Jinyang Restaurant

Jinyang Restaurant is a time-honoured Beijing brand that brought the cooking of Shanxi province to the capital. The Beijing government's guide to time-honoured restaurants describes it as Beijing's earliest large restaurant specialising in Shanxi dishes, founded in 1959, and lists it at 241 Zhushikou West Street near Hufangqiao in Xicheng district.

The building is part of the attraction. The restaurant occupies a Qing dynasty building known as Yuewei Cottage, once the study of Ji Xiaolan, the scholar also known as Ji Yun. Ji Yun lived from 1724 to 1805 and was chief editor from 1773 of the Siku Quanshu, the vast imperial library project of the Qianlong era. He spent his last thirty years in a mansion in Beijing that had earlier belonged to General Yue Zhongqi, a descendant of the Song dynasty general Yue Fei. His collection of supernatural tales, published in the 1790s and gathered in 1800, takes its title from the same name, Yuewei Caotang.

The menu focuses on Shanxi cooking. The government guide highlights crispy duck, Jinyang oily meat (guoyourou), braised mandarin fish in vinegar, and diced pork braised with vinegar in a pot. Vinegar is a recurring theme in the list, and many dishes are designed for sharing.

Prices are moderate, and the shared dishes suit groups and families. It makes a good contrast to the duck and hotpot restaurants that most visitors try first, and it is worth visiting for anyone with an interest in Qing literary history as well as food.

Zhushikou West Street is also home to Fengzeyuan, a Shandong restaurant founded in 1930 at No. 83 and counted among the eight famous 'Lou' restaurants of Beijing, so the street is a good one for time-honoured cooking. Fengzeyuan's menu, according to the Beijing government, includes scallion sea cucumber, braised intestines in brown sauce, dry-fried meatballs and baked buns, which makes it a useful comparison with Jinyang's vinegar-led Shanxi dishes.

The government guide does not list opening hours or a phone number, so check locally before making a special trip. Ordering one of the vinegar dishes alongside the crispy duck gives a good introduction to the range of the kitchen.