What to eat in Beijing
Beijing eats like the north: Peking duck, zhajiangmian with soybean paste, lamb hotpot in a copper pot, jianbing in the morning and steamed baozi.

[ ] Eat Peking duck
    A duck inflated with air, scalded, dried for a day, roasted in a wood-fired oven and carved at your table into more than a hundred slices. The skin should crackle separately from the meat.
[ ] Try zhajiangmian
    Thick wheat noodles under a heavy sauce of pork and fermented soybean paste, with a mound of raw julienned vegetables. A Beijing home dish, mixed in the bowl by you.
[ ] Try lamb hotpot
    Paper-thin lamb dipped for a few seconds into clear boiling broth in a copper pot with a chimney. The Beijing hotpot: no chilli oil, and a sesame dipping sauce instead.
[ ] Get a jianbing for breakfast
    A thin grain-flour crepe cooked on a round griddle, topped with a cracked egg, brushed with sauces and folded around a crisp fried cracker. Made in about a minute.
[ ] Eat steamed baozi
    Fluffy steamed buns with meat or vegetable filling, sold by the basket from early morning. Plain, very cheap food available across the whole city.
[ ] Try jiaozi
    Dumplings, boiled or pan-fried, filled with pork and cabbage, lamb and squash, or egg and chives. Northern food by definition, folded in every neighbourhood in Beijing.
[ ] Get lamb skewers
    Cubes of lamb on thin skewers grilled over coals and dusted with cumin and chilli. They came from Xinjiang and became the whole city's late-night street food.
[ ] Try douzhi
    A sour fermented mung bean drink that Beijingers take at breakfast with fried dough rings. The taste is challenging, and it works as a local shibboleth.
[ ] Try cold noodles and liangfen
    Cold starch or wheat noodles in a sour-spicy dressing with vinegar, garlic and sesame paste. Summer food, sold from stalls and noodle shops.
[ ] Try jing jiang rousi
    Pork strips stir-fried in a sweetish fermented wheat paste sauce, served with pancakes and spring onion in the manner of duck. A Beijing home classic.
[ ] Eat tanghulu
    Hawthorn berries on a stick in set caramel — a sour-sweet street snack that appears in the cold months. The caramel should shatter rather than stretch.
[ ] Try Beijing sweets
    Aiwowo are glutinous rice balls with a nut filling rolled in white powder; ludagun is a bean paste roll dusted in toasted soy flour. Old Beijing sweets, and not very sweet.
[ ] Drink jasmine tea
    Green tea scented with live jasmine blossom over several rounds — the traditional Beijing choice, unlike the oolong of the south. Served in a glass with the leaves floating loose.
[ ] Drink suanmeitang
    A dark sweet-sour infusion of smoked plum with hawthorn and osmanthus, drunk ice cold in summer. The traditional Beijing answer to heat, older than any fizzy drink.
[ ] Get yoghurt in a clay jar
    Thick tart yoghurt in a small ceramic jar, drunk through a straw and returned to the seller. A street staple in the hutongs and by metro exits.
[ ] Try baijiu
    A strong grain spirit with a pronounced fermented aroma, drunk in small glasses with food and toasts. Usually over fifty per cent alcohol.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/food-beijing