Beijing Restaurant Review: Taoyuan Village
By Dominique Wong
Taoyuan Village is snack city.
But at the risk of stating the obvious, and despite its Sanlitun Village location, Taoyuan Village is not a village. Rather, it’s a trendy canteen-like restaurant serving traditional Taiwanese breakfast foods and snacks.
On our visits, the ‘canteen’ bustles with well-dressed townsfolk at the big communal dining table, gossiping about so-and-so from next door and discussing the week’s news over youtiao (RMB6, deep-fried dough sticks) and soybean milk.
These are, after all, foods that bring people together: bowls of soymilk sweet or savory, sticky-rice rolls and the aforementioned cylinders of dough. It’s simple food in a simple – albeit hip – setting, but don’t be deceived: Your mother’s kitchen, Taoyuan Village is not. (Unless your mother charges RMB10 for dry sesame wheat cake or RMB8 for a bowl of sweet soybean milk, in which case, power to your mom.)
The soymilk is just sweet enough, while the sausage and green onion with egg rice roll (RMB28) is tasty and filling, the fat from the meat combining nicely with the thick casing of sticky rice. We also suggest trying the wheat cake with pork chop and egg (RMB32).
A tip for newcomers: the menu is in Traditional Chinese – text only – so ordering may be a tricky affair.
But enough chitchat from us. Go with friends or make nice with the locals. Whether you are passing through or a Sanlitun resident, Taoyuan Village will make you feel at home.
Daily, 7am-2.30am, 19 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang 朝阳区三里屯路19号院9号楼太古里南1F-S910（6416 5117）
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