Eric Demay

I love how each province/region/city has its own favorites when it comes to street food. Beijing seems to be stuck on chuanr, aka meat on a stick, usually covered with more than enough cumin and ground spicy pepper; and yogurt, aka Beijing yogurt, heavy, kind of sweet, sour milk. We’ve seen lines go too far for small local joints (think of Montreal’s Schwartz’) wich, like the smokemeat sandwich, is overpriced and though tasting good is never a heavenly revelation. My favorite is the unbranded, unsophisticated kind, selling in a much too heavy ceramic pot with only a paper cover, a rubber elastic to seal it tight. For 60 cents (40 for the yogurt, 20 cents deposit for the container), its a daily dose of dairy I can count on at every corner.