Street Eats: Alpacas and Egg Tarts At Sanlitun's Cheese Bomb

Don’t get me wrong, we have no intention to eat cute and innocent alpacas but we did want to get a glimpse of a live one given their inherent political badassery, online at least.

It was on Monday afternoon that I first happened upon the goofy-looking animal on Sanlitun Nanjie, Beijing's up-and-coming hub for street snacks, such as trotters, delicious beef burgers etc., and apparently weird animals. The fluffy fella stood right between our favorite fried chicken fillet shop and the next door sex shop, taking up some of Sanlitun's top sights. Upon walking closer, we heard unbridled screams of “草泥马！好可爱！" (Cǎonímǎ! Hǎo kě ài! Alpaca! So cute!).

Even in the rain, there was a scrum of people so we didn’t get a chance to get closer. We returned the next day in hopes of getting a second glance, but there was no sign of the alpaca outside. There was however a note on the wall saying “surprise upstairs,” so we dutifully followed orders and went up. Inside, we spoke with the owner of Cheese Bomb, Lisa, who told us that the neighbors had complained, accusing her of borrowing “the alpaca, in order to make a scene here, but that’s nonsense. It’s my alpaca and it is free to come and go up- and downstairs by itself. I raised it in Daxing, and I also have a farm in Shunyi with a few more alpacas. I might bring it back in a couple weeks.”

Fortunately, someone else was on hand to get a closer pic of the mess and a slightly threatening pointer:

Since we were there and I'm always game for a new street snack experience, we tried the egg tarts (RMB 24 for two), which were served cold, and nothing like the dàntǎ (蛋挞), Macau-style egg tarts, or Portuguese pastel de nata, nor the ones at KFC or on the street. The crust is made out of thick shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry, giving the tart a cookie-type milk and butter taste.

Go upstairs and get surprised (that there was no alpaca)

The custard was also particularly strong, smelling more like goat’s cheese and sugary sweet. Despite the powerful aroma the tarts proved moreish, even among my foreign colleagues.

Cheese Bomb already has two branches: one in Sanlitun, and another in Guomao. We know where to go when we're craving something sugary and buttery and are even happier to report that the nearby Cheesy Toast joint has some competition. And if you're lucky, you'll even get to hug a cute alpaca while digging into dessert.

Cheese Bomb 芝吱挞
42 Sanlitun Nanjie, Chaoyang (186 1138 6021)
朝阳区三里屯南街42号

On another note, are you interested in improving your Chinese language skills? Meet more than a dozen schools at our June 25 Mandarin Mixer at Home Plate BBQ in Sanlitun. Get more details by scanning/extracting the QR code below.