Ciqikou Old Bean Juice Shop (Shop The Temple)

The bean juice here is indeed in Beijing. I have tried it and it is quite good. But you really have to pick a time to come here. If you catch it at mealtime, there are too many people and the environment is a bit inconvenient, so every time I go there, it is not a normal mealtime. But there is a problem if you don’t go at mealtime, some cooked food is a bit cold. After it is cold, the taste is not very good, such as pie, etc. This bean juice is relatively authentic, and the sour taste is not too strong. However, a few southern friends at the table next to me took a sip and said they felt uncomfortable 🤢 and left 😂 I think the aroma of the beans here is still very strong.

An old friend who was doing morning exercises at the Temple of Heaven invited me to have breakfast at the Laociqikou Douzhi Restaurant. This is an old restaurant that serves Douzhi, fried tofu, mutton offal soup, big fire cakes, fried cakes, etc. It was just past seven o'clock, and diners were already seated in the small restaurant. They spent a few yuan and enjoyed the food. It is said that many elderly people have breakfast there every day without fail, and take away the fried cakes and sesame cakes they bought for their children and grandchildren before leaving.

In fact, for those who try it for the first time, it is easier to fall in love with bean juice in summer. The unique sourness of fermented beans is really refreshing and appetizing. Anyone who drinks it knows it. Guarding the north gate of the Temple of Heaven, the store is crowded from morning to night, and popular breakfast varieties are often sold out, such as soy milk and vegetable dumplings. Snacks such as bean-filled fried cakes, donkey rolls, pea yellow, and sugar-coated fire cakes are available all day long, and the taste is pretty good. A new online celebrity food, hemp twist, has also been added. The store is not large, the tables and chairs are arranged closely, and the diners are full. The waitress cleans up the tableware very quickly. If you leave halfway and haven't finished the meal, be sure to tell her not to clean up first

Douzhi, one of Beijing's traditional snacks, is not known to many people who are not old Beijingers. I tell you that it is definitely not soy milk. Even for Beijingers, not everyone can accept the taste of douzhi. Douzhi is actually the water used to wash vermicelli during the process of making vermicelli, which is boiled and fermented. If you can accept the taste after training, you will love to drink it. There are many places selling douzhi in Beijing. The most authentic one is the store at the southeast corner of the Ciqikou intersection in Chongwen District. It was relocated here due to construction, but the taste is still the original one. People will drink douzhi with shredded gutta-percha and jiaoquan, a kind of shredded pickled vegetable and fried pasta.

Tourists who come to Beijing to play, after visiting the Temple of Heaven Park, come out from the north gate and taste the Beijing special snacks here, drink a bowl of soybean juice, eat a bowl of spicy tofu, a Jiaoquan, and two ox tongue biscuits, it is worth it. A bowl of soybean juice is 1.5 yuan, which is not expensive, but not everyone can drink this taste, sour and salty, and it still smells stinky, but it is very popular among Beijingers. Locals say that if you drink too much, this taste is enjoyable. Soy juice and Jiaoquan are a perfect match.

Ciqikou Douzhi is an old shop with a small storefront, average service and inconspicuousness, but the food inside is indeed authentic. The Douzhi here is pure in flavor and large in quantity. It has a unique flavor when eaten with fried dough rings and pickled vegetable shreds. In addition, they also have snacks such as sugar-coated cakes, fried cakes, fried liver, noodle tea, as well as some simple foods such as casserole tofu and fried lumps.

On the east side of the road north of the Temple of Heaven Park, the decoration is simple, almost not even that much. There are many diners, and the place is always crowded. However, the taste is absolutely authentic, and Beijingers love it, but tourists may not be used to it.