang) shop near Huoying Subway Station. It is more comfortable and easier to enjoy than the version from Fang Zhongshan, which is much spicier. If I wrote about Fang Zhongshan, many of my friends from Henan would surely disagree.



The shop is small with only a few tables, but the service is great. They serve a mix of spicy soup and tofu pudding (doufunao), and the tofu pudding is sweet. They also have pan-fried buns (shuijianbao) and fried dough fritters (youmotou), but the highlight is that you can get vegetable flatbread (caimo) here.



The vegetable flatbread is made to order and served piping hot with plenty of filling.



The spicy soup and beef pockets (niurouhe) are very authentic and taste just like Henan.



29. Yandu Barbecue



This is a barbecue shop in Doudian, Fangshan. The quality is excellent and it offers better value than Qingu in Changying, costing about 80 yuan per person.



Due to various reasons, many Japanese and Korean restaurants are downplaying their origins. While this shop serves Korean-style barbecue, they have added items like sushi to their menu.



The three-person set meal was enough to fill us up, and we had choices like sushi, stone pot bibimbap, and cold noodles.





The bibimbap had a rich variety of ingredients and tasted good, and the staff provided attentive service.





30. Al Safir Arabic Restaurant



This restaurant has been open in Beijing for over ten years and the food quality is always consistent. The owner is Palestinian, speaks fluent Chinese, is a devout Muslim, and the restaurant does not serve alcohol.



Once, I was drinking tea at the shop with the owner and a few Arab friends. One of the Arab guys started to explain why he hadn't performed his namaz on time, but the owner cut him off immediately. He told him not to make any excuses, saying that missing a prayer is wrong and there was nothing more to say.



The owner's mother lives in Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees. He once brought her to live in Beijing for a while, but she wasn't used to it because she couldn't hear the adhan (the call to prayer) five times a day, so she moved back to Jordan.



A foreign restaurant that has stayed open for over a decade without selling alcohol must have great food. It is also one of the more affordable Arab restaurants in Beijing, with an average cost of about 100 yuan per person.







31. Yangfang Hot Pot (Yangfang Shuanrou)



As a food critic for Yangfang Hot Pot, I have visited almost all of their direct-managed stores in Beijing. I can honestly say that Yangfang's service and food quality control are better than any traditional hot pot restaurant in the city. In the current tough restaurant market, Yangfang continues to grow against the trend, which is due to their commitment to excellence in management.



Among the many Yangfang Hot Pot locations, the service at the Yangfang Beitou flagship store is especially detail-oriented and almost flawless.



Before experiencing the high-quality service at Yangfang, I used to ignore the service standards at halal restaurants and only cared about the food. Now, I realize that in China's highly competitive restaurant market, you cannot win over customers without focusing on service.



Yangfang pioneered the 210-day frost-marbled lamb back tip, which is priced at 1.6 yuan per gram, or about 800 yuan for 500 grams.



Hot pot restaurants today can't just rely on meat quality. Just as Jubao Yuan is famous for its sesame flatbread (shaobing) and Manheng Ji for its sugar pancakes (tangbing), Yangfang's handmade beef buns (baozi) and steamed dumplings (shaomai) are excellent. They even sell these as packaged semi-finished products that you can order through their mini-program for home delivery.



The drinks at Yangfang Hot Pot are another highlight. They aim to match the quality of Heytea, and their homemade fruit tea and sour plum drink (suanmeitang) are very popular.



The durian-flavored tiramisu at the flagship store is so good that it rivals any specialty dessert shop.



Their hot pot vegetables look as good as they taste, and the hydroponic vegetables are safe and healthy. My interest in their vegetables, drinks, desserts, and staple foods has actually surpassed my interest in the meat. Yangfang is also very kid-friendly. Fahim gets a toy every time we go, and the quality of the children's bibs they provide is even better than the ones we buy ourselves. You can take them home after the meal, and my son uses his at home now.

32. Merv



Merv is likely the first halal restaurant in Beijing serving Turkmenistan cuisine. Merv is an ancient city in Turkmenistan listed as a World Heritage site, and the restaurant sign features the Turkmenistan flag.



We came to try this restaurant on its very first day of business. The owner is from Turkmenistan and speaks Chinese. This restaurant does not sell alcohol.



The menu is in Chinese, Russian, and English. Besides Turkmenistan specialties, they also serve Central Asian dishes from Russia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.





The menu calls this borscht (hongcaitang), also known as beef soup. It is made with beef and cabbage and has a light flavor.



This flaky baked bun (kaobaozi) is excellent. It is filled with large chunks of lamb and onions (piyanzi). The crust is crispy, which is a signature of Central Asian baked buns. It comes with pickles, which are very appetizing, and I enjoy eating them.



We ordered two types of barbecue: fried lamb chops and grilled beef. Both were quite salty, but the side of roasted fries was delicious and had a unique aroma.





The cheese flatbread (nailaokaobing) is filled with salty cheese. It is delicious and I recommend it.



This is a type of bun similar to a thin-skinned bun (baopibaozi), but the dough is thicker. There is a piece of butter in the center of the plate to dip the buns in, and it comes with a cup of plain yogurt. Turkmen people are used to adding yogurt to their buns when they eat them. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food map issue 45 covers Imam Malik food-rule reflections, Chenfei Shiwei fried chicken, Gao Qunsheng hulatang, Hotan Xinjiang rose pilaf, spicy hot pot, Guizhou sour soup, lobster, Ningxia salt-lake lamb, farmhouse dishes, and Miyun reservoir fish.

I am currently translating a research paper on Imam Malik's legal views regarding food. It is quite interesting, as it mentions that Imam Malik allows eating frogs. I will post it later. I previously wrote an article about which foods are considered not halal according to the Quran and Sunnah. The article mentions that the four schools of jurisprudence interpret the Quran and Sunnah differently. I often hear people say that on controversial issues, it is best to be cautious and strict. I think the opposite. In most cases, I prefer to be lenient when facing controversial issues. I believe that having different opinions on the same issue is actually a mercy. It gives people more choices. You cannot label those who choose the lenient path because you do not have enough evidence yet. If there were evidence, there would be no controversy. Some things will only be revealed in the afterlife, and it is not for you in this life to point fingers and judge.

In fact, we create too many difficulties for ourselves, overcome problems that should not exist, and then feel moved by our own efforts. I will not specify which things these are; you can all decide for yourselves.

The restaurant information for this issue is as follows:

1. Chenfei Shiwei

2. Gao Qunsheng Spicy Soup (hulatang)

3. Hotan Xinjiang Rose Pilaf (zhuafan)

4. Luyiyuan Spicy Hot Pot (malatang) and Spicy Dry Pot (mala xiangguo)

5. Guizhou Sour Soup Hot Pot, Beef with Skin (daipi huangniurou), and Sour Soup Fish

6. Fanshen Lobster Restaurant

7. Gameizi Ningxia Salt-lake Lamb Restaurant

8. Fuhua Zhengxing Folk Customs Restaurant

9. Hexingzhai Restaurant

1. Chenfei Shiwei



A new fried chicken shop opened at the entrance of Puhuangyu subway station. It is a takeout window, but you can also sit inside to eat.



The fried chicken tastes pretty good. Usually, as long as the ingredients are fresh, fried food like this will not taste bad.



The group-buy deal for two people including fried chicken and almond tofu (xingren doufu) is quite affordable.



The fried chicken is 39.9 yuan, and two bowls of almond tofu cost 4 yuan.



There is a paid parking lot right at the shop entrance, so it is easy to get to.

2. Gao Qunsheng Spicy Soup (hulatang)



Gao Qunsheng is a halal chain brand from Henan. After they opened in Beijing, I never saw a halal certification displayed, so I did not go. This time, I saw the halal certification at the Shijingshan branch. The staff told me that some branches do not have enough ethnic minority employees to qualify for the certification. If you mind that, you can just go to the Shijingshan branch.





Gao Qunsheng spicy soup (hulatang) is in the style of Xiaoyao Town and is not particularly spicy.



Their pan-fried buns (shuijianbao) are better than the beef pockets, and the pan-fried buns and bean porridge (doumo) are their signature dishes.





The scallion pancakes (congyoubing) are crispy and have a good texture, but the lamb offal soup (yangzatang) is just average.



I went in the evening and they only had spicy soup (hulatang), no bean porridge. It is best to go in the morning for the spicy soup.



There is a paid parking lot at the entrance of the restaurant, which is very convenient.

3. Hotan Rose Xinjiang Pilaf (zhuafan)



This is a Xinjiang halal restaurant that only serves pilaf and has chain stores in Urumqi.



The shop just opened, so they currently only have pilaf and some free side dishes.





Their free side dishes are especially delicious.



The lamb and oil are both shipped from Xinjiang.





Uyghur staff work in the kitchen, and the lamb leg pilaf here is excellent. I arrived late and there was only one lamb leg left. The meat was very tender and flavorful, and the pilaf was fragrant. You could say this is the best place for pilaf among Xinjiang restaurants in Beijing.



4. Luyiyuan Spicy Hot Pot (malaxiangguo)



There are plenty of halal spicy hot pot (malatang) shops, but halal spicy dry pot (mala xiangguo) is rare.



I arrived at 10 p.m., and there were still many customers eating a late-night snack.



The spicy dry pot is quite hot, so be careful if you cannot handle spice. The shop also serves steamed dumplings (shaomai).



5. Guizhou Sour Soup Hot Pot, Beef with Skin (daipi huangniurou), and Sour Soup Fish



This is a Guizhou sour soup hot pot restaurant with a new style, featuring beef hot pot and fish hot pot as their signature dishes.



Business was great as soon as they opened, and you have to wait over 30 minutes for a table.



The owner originally planned to serve Guizhou-style stir-fried dishes, but the hot pot business became so popular that they stopped making stir-fries. Now, they only serve hot pot.





We ordered three cups of homemade prickly pear juice (cili zhi), which is sweet, sour, and icy. They only have three of these cups, so we took them all, and other customers had to order different drinks.



The dipping sauce is the soul of the meal. I suggest following the guide posted by the shop to mix your sauce. You must try the litsea cubeba oil (mujiangzi you), mint leaves, chili powder (hu lajiao mian), and fish mint (zhe'ergen).





The full beef set includes beef and various beef offal, and the ingredients are very fresh. If you like fish, choose the river catfish (jiangtuan). Each fish weighs two jin and three liang, and the meat is firm with no small bones.





You can get free iced jelly (bingfen) if you save the shop on your map and check in. The iced jelly is just okay, but the signature beef and fish hot pots are worth a try.

6. Fanshen Lobster Restaurant



A new crayfish restaurant just opened in Baiziwan. The owner is from Langfang, and they are currently only open for dinner until the early morning.



You can eat seafood like crayfish. For details, check out my previous article on how the Hanafi school views shrimp. They also serve specialties from Cangzhou, Hebei, like hot pot chicken (huoguo ji) and spicy crab (xiangla xie).







The restaurant has a great atmosphere. It is spacious with plenty of room between tables, and the private courtyard at the entrance serves as a free parking lot.



If you leave a review and save the shop on the app, you get a free glass of fresh-squeezed fruit juice.



The most popular dish is the garlic crayfish. You can really taste how fresh the shrimp are. You can dip the freshly griddled hand-torn flatbread (shousi bing) into the golden crayfish broth; it tastes excellent.





The grilled squid is also delicious. Their ingredients are definitely fresh.



The spicy beef tripe (chanzui niudu) has a numbing and spicy flavor and tastes great. Overall, this place has the potential to become a viral hit, whether you look at the service, environment, or taste. It is a bit pricey, with an average cost of over 200 yuan per person.

7. Gameizi Ningxia Tan Sheep



Gameizi is a chain restaurant, and they do a good job with their lamb.



Tan sheep (tan yang) restaurants have popped up all over Beijing in the last two years, but the quality of the meat has been going downhill.



We tried the lamb neck this time, and everyone liked it. It comes with chive flower sauce and chili sauce, both of which are quite tasty.





Stir-fried beef (xiaochao huangniurou) is a common home-cooked dish in southern Ningxia, where people eat more beef.



Salt-lake sheep (tanyang) has a slightly thicker layer of fat, which makes it perfect for roasting. This restaurant is busy at night, but parking is difficult. The average cost is about 150 yuan per person.

8. Fuhua Zhengxing Folk Customs Restaurant



Mujia Yu village, near Miyun Reservoir, is a village for Hui Muslims. There are four halal farm-style restaurants along the road at the village entrance: Fuhua Zhengxing Folk Restaurant, Hexingzhai Restaurant, Shanshui Tianyuan, and Kunanchun. I have eaten at Shanshui Tianyuan before, and Kunanchun was closed, so we had our farm-style lunch at Fuhua Zhengxing.





I recommend trying the farm-style tofu in Miyun. It is a local specialty and has a very fragrant flavor.



Fried river shrimp is another farm specialty. There is also the stir-fried pumpkin (wogua) shown below. Wogua is just pumpkin, and this was grown in their own field. It tastes great.





One of the wild vegetables often found in Beijing farm-style restaurants is muli bud (muliya), also called jasmine bud (moliya), which is actually the tender leaf of the goldenrain tree.



The fried beef strips are covered in sesame seeds. They seem to be made from beef jerky and go very well with rice.



Their signature meat pie has a crispy crust, which is the texture I like. We ordered two jin (one kilogram), and all 10 of us finished it.



The stewed free-range chicken is also good. The meat is soft, tender, and flavorful, and the price is cheap.



Since we did not book in advance, there were no reservoir fish of a suitable size when we arrived at noon, so we chose these fried small fish. Reservoir fish usually weigh between five and eight jin, with the extra-large ones being over ten jin. They are bighead carp, and every restaurant charges 38 yuan per jin, usually cooking them by braising in sauce.

9. Hexingzhai Halal Restaurant



We missed out on reservoir fish at lunch, but we didn't give up. We wandered around until evening and came to Mujia Yu to try this place, Hexingzhai.



The homemade mung bean jelly (liangfen) had mustard oil added, making it extra refreshing.



We had scrambled eggs and stir-fried tofu. Miyun tofu is truly delicious no matter how you cook it.





Stir-fried celery with beef and mixed-grain buns (zaliangbao) are both classic home-style dishes that go great with rice.





Lamb skewers (yangrouchuan) are 5 yuan each, which isn't expensive. The food at these farmhouses in Mujia Yu is quite good.



We finally got to eat reservoir fish. This fish weighed over eight pounds, enough for 10 people. The bighead carp meat was tender, though it had many small bones, so kids should be careful. After finishing the fish, we added a portion of griddle-baked flatbread (laobing) to the sauce to make fish head with soaked flatbread. This dish was a hit with everyone, making the trip well worth it. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide maps issue 40 of the series, featuring a Ghanaian halal restaurant in Sanlitun, Stone Hearth Grill and Tea, Arabic food, tomato beef flatbread, luosifen hot pot, sturgeon feast, and Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles.

Beijing Halal Food Map (40) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Ramadan has just ended, so we can get back to checking out all kinds of halal food. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Ramadan has just ended, so we can get back to checking out all kinds of halal food. The restaurants in this guide are all new, and they each have something special. The first one is a West African Ghanaian halal restaurant, which is very rare in China. It is a big step for Beijing as it works to become a global capital for halal food.

Here is the list of halal restaurants for this guide:

1. Tribe Garden African Restaurant

2. Stone Hearth Grill and Tea (Shishangweilu)

3. Ma Bei'er Bistro

4. Carthage Arabic Restaurant

5. Fan Manyu Tomato Beef Flatbread (Paobing)

6. Stinky Star Snail Rice Noodle (Luosifen) Hot Pot

7. Mulaixuan Sturgeon Feast

8. Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles

1. Tribe Garden African Restaurant



A new halal restaurant featuring West African flavors recently opened on the first basement level of Sanlitun SOHO. They specialize in Ghanaian cuisine. The staff are all Black Muslims who speak fluent Chinese, and one young lady from Kenya is especially cute.



Ghana is a country in West Africa where about 15% of the population is Muslim, yet the national banknote features a mosque with a unique style.



Larabanga Mosque

The Larabanga Mosque on the banknote was built between the 14th and 15th centuries. It is the oldest mosque in Ghana. Its architectural style is unique to West Africa, built from yellow mud and wood, making it very iconic.



The restaurant decor also has a strong African vibe, including the wall hangings.







African goat meat mixed rice

African goat meat is a bit tough, but it has no gamey smell. The mixed rice is salty and spicy.



Non-alcoholic mojito and fruit punch



African specialty egusi (egusi)

You eat this dish mixed with the cassava flour paste shown below. Eating the cassava flour paste is just like eating rice cake.





Fufu (fufu)

The white dish is called fufu, which translates to rice flour paste in Chinese. It is a staple food for Ghanaians.



Friday special dish

They have a special dish every day. This Friday special is made with beans and rice, served with some noodles and dipping sauce. It tastes sour, salty, and spicy all at once.



Grilled tilapia

This is an African-style grilled fish. It tastes great. Even though the skin looks charred, the meat inside is white.



A young lady from Kenya recommended this milkshake to us. It is very creamy and delicious. The whole meal cost 530 yuan for four people, which is 130 yuan per person.

2. Stone Hearth Grill and Tea (Shishangweilu)



This is a newly opened light meal and coffee shop on the ground floor of the West District of Changying Paradise Walk. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Beijing, and we chose to have a small gathering here for Eid al-Fitr.



Thirty of us ate every single item on the menu twice.



They serve light meals during the day. Besides these pretty salads, they also have burgers and pasta.





The M3 beef burger uses a patty hand-pressed by the owner, and all the meat is sourced from Li Wei's shop in Changying.





This is an Italian-style sandwich, listed on the menu as a panini.



Barbecue is served in the evening. If you want a simple Western-style meal at night, you can call ahead to book. Everyone gave the simple meals and barbecue great reviews. The average cost per person is about 130 yuan.



3. Ma Bei'er Bistro



Ma Bei'er is a new brand started by the original management team of Jubao Yuan after they split up. Next to the main Ma Bei'er hot pot (shuanrou) restaurant on Nanheng West Street, there is also a small Ma Bei'er bistro that specializes in Beijing-style stir-fry dishes.



This stir-fry bistro is just as busy as the hot pot restaurant. We tried a few signature dishes and had a good experience. Everything was delicious and worth recommending. The average cost per person is about 100 yuan.



Stir-fried mixed vegetables (chaohecai)



Quick-fried beef tripe with coriander (yanbaosandan)



Deep-fried meatballs (ganzhawanzi)



Braised yellow croaker in northern style (kuadunhuangyu)



Slow-cooked beef (weiniurou)



Scallion pancake (conghuabing)

4. Carthage Restaurant



This is a Tunisian restaurant. It is owned by the same people as La Medina Tunisian restaurant in Sanlitun. You can find it on the first floor of the Atour X Hotel in Sanlitun.



During Ramadan, they offer an iftar buffet for 120 yuan per person. It includes all the signature dishes you would expect, plus drinks and desserts.



Tunisia is a North African country. Its food habits are a bit different from West Africa, and North African flavors are usually easier for most people to enjoy.

















5. Fan Manyu Tomato Beef Flatbread (Paobing)



A new specialty shop just opened on the basement level of the West Zone at Tongzhou Wanda Plaza. They focus on tomato beef brisket with flatbread (paobing) and various other tomato-based dishes.



The staff uniforms are covered in tomato drawings.









Vinegar-stir-fried egg and meat (culiu muxu)



Lychee-flavored cherry tomatoes



Mapo tofu





Their food is prepared very delicately and tastes great. The environment is clean, the prices are affordable, and the average cost is under 80 yuan per person.

6. Stinky Star Snail Rice Noodle (Luosifen) Hot Pot



There is a halal snail rice noodle (luosifen) shop on the ground floor of the Golden Street in the West District of Tongzhou Wanda Plaza. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Changchun who used to work at iQIYI before opening this physical shop. The small shop has two floors and mainly serves halal snail rice noodles and clam rice noodles (huaji fen) in small hot pots.



The snail rice noodle hot pot comes with a wide variety of toppings that you can add to the pot to cook together.







This set meal for two costs 78 yuan and is enough for two or three people to eat.



The set includes Guangxi cassava sweet soup (mushu tangshui).



Add all the side dishes to the pot and cook for one minute before you start eating. The taste is quite authentic.

7. Mulaixuan Sturgeon Feast



Across from the Doudian Mosque in Fangshan, there is a restaurant that specializes in sturgeon (xunlongyu). This place is unique because it has no menu and you cannot order dishes. The owner decides the size of the fish based on how many people are in your group, and all the dishes are made from the fish you choose.





You pick the sturgeon from this fish tank, and they are all quite large. The sturgeon costs 58 yuan per jin, and the smallest fish weigh over five jin, making it perfect for groups.



After picking the fish, you just wait for the owner to serve the food. This is actually nice because it saves you the trouble of ordering.





The standard dishes include salt and pepper fish skin, sweet and sour fish bones, fish offal, fish and radish soup, and stir-fried fish fillets. The main course is sturgeon dumplings. The fish is very fresh, and every dish tastes great.















8. Saddam Lanzhou Beef Noodles



The long-standing Lanzhou brand Saddam Beef Noodles has expanded into Beijing's Fengtai District. Known as the Eastern Heretic of the Lanzhou beef noodle world, the shop opened in eastern Lanzhou in the 1990s. It got its name because the owner looked just like Saddam. Other famous shops include the Western Poison Ma Anjun, the Southern Emperor Guobao, the Northern Beggar Cangying, and the Central Master Ma Zilu.





You can tell the beef noodles will be good just by looking at the chili oil, which is fragrant but not too spicy. I tried it and found it very authentic. My friends from Lanzhou would not be disappointed if they came here to eat. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal street food guide maps issue 34, covering Fangshan hot pot, Shidu Xinjiang food, farm-style halal dishes, clam vermicelli, local snacks, and places worth saving for Muslim travelers.

Beijing Halal Food Map (34) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: The WeChat official account has a search feature. Just tap the search icon in the top right corner of the homepage to look for articles using keywords. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

The WeChat official account has a search feature. Just tap the search icon in the top right corner of the homepage to look for articles using keywords. This works for all official accounts, so there is no need to set up automated keyword replies in the backend. I always see all sorts of strange words in the backend, and I really cannot reply to them all.



1. Hengxingxiang



This is a Beijing-style hot pot restaurant. The meat tasted great while I was eating. When I paid the bill, I noticed the payee was Doudian Yisheng. I asked, and it turns out it is run by the Doudian Yisheng beef and mutton shop, which also has a stall selling beef and mutton on Niujie Street.



The restaurant is in Fangshan and is quite large with two floors. I heard they have live vegetables, which are hydroponic greens brought straight to your table for the hot pot. They are incredibly fresh, though I did not get to try them when I visited.













Aorta (huanghou)





Their sesame flatbread (shaobing) is delicious, soft, and unique. I recommend trying one. There is free parking at the entrance; just tell the security guard you are there to eat.

2. Yinsha Halal Restaurant



Shidu in Fangshan is a beautiful summer retreat in the Beijing suburbs. I found three halal restaurants along the road between Badu and Jiudu. This Yinsha Halal Restaurant is run by a friend from Kashgar (adaxi) and is located in Jiudu. These restaurants all offer lodging.



They serve traditional large Xinjiang dishes as well as local farm-style food, such as grilled rainbow trout and stir-fried wild vegetables.



The family from Xinjiang was preparing lung and tripe (mianfeizi) for Eid al-Fitr that day and even invited us to taste it.







Deep-fried prickly ash buds (zhahuajiaoya)



Stir-fried river shrimp (chaohexia)



Grilled rainbow trout (kaohongzunyu)

3. Muyi's House



This is a halal Beijing-style restaurant in Badu, and the owner is a Hui Muslim from Fengtai.



We ordered a few traditional stir-fried dishes, but they were all quite salty. We prefer lighter flavors, so keep that in mind. The Shidu tofu is a specialty dish and it tastes quite good.







Shidu tofu (shidudoufu)



Egg sauce noodles (jidancuanmian)

The egg sauce for these noodles is extremely salty. Add it little by little when you eat. Most people definitely cannot handle the whole serving of sauce.

4. Clam vermicelli (huajiaphen)



This is an unassuming little shop in the Xiguanshi market. It looks very ordinary, but the taste is excellent.



The clam vermicelli is made of glass noodles with clams and some side vegetables. It has a slightly numbing, salty, and savory flavor. You can add chili separately.



You can add any of these side dishes. The portions are small, and one order of large shrimp is just one single shrimp.



The ingredients are quite fresh. The vegetables and seafood cook quickly when blanched, and they taste good.



It comes wrapped in foil and sits on a bowl so you can carry it without burning your hands, because this clam vermicelli (huajiafen) is really piping hot.



5. Huawei Beijing Research Institute Halal Canteen



The Huawei Beijing Research Institute has four halal stalls, and they are owned by the same person as the halal canteen at the Bantian base in Shenzhen.



You can use cash at the big tech company's halal canteen, as long as you can find a way to get inside.



If you have job offers from many big companies and do not know which one to pick, Huawei's halal canteen is a plus.



Huawei employees have a high happiness index. Working and living on the campus is convenient, and the environment is beautiful.



The design style of the canteen and the campus is consistent with the Shenzhen headquarters.







The sour soup dumplings (suantang shuijiao) are really delicious. The last time I had such good sour soup dumplings was in the Muslim Quarter (Huifang) in Xi'an, and these dumplings at Huawei are just as good.



Crispy baked buns (supi kaobaozi)





6. Xiguanshi Halal Night Market



The parking lot at the entrance of Xiguanshi Village in Changping now hosts a halal night market from 5:00 PM to 11:30 PM, which is named Crescent Food Plaza.



The night market is quite large, with four rows of food stalls on both sides offering dozens of different halal dishes.





Various deep-fried snacks.



Grilled meat on a round iron plate (zhizi kaorou) and grilled fish.





All kinds of small snacks.



Steamed chicken in chili sauce (koushuiji).



Teppanyaki.



The grilled squid from the teppanyaki stall is delicious.





Japanese-style desserts.



They have fresh salmon sashimi and sushi.





Electric-grilled skewers and mung bean jelly noodles (liangfen).



Deep-fried stinky tofu (zha chou doufu).





Grilled oysters and grilled scallops.





Pot-pot chicken (boboji).



Pot-pot chicken (boboji) is a dish of cold skewers that are already cooked.



Fruit salad (shuiguolao).





Charcoal-grilled skewers.







Iced jelly (bingfen) and ice cream.



We tried almost everything at the night market. It was not cheap, and the three of us spent over 400 yuan. The Japanese food and grilled skewers were the most expensive, with two stalls costing over 200 yuan. Of course, there are cheaper ways to eat there.

7. Yuejing Lanwan Japanese Buffet Restaurant.



This is a halal bathhouse that opened recently in Changying, and the Japanese buffet inside is a halal restaurant. You can choose a bath and buffet package for 199 yuan, or just come for the Japanese buffet. The buffet with sashimi is 165 yuan, and the one without is 127 yuan. You can buy group deals on Douyin by searching for "Yuejing Japanese Buffet".



Even though it is a buffet, the food quality is just as good as ordering a la carte. You scan a code to order whatever you want. Each dish is made as a single serving, prepared fresh when you order, and you can eat as much as you like. I think the lamb and seafood at this restaurant are excellent, and the desserts are high quality too. It is a great value.









































The third-floor lounge has an entertainment area and a self-service station for fruit and drinks. Everything is unlimited, and there is plenty of Yili ice cream.



The lounge at this bathhouse isn't as nice as the one at Shuiguo Tangquan, but it is much cheaper. The Japanese restaurant here is a great deal. If you ordered these dishes separately, they would be expensive, but they are very affordable as part of the set meal. There is free parking at the entrance and a children's play area, so it is a good place to bring kids.



8. Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Ethnic Restaurant



The halal canteen at BUPT is called the Ethnic Restaurant. The owner is from Lanzhou. I came to BUPT because they have halal snail rice noodles (luosifen). This is my first time eating halal luosifen in Beijing. I prepared myself mentally on the way here, thinking it would smell very strong. When I actually ate it, I didn't think it was bad at all. It just had a strong smell of pickled bamboo shoots, and it was quite tasty. You can add fried eggs and side dishes to it.



The Ethnic Restaurant has a lot of good food. We also had steamed rice rolls (changfen), and the price was so low it felt like it was free. BUPT students are really lucky.



The campus isn't fully open yet, so you have to find a way to get in if you want to eat here.



Here are some other stalls at the BUPT Ethnic Restaurant, including Chongqing spicy noodles (chongqing xiaomian). I have eaten at many university halal canteens, and BUPT has the widest variety.















9. Peking University Tongyuan



The history of PKU Tongyuan goes back to 1946. That year, PKU established the Department of Oriental Languages and the Department of Arabic. Professor Ma Jian proposed building a canteen for Hui Muslims at PKU. It was the first canteen for Hui Muslims built at a Beijing university and was named the PKU Dongfanghong Hui Muslim Canteen. Later, because the number of Muslim students at PKU increased rapidly, the canteen wasn't big enough. In 1986, PKU raised 500,000 yuan to build a new 400-square-meter halal restaurant on the site of the old Tong Mansion on campus, naming it the PKU Tongyuan Halal Restaurant.



Looking at the halal restaurants at different universities now, Tongyuan at Peking University is on the smaller side. Because it has limited space, it only serves lunch to ethnic minority students, and you cannot pay without a campus card. However, after dinner, Tongyuan opens up to all students and staff for late-night barbecue.

I have been to Tongyuan many times, and they recently added spicy hot pot (mala xiangguo) and spicy soup (malatang) to the menu.











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Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide maps issue 31 of the author restaurant series, featuring Xinjiang restaurants, Tanyang lamb, grilled pigeon, roasted goose egg, soup noodles, milk beer, and practical notes for Muslim diners.

Beijing Halal Food Map (31) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: The restaurants I have saved on my phone that I still need to visit are basically just Northwest and Xinjiang spots now. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

The restaurants I have saved on my phone that I still need to visit are basically just Northwest and Xinjiang spots now. There are not many new specialty restaurants lately, but there are really quite a few new Xinjiang restaurants. After things opened up this year, I plan to start traveling abroad since I have basically been everywhere I can go in China. I have already arranged a trip to Hong Kong and Macau at the end of this month, and I will spend a long time in Malaysia in March to visit my grandmother and aunt whom I have never met before.

1. Tanyang Puzi North and South Xinjiang Specialties



This Xinjiang restaurant started in Mentougou and has several branches in the Beijing suburbs. Just seeing the words 'Tanyang' (salt-lake sheep) might make you think it is a Ningxia restaurant, but it is actually a Xinjiang restaurant with a full range of dishes from both North and South Xinjiang. They just use Tanyang from Ningxia as their main ingredient.



At the Mentougou main store, the hot pot and stir-fry sections are separate and have different entrances. The restaurant is spacious and has private rooms and booths.



Napaliyong

Napaliyong is a Xinjiang dessert. It is actually a transliteration of Napoleon, which is the same thing as a French mille-feuille. You can choose a dual-flavor option here, with both chocolate and milk.



The portion of pilaf (zhuafan) is large and affordable, and they give you plenty of meat, but the flavor is a bit bland and the lamb leg is not well-seasoned.



The barbecue is quite popular. The grilled lamb liver and grilled lamb trotters are both excellent. Tanyang meat has thick fat, which makes it perfect for grilling.



Grilled pigeon

Grilled pigeon is a Xinjiang specialty. The grilled pigeon at Tanyang Puzi is delicious, with crispy skin and tender meat.



Roasted goose egg

Roasted goose egg is a special Xinjiang barbecue dish you rarely see in other restaurants. Goose eggs are much bigger than chicken eggs. You have to boil them before roasting, or they will explode. Eat them with a dipping sauce made of cumin and crushed peanuts.



Xinjiang soup noodles (tangfan)

Soup noodles are hand-torn dough pieces. They are filling enough to be a main meal. The portions are huge, but the flavor is a bit mild. Their hot dishes generally have a light taste.



Milk beer (naipi) is a special Xinjiang drink. The label says it is a non-alcoholic fermented beverage. Some people worry it might contain trace amounts of alcohol. I once discussed what foods are not halal according to Islamic teachings. According to international halal food certification standards, trace amounts of alcohol produced by natural fermentation do not affect the halal status of food. This happens everywhere in daily life. It is not realistic to carry an alcohol tester to check every food you eat, including fruit. Milk beer does not make you drunk, and it certainly will not cause you to fail a drunk driving test.



There is a Xinjiang dance performance around 7:00 PM. My son loves watching the young ladies in colorful outfits dance. Overall, Tanyang Shop wins on value. The cost per person is under 100 yuan. They have a full range of Xinjiang dishes, but the taste is only average.

2. Xiefeng Steamed Bun Shop



Just looking at the name of this bun shop, you can tell how much the owner suffered, waiting three years to finally open.





This is a Huaiyang snack shop from Henan. From 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM, they serve spicy soup (hulatang) and steamed buns. These are large steamed buns, not pan-fried buns.





The skin of the large steamed bun is a bit thick. I personally prefer pan-fried buns, but unfortunately, they do not have them here.



The spicy pepper soup (hulatang) in Huaiyang is lighter and less spicy than the one in Zhengzhou. Since it is called spicy pepper soup, it tastes better with that signature spicy kick.





I think their clay pot dishes (shaguo) are the best. You can choose from many side dishes. I recommend the crispy pork clay pot (xiaosurou shaguo) and adding a side of noodles. It is delicious, and crispy pork (xiaosurou) is a classic Henan snack.







3. AIIB Executive Dining Room



I had the set meal at the AIIB main cafeteria last time, and I promised myself I would come back to try a proper meal at the executive dining room. Just to be clear, the AIIB restaurant is not open to the public. Why mention it then? I think you should apply for a job at the AIIB. You can live a lifestyle that balances your faith and your work here, and you can even get praised by your boss for taking paid time for namaz.



The executive dining room is not a halal restaurant, but they do prepare halal ingredients separately if you book in advance. Many AIIB executives and staff come from Muslim countries, so you do not need to worry about the food. The servers said all their meat is imported from Arab countries.



Teriyaki chicken leg burger

The executive dining room is a fusion restaurant that brings together food from many different countries, so we picked a specialty dish from each one.



Avocado sauce embroidered shrimp balls

The avocado sauce embroidered shrimp balls are a Mexican-style dish because avocado sauce is a Mexican specialty.



Japanese eel rice (unagi don)

The eel rice is topped with bonito flakes (muyuhua), which is a seasoning made from shaved dried skipjack tuna.



Coconut curry fish

Curry fish is a South Asian dish, and there are many people from India and Pakistan at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.



Vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho)

I have eaten halal rice noodles in Vietnam, but I never saw halal Vietnamese food back home until I finally found it here at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.



Angus tomahawk steak

It is rare to find a halal tomahawk steak. The server will ask how you want it cooked. I suggest medium-well. If you order it well-done, the beef juices dry out and you lose some of the fresh flavor.

4. One Thousand and One Nights Restaurant



I visited the One Thousand and One Nights branch in Solana many years ago. After it closed, I never came to the Sanlitun location, but the Sanlitun shop is actually decorated with a very exotic style.



Next door to this shop are an Iranian restaurant and a Turkish Mom restaurant. Both are long-standing businesses, and their customers are mostly foreigners.



Cream of mushroom soup

One Thousand and One Nights is an Egyptian-themed Arabic restaurant. According to the rules, you drink soup before your meal.



Hummus and spicy sesame sauce. Both are dips for cedar bread (xuesongbing). One is salty and savory, and the other is salty and spicy.





Cedar bread (xuesongbing)



Roasted lamb chops (kaoyangpai)

The roasted lamb chops and mixed grill at One Thousand and One Nights taste great. The lamb is fresh and tender with no gamey smell, keeping the natural flavor of the meat. The dipping sauce is simple, just salt and lemon juice, served with a small side of salad dressing. I think the meat tastes perfect on its own.



Mixed grill (zonghe shaokao)

The mixed grill is a combination of lamb, chicken, and beef skewers. Each skewer has even more meat than the red willow skewers (hongliu kaorou).



Shawarma

Shawarma can also be called a sandwich. It is a very popular Middle Eastern specialty, famous even in Western countries, much like the popularity of meat burgers (roujiamo) in our country.



Halawa

There are two unique Middle Eastern desserts: halawa and baklawa. Halawa is a peanut brittle with a mildly sweet taste. Baklawa is a honey cashew pastry with a sweetness level of over five plus signs.



Baklawa

One Thousand and One Nights has Egyptian belly dancing performances at night. These shows were paused for three years due to the pandemic, but they have now resumed.

5. Jianglai



Jianglai is a chain restaurant, and this is their flagship store in Wangjing. It is very spacious, but it gets packed at lunch and you will need to wait for a table. There is a paid parking lot next door, but parking in Wangjing is very expensive.



Jianglai is a bit like a localized version of Bayi Laoye, but the food is slightly inferior to Bayi Laoye.





Overall, their Xinjiang food has no major flaws, but it is not very surprising either. The flavors are quite mild.











The combo of big plate chicken (dapanji) and spicy chicken (laziji) is creative. It lets you eat two hearty dishes at once and saves you the cost of an extra dish.

6. Xi'an lamb pita bread in soup (yangrou paomo)



Qin Laoda Paomo Restaurant has been open in Beijing for 16 years. I vaguely remember eating here a few years ago. It is a standard paomo shop. Unfortunately, you cannot break the bread yourself, which is a big part of the fun for people from Xi'an.



Cold skin noodles (liangpi) with wheat gluten (mianjin) topped with chili oil is a sour and spicy dish perfect for summer.



The meat burger (roujiamo) tastes good. The crust is very crispy and they give you plenty of meat.



To get the full experience when eating Xi'an paomo, you have to drink a local Xi'an Bingfeng soda.



Although paomo is famous for the lamb version, locals in Xi'an mostly eat beef paomo, which I also prefer. Qin Laoda's paomo is decent, but it is definitely not as authentic as what you get in the Muslim Quarter (Huifang) in Xi'an.

7. Lianghuo Lanzhou twisted fried dough and skewers (fanhua kaochuan)



A new Lanzhou-style skewer shop just opened in Baiziwan. It does not have a halal sign because, while the owner is not a Hui Muslim, all the staff are. The staff says all their ingredients are sourced from halal suppliers.



The kitchen staff all wear prayer caps (libaimao). If you have eaten at Lianshou Barbecue in Baiziwan, this shop has a very similar style.



Lianghuo is a Lanzhou dialect word that means to praise someone. The wall also explains a few other Lanzhou dialect phrases.



To me, flower-style skewers (fanhua shaokao) are just meat with fat in the middle. This shop offers two ways to grill: dry or wet, with wet meaning they brush on a sauce.



A Lanzhou-style barbecue shop must have Lanzhou snacks. You can have sweet fermented oat drink (tianbeizi) served hot, and once heated, you cannot smell the alcohol in it.



A must-order Lanzhou delicacy is the flowing sauce wide noodles (liuzhi kuanfen). They are smooth, chewy, and the sour and spicy broth is great for opening your appetite.



Milk egg fermented rice (niunai jidan laozao) is a nutritious hot drink. However, they did not beat the eggs well enough, so they were clumpy. It would be better if they were more spread out.



The sour and spicy lamb tripe (suanla xiaoyangdu) is a delicious skewer. The sour and spicy flavor is very unique to the region, as you do not usually find this taste in northern-style barbecue.



The grilled lamb kidney (kao yangyao) is also worth recommending. The small kidneys are not big, but they are grilled until crispy on the outside while staying tender inside.



This is a bundle of lamb flower skewers (yang jiahua), which are just lamb skewers. One bundle has 20 small skewers, and one person can easily eat 40 or 50 in a sitting. I tested it myself, and these lamb flower skewers are better than the beef tendon. We ended up ordering another bundle.



For the grilled vegetable platter, the best items are the grilled potato slices and grilled mushrooms. The crispy texture of the grilled mushrooms makes them taste just like meat.



The Lanzhou grilled flatbread (lanzhou kaobing) was the main dish I was looking forward to most. I had tried this flatbread stuffed with skewers at Lianshou before, and it is delicious. The flatbread is about the same size as a sesame flatbread (shaobing), with a crispy crust and a soft center, perfect for stuffing with anything. Overall, it is about the same as Lianshou, and the prices are similar too. The small skewers are not cheap, with an average cost of about 100 per person.

8. Liang's Skewer Shop (Liang de chuandian)



The owner's name is Liang, and he is from Hebei. He named his shop Liang's Skewer Shop.



The shop is on the second floor and is very spacious. One side has large floor-to-ceiling windows, making it very pleasant to eat barbecue by the window.



They serve seafood, barbecue, and hot pot. We came specifically for the seafood and barbecue.



The grilled beef tendon, lamb heart tube, and lamb cartilage were all quite tasty. The chili was not very spicy, the saltiness was just right, and there were no extra flavors.



A handful of small lamb skewers shows that their lamb quality is very good; it is neither gamey nor tough.





Grilled stone egg (kaoshidan)

We also tried some skewers we had never eaten before, like this grilled stone egg. It tasted like a grilled century egg (songhuadan).



The crispy potato chunks (guoba tudou) were sprinkled with salt and pepper. The potatoes were soft inside, and the skin felt like it had been fried, similar to eating french fries.



The grilled oysters, grilled scallops, and spicy stir-fried clams were generally not as good as the meat skewers, but you could tell the ingredients were fresh. The oysters and scallops were both 12 yuan each.







Baby cabbage in foil (xizhi wawacai)



seaweed and egg drop soup (zicai danhua tang)

I found their seaweed and egg drop soup (zicai danhua tang) to be a great value because they pack it with ingredients, filling the whole bowl with fluffy egg ribbons. The average cost is about 80 yuan per person.

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