Beijing xiaochi, typical Beijing-style snacks, come in a great variety and wealth of flavours. They are a product of China's age-old food culture and an embodiment of the traditional foods of all parts and nationalities of China. Here are only a few that can be sampled on the streets of the capital.

Pea Yellow (wan dou huang)
Pea yellow is made from peas and sugar. The colour is apricot and the texture is so soft that it dissolves as soon as you put it in your mouth. The best pea yellow can be found in the Restaurant Serving Royal Dishes in Beihai Park and Nanlaishun on Caishikou.

Tea Soup (cha tang)
Tea soup is based on a kind of paste made from flour. Boiling water is poured onto the paste and sweet osmanthus and sugar are added. Tea soup looks golden brown and has a delicate fragrance. It is nutritious and suitable for both the old and the young.

Little Wotou (xiao wotou)
A kind of steamed bun created by the imperial cook and a favourite of the Empress Dowager Cixi before becoming popular with the masses after the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).



Sausage
This is in fact a kind of bread. Quality flour, red distiller's yeast, cloves and round cardamom are stuffed into clean pork intestine. The sausage is then cut into slices and fried until golden brown. The slices are then dipped into salt and garlic before being eaten.

Donkey Rolling (lu da gunr)
Also known as "bean flour cake." It is traditional in Beijing to eat donkey rolling in the second lunar month of the year. There are two types of rolling. The first has a pastry made from steamed yellow rice (or polished glutinous rice) flour with parched soybean flour stuffed with sweet bean paste and sprinkled with sesame seeds, sweet osmanthus and sugar. The second has a casing made of brown sugar and steamed bean flour and is stuffed with steamed yellow rice flour then sprinkled with sweet osmanthus and brown sugar. The donkey rolling is tender and sweet.

Carbonado Wheat (shao mai)
Shao mai is a kind of steamed dumpling made with wheat flour. The dumpling has to be specially folded to look like a plum blossom, giving shao mai the name of "Plum Blossom on the Treetop."

Soya Milk (dou zhir)
Soya milk could be the cheapest local delicacy of Beijing. The milk is what remains after the making of beancurd. It is delicious eaten with hot-salted vegetables and fried pancake. Soybean milk is packed full of Vitamin C, protein, lipids and fibre. It is appetizing and beneficial to the spleen.

Boiled Tripe (baodu)
Baodu is sliced cow stomach, or tripe, that has been boiled quickly. It is then dipped in a mixture of soya sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, pepper oil, and minced caraway before being eaten.

Minced Meat Cake (xianr bing)
The minced meat sesame seed cake is a snack originally made for the emporers and now best cooked by the Beihai Park Mimic Imperial Foods Restaurant. The restaurant has been famous in Beijing since the early 1920s. The minced meat cake is made by slicing a bread bun in half and stuffing it with fried minced pork.

New Year's Cake
New year's cake is a traditional snack eaten during the Spring Festival. It is either yellow or white to symbolize gold and silver, and they are eaten to call for prosperity in the year to come.

Some places to snack in Beijing:

Xiaochang Chen: The oldest and most famous restaurant serving luzhu huoshao (a type of pork soup with bread bits). It has just opened a new branch in Xiluoyuan, Fengtai District.
Baodu Man: This restaurant, opened by the Manchus, has more than 100 years experience in making baodu, quick-boiled tripe. The main restaurant is on Caishikou in the Xuanwu District and there is another branch opposite the Guiyou Department Store. Another restaurant in the same business, Baodu Feng, opened by the Feng family, is also very famous. It is located on the Menkuang Hutong near Qianmen.
Hundun Hou: Serving cheap and wonton dumpling soup, this restaurant is located on Donghuamen Dajie in Dongcheng District.
Chaoganr of the Tianxingju: This large pork intestine soup restaurant is located on Xianyukou near Qianmen.
Some other venues also serving typical Beijing snacks:
- Longfusi Xiaochi Jie (snack street), Dongsi, Dongcheng District;
- Nanlaishun Xiaochidian, Caishikou, Xuanwu District;
- Fangshan Fanzhuang, to the north of Qiongdao, inside Beihai Park, serves the best imperial-style dishes;
- Donghuamen Xiaochi Jie, Donghuamen Dajie, Dongcheng District;
- Wangfujing Xiaochi Jie, Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District.