Beijing Boyce

Street eats: several readers have recently asked about where to get Beijing’s best. I put the question to one of the city’s biggest foodies: Pam Shookman, dining editor of Time Out. Here’s what she had to say.

“Beijing street food is a perfect example of the Chinese term yue lai, yue shao - as time passes there is less and less. It used to be possible to wander along the streets and easily find noodle stalls with a few tables and jianbing makers turning their griddle on the back of a bicycle cart. No longer.

“The Wangfujing xiao chi shi chang (little-eats street) and night market off Wangfujing are dreadful despite the crowds they attract. If cicadas and scorpions are your thing, then by all means go, but otherwise neither market offers anything worth the journey.

“You’ll have a better meal eating mutton kebabs from the various itinerant vendors around the city. Most makers of jianbing (a huge crepe folded around fried dough and smothered in sauces) are now found in permanent stalls such as the one on the northeast corner of Jiaodaokou Nandajie and Dianmen Dongdajie or in the Dongzhimenwai Bus Station.

“Last time I was on my bicycle around the northwest corner of Houhai around Deshengmen Nei Dajie, there was some serious street food action with all sorts of bing (flat breads) and baozi (stuffed buns) being sold. I usually find that the poorer areas of town have the best street food.

“Street food is generally better outside Beijing. The best street food I’ve ever eaten in China was at the night market in Kaifeng, Henan province, a market eleven hundred years old and still going strong. What by day is a nondescript street and sidewalk turns into an eating fun fair at night, jam-packed with stalls selling everything from xiaolongbao to kebabs to heavy stews served in iron pots, all made on the spot from fresh ingredients. Customers vie for the tables and stools that vendors set up near their stalls. Beer vendors will deliver either a bottle or a case to your table. Once you eat the fantastic Kaifeng street food, you won’t settle for anything less.

A little jianbing action in Beijing.