Du Yi Chu

I was visiting Qian Men Old Street with the initial plans to have dinner at Quan Ju De Peking Duck, but our timing was off, and we had to wait close to an hour for them to open for dinner, so instead, we popped over next door to a restaurant which looks legitimately ancient and authentic

As we took a closer look, we realised that this restaurant is Du Yi Chu, a Chinese time-honoured brand recognised by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.  Founded in the third year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1738), legend has it that on the eve of the Chinese New Year’s Eve of the seventeenth year of Qianlong (1752), Emperor Qianlong visited the restaurant. Called Wangji Wine shop in the past, Emperor Qianlong granted them a new name as they were the only restaurant open on the street during his visit

With this, the Emperor returned to the palace and personally inscribed the name and ordered a plaque to be sent to the restaurant. You can read the story in the restaurant today, and also see many different awards gained by the restaurant. Those interested in the story can read it here. The restaurant layout is quite old, with pillars throughout the space and tables placed around the space for the maximum capacity. There is also a lift which brings customers to the other floors if the first floor is full

We were immediately served with pickled cabbage, which reminded me of Kimchi, but it was less spicy and more crunchy. It was a mix between fresh kimchi and pickled kimchi with a lighter flavour compared to actual Korean kimchi. It has simple garlic, soy and vinegar flavours

The next dish was something highly recommended on the menu as the star dish of the restaurant, named Qianlong vegetable in Mandarin. We felt we definitely had to order this, given the backstory of the restaurant. A simple dish of raw cabbage with a sesame dressing was surprisingly breathtaking. Using the tender heart of a Chinese cabbage with a mixture of sesame paste, aged vinegar and honey. The dish was highly addictive with a nutty, earthy and sweet refreshing flavour. We tried to recreate the dish at home, but something was missing from the flavour, so I will definitely order this again if I visit Beijing

The next signature dish was their siew mai dumpling, and we ordered 2 different types, the first being the crab roe siew mai. Something unique about their dumplings is the super-thin skin with a fixed 24-fold, which shapes them like flowers. The siew mai dumplings are slightly bigger than the usual ones, and unlike the Cantonese dim sum version, this version has some soup in them. The crab flavour was extremely strong and overtook your mouth the moment you bit into the dumpling. The meat was moist from the soup, and it was very delicious, especially for a crab lover like me

I have never seen this kind of dumpling before, therefore I decided to order them. The pork with zucchini filling dumpling came in a pretty colourful display as the skin has green, brown and orange colours. The filling in this dumpling was a mix of pork and zucchini, which was extremely refreshing. The crunchiness of the zucchini cuts across the grease of the pork meat and gives the dumplings a natural sweetness from the vegetable itself

Overall, we only tried 2 dishes since we were in between meal times, and 6 dumplings each was pretty filling as we were also eating many other types of street food. The dumplings are very unique in both flavour and design, and left a strong impression on me. I will definitely visit them again if I get to visit Beijing, as the extra-thin skin really gave a major burst of flavours to the fillings instead of the usual floury ones in Singapore

Address: No. 36 or 38 East Qianmen Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

Opening hours: 10 am to 9.30 pm