Beijing's Best Winter Food and Snacks

When the weather starts turning (quickly)， the best thing is the new street foods and winter snacks that appear throughout the city. Outdoor activities disappear， and instead， people roasting sweet potatoes and chestnuts appear by the side of the streets where there had previously been small plastic tables and chairs.

This makes for a whole new culinary experience of China， especially so in Beijing， where the food available represents all the different types of people that have moved to the city from their home towns and provinces.

Firstly， there's the hot pot. There's Sichuan-style hot pot， and there's Taiwanese-style hot pot. There is even hot pot from Chongqing. All of these are slightly different， but all are equally delicious and perfect for winter.

The hot pot restaurants are open throughout the entire year， of course， but they don't really fill up until the outside air is crispy and all you want to do is huddle around that pot of bubbling broth with your friends. Whenever my friends or family from home come to visit me in Beijing during the colder months， I take them to Guijie for some hotpot. Although it can be hard to choose the specific restaurant because Guijie is full of good hot pot restaurants， most of them are delicious anyway!

Secondly， there are all the little street stalls and restaurants with plenty of tables outside， where neighbors， family， and friends go for dinner together， sitting outside during the long Beijing summer. Some of our favorite street-side stalls actually still serve up food outside， for example the Xinjiang-style roast leg of lamb. At these restaurants you'll get an entire leg of lamb above a fire with a bunch of different spices to add to your meat. If you're a fan of meat， this is the best way to experience the hutong life during winter， as you huddle around the fire and the meat to keep warm. If you prefer， of course， you can sit inside too.

Also from Xinjiang， chuanr make for a great communal dinner with friends. Just find a barbeque restaurant (which shouldn't be very difficult in Beijing)， and ask for a menu. Favorites include lamb skewers， aubergine， mantou， peppers， potatoes， and chicken wings. The spices that the chef adds to the skewers are bound to keep you warm， even during Beijing's coldest winter days.

Thirdly， a lot of my friends love warming up to a bowl of noodles. Throughout Beijing， you can get noodles from almost everywhere. There's the Shaanxi noodles， Lanzhou hand-pulled beef noodles， spicy Chongqing noodles， or just good old Zhajiang Beijing noodles， noodles topped off with a bean sauce and sliced cucumber， all within five minutes from my house.

I have my regular restaurants which are within close proximity to my house where the owners all know me， and I love going in to have lunch or dinner by myself to have a chat with them too. Hanging out here makes my neighborhood feel more community-like， which is great， especially when you are living in a foreign country far away from your home and family.

Fourthly， there are the dumplings， one of Northern China's staple dishes. All throughout the city you can find little steamed (or fried， if you dare) dumplings filled with a range of fillings: meats or vegetarian. I find these are the best cheap lunch too， especially before the heating gets turned on throughout the city. We often just pick up a bunch on the way from work， or even on the way home after a night out. The best thing is that they are available throughout the day.

I think the best thing about all of this is the diverse range of food served up in China. Whether you're looking for a Xinjiang meal， a Mongolian meal， some Sichuan dishes， or just northern-style dumplings， the streets of Beijing really do have it all. You're basically traveling the extensive country without even having to leave the city.