If tasting food is to taste the cultural heritage and life of a city, then when you come to Beijing and Dongcheng, you must visit the Dongzhimen business district and look for a unique "taste bud memory". As an important gate of Beijing's inner city in history, the Dongzhimen area has always been a prosperous commercial place, attracting many merchants to gather here, and has become a commercial district with unique regional characteristics and cultural heritage.
Today, the Dongzhimen business district and the surrounding Dongzhimen Inner Street (Gui Street) and Nanxincang Cultural and Leisure Street together constitute an important part of the new commercial consumption pattern of "Five Circles and Nine Streets" in Dongcheng District. Shuttling among them, you can not only appreciate the modern and fashionable commercial vitality, but also feel the steaming breath of life. The time-honored brands in the region are continuing to rejuvenate and emerge with new vitality with their strong traditional cultural heritage and trustworthy products and service quality, becoming a new bright spot in consumption.
Dongxing Building
What is inherited is taste, but also culture
Time-honored brands are an important carrier for inheriting history and culture and exploring historical imprints, and they are also full of people's love for "fireworks".
Founded in 1902, Dongxing Building is famous for its traditional Shandong cuisine and hanging oven roast duck, and in 1982, Dongxing Building was reopened at a new location at No. 5 Dongzhimen Nei Street. While retaining the traditional craftsmanship, Dongxinglou continues to innovate and become a leader in Shandong cuisine in Beijing. A beautiful brick carved wall on the west side of the entrance of the store records the grand occasion when the Dongxing Building was full of guests. In October 1993, Dongxing Building was rated as "China Time-honored Brand".
At 12 noon, Uncle Song, who is over seventy years old, came to the restaurant with his family to eat, and soon after taking a seat, he ordered several signature dishes such as dry croquettes, fried chicken with sauce, and fried three. "Our family has been a regular here since we opened, and the taste hasn't changed for decades. Uncle Song said.
After years of baptism, what is the secret of Dongxing Building's enduring novelty? A plaque hanging on the first floor of the store gives the answer -- the store must be good, the food must be good, the food must be good, the ingredients must be good, and the cooking can not make up for anything. This is the store motto set by Dongxing Building at the beginning of its establishment. Wang Chunbo, manager of Dongzhi store in Dongxing Building, said. After more than 120 years of ups and downs, ups and downs, and development, the old store motto has gradually been refined into "fine selection of materials, fine production, high quality, and good service", which has also become the four keys to Dongxinglou's reputation.
"There are clear requirements for the selection of ingredients, skinning, boneless, and tendon removal, and even how long, thick, and multi-faceted the ingredients in each dish are cut. The 48-year-old Wang Zhanjiang has been in the chef industry for nearly 30 years, and during his six years as executive chef in Dongxing Building, the deepest feeling is that this time-honored brand adheres to and carries forward the tradition.
In addition to the exquisite dishes and classic tastes, Dongxing Building also has three "treasures of the town" - the "Dongxing Building" plaque written by the Qing Dynasty calligrapher "Changbai Zhonglan", the 100-character long poem inscribed by Mr. Aixin Jueluo Pujie and the plaque inscribed by Mr. Qigong when it was reopened in 1982, all of which are soaked with the century-old elegance of the old store.
"After a hundred years of vicissitudes, the shining golden plaque of Dongxinglou tells the long and heavy food culture, records the hardships of several generations, and always reminds the new generation of Dongxinglou people to 'keep' the tradition, inherit and innovate with 'taste', take pride in 'reputation', operate with integrity and base themselves on society. Wang Chunbo said.
Huajia Yiyuan
Seasonal dishes are "fresh" on the market
The spring is just right, the green grass is sprouting, and on the days full of vitality, the "spring" on the time-honored table is also scorching. In the cold dish production area of Huajia Yiyuan Courtyard Main Store, which is also located on Dongzhimen Inner Street, several chefs are busy preparing the ingredients needed for the dish "Caviar Puff Pastry Toon Tofu".
Yuba, toon, tofu...... The combination of several seemingly ordinary ingredients to create a new creativity and flavor may seem simple, but in fact it takes a lot of thought and effort: "Yuba needs to be cut and fried into rolls, and toon is chopped and steamed and kneaded together." Chef Liu, the supervisor of the cold vegetable room, said and did, holding a spoonful in each hand, and made the kneaded toon tofu into a dumpling shape of uniform shape, gently placed on top of the fried yuba that had been neatly stacked, and finally picked up the caviar with tweezers, carefully completing the "finishing touch" of the dish.
"This is a new menu that we have launched in combination with the season, which is light and refreshing, and is very popular with young consumers. Luo Yingrui, the front office manager of Huajia Yiyuan, said that in addition to "caviar puff pastry toon tofu", Huajia Yiyuan also launched new dishes such as dendrobium flowers with sauce, cloud leg lily sweet peas, roasted flowering steamed buns with crab sauce, mustard greens in clear soup, spring knife wontons, spring bamboo shoots and bamboo forest chicken, etc., and all kinds of seasonal ingredients have been moved into restaurants and put on the table, so that consumers can share the taste of spring. "Every year, we design and produce different dishes based on the characteristics of ingredients in different seasons to bring more fresh dining options to consumers. Luo Yingrui said.
Huajia Yiyuan, formerly known as "Yongshun Restaurant", was established in 1949, and was awarded the "Beijing Time-honored Brand" in 2022. For a long time, Huajia Yiyuan has been based on the operation of new Beijing cuisine "Huajia Cuisine", focusing on Beijing tastes, taking into account the different eating habits and taste characteristics of various places, innovatively integrating local flavors together, and creating Yongzheng roast duck, Yiyuan Bawang chicken, spicy crayfish and other famous dishes of the town.
In addition to the unique new style of Beijing cuisine, the unique dining environment has also become a major feature of Huajia Yiyuan to attract consumers. Compared with other catering stores on Dongzhimen Inner Street, the antique archway in front of the main store of Huajia Yiyuan Courtyard is very eye-catching. In the courtyard, the three courtyards with a depth of 100 meters are connected by winding paths, surrounded by verandahs, exquisite and elegant, so that consumers can enjoy a very cultural dining environment and services.
Beijing Daoxiangcun Zero Store
Fashion rejuvenates "circle fans" young people
In April, if you've tasted the classic dishes of a time-honored restaurant on Dongzhimennei Street, head south through the ancient Chongyong Street to Beijing Daoxiangcun Zero Store to awaken your taste buds with a bite of Erba sauce ice cream or Beijing-style tea.
No. 152, Dongsi North Street, is the original site of the resumption of the first business department of Nanwei Food Store in Daoxiangcun, Beijing, and the "Zero Store" is named after it. Xiao Song, a 25-year-old girl from Shandong, recently traveled to Beijing and made a special trip here to check in and shop according to the "guide" on the Internet. "What attracted me at first was the variety of special pastries, and after I came, I realized that there were so many unexpected delicious and fun things. After a round of shopping, Xiao Song showed his "harvest" - the palace series of dim sum, the "Dessert Journey to the West" series, including a variety of mini Q version pastry refrigerator magnets in the shape of dragon head knockers and lion door piers......
The most surprising thing for Xiao Song is the Erba sauce ice cream with a strong "Beijing flavor". This is a new product launched by Zero Store in 2022, and as the temperature continues to rise recently, the sales of Erba sauce ice cream continue to rise, attracting many consumers to try it. "The flavor of the Erba sauce is very strong, sprinkled with prawn crispy on top, and it feels very good to eat it in one bite is sweet but not greasy, refreshing and cool!" Xiao Song said.
Different from other traditional stores, Zero Store is a special store integrating folk customs, food, culture, and urban memory, and is positioned as a traditional food culture experience hall, which is deeply loved by young people. "Many out-of-town tourists also come here, and the average daily traffic of the store is about 1,000 people, and even exceeded 2,000 people at the peak. Li Yanliu, the manager of the zero store, said.
Founded in 1895, Beijing Daoxiang Village is the first store in Beijing to produce and sell Nanwei food, and was recognized as a "Chinese time-honored brand" in 1993. In recent years, Beijing Daoxiangcun has launched an innovative business development strategy of "one store, one policy", and the innovative trendy store has become a traffic password that continues to attract young customers.
Today, every four or five months, Beijing Daoxiang Village launches a new product. This year, Beijing Daoxiang Village has carried out a comprehensive upgrade of the 24 solar terms series products, and more follows the food culture design of "eating at a time, moving with festivals", such as the new "Tsubaki Bud Cake" in the rainy season of the zero store. In the future, Beijing Daoxiangcun will continue to innovate and express itself from cultural inheritance and inject new vitality into the old brand.
Nanxincang Cultural and Leisure Street
For more than 600 years, the granary has become a leisure block
A time-honored brand can not only make people feel the taste of a city, but also let people feel the culture of a city.
Located at No. 22 East 40 Tiao, Nanxincang is the Ming and Qing Dynasty Kyoto storage imperial grain, rice of the household granary, in the Ming Yongle seven years (1409) in the Yuan Dynasty on the basis of the north Taicang, has a history of more than 600 years. Now it retains 9 ancient warehouses, which is the largest and most well-preserved national warehouse in Beijing, and is also the historical witness of the history of Kyoto, the history of transportation and the history of storage. In recent years, Nanxincang has strengthened the innovation and development of time-honored brands with the activation and utilization of cultural relics and the enhancement of brand influence as the main line, and created Nanxincang Cultural and Leisure Street.
In the block, the Nanxincang Cultural Expo Hall, which was built using Gucang, was unveiled on September 21, 2023, and is open to the public free of charge every Wednesday to Sunday. The EXPO retains the original architectural structure to the greatest extent, and illustrates the long-standing culture of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the history of royal transportation and warehousing culture.
At the same time, Nanxincang Company vigorously implements the development strategy of "building famous streets, introducing famous stores, and creating famous products" to attract well-known brand merchants and enterprises at home and abroad to settle in; strengthen the development foundation of "Wenxing Street", and actively carry out brand cultural activities, with unique architectural style and rich cultural connotation to provide a unique place for carrying out various activities. Up to now, there are 27 businesses in the block. Among them, business offices account for about 7 percent, most of which are cultural enterprises, and catering accounts for about 3 percent, including Da Dong roast duck, old Beijing hot pot and other special delicacies.
Trees such as magnolias, ginkgo, begonias, pomegranates, persimmons, and a variety of flowers create a comfortable and relaxing environment in the neighborhood. "Coming here for a walk after a busy day makes me feel a lot more relaxed. Xiao Yang, a white-collar worker who works in the "post-90s" nearby, said. Due to the large number of surrounding business and office areas, many white-collar workers will choose to come to the neighborhood during their lunch break to eat and rest, and feel the blend of history and culture and modern civilization between high-rise buildings. A few days ago, Nanxincang Cultural and Leisure Street was rated as a characteristic consumer block in Beijing.
"In the future, we will continue to develop Nanxincang's time-honored characteristic products and cultural and creative products, and at the same time fully integrate and excavate resources, innovate ways to utilize resources, strengthen the new functional positioning of Nanxincang cultural and performing arts venues, and form a cultural characteristic block that integrates traditional style, modern facilities and cultural creativity and fashion. The relevant person in charge of Nanxincang Company said.
Curator: Gao Ming
Text: Li Ying
Picture: Hong Shan, Zhang Weimin, Li Ying, Nanxincang Company
Some of the images are from previous issues