A Cultural Setting with a Restaurant at its Heart

As you walk east to west along Zhushikou Dajie amid its new, modern high-rise buildings, you are likely to be captivated by the sight of some remaining buildings that hark back to old Beijing. You will have arrived at the Jinyang Restaurant, where a new cultural adventure awaits you that includes fine food.

Your unexpected experience begins with something special: you enter the restaurant’s front door via an arbour-covered passageway entwined by lavender and purple-coloured wisteria vines that provide shade and a lighter heart on a summer‘s day. The wisteria covers the arbour and extends beyond it. Then comes a winding corridor lined with old paintings and a small courtyard. The courtyard has a big Chinese flowering crab apple tree rising into a sky that competes for attention with bamboo, various flowers and sculptures. Nearby, in two small rooms, some famous people’s calligraphy and paintings, historic relics and Chinese classical furniture may be found.

Here, you will also find a Zhonghua Laozihao (China Time Honoured Brand), the Jinyang Restaurant, which, although founded in 1959, is already the stuff of legend, because of its ties to a much older cultural tradition.

The famed chronicler of life in old Beijing and its occupation during the War of Resistance Against Japan, Lao She, a most important contemporary Chinese writer, was so touched by the restaurant’s Shanxi cuisine and its ambience that he penned:

 

How can we boast of the camel’s hump and bear’s paw?

Yet, the cat’s ear and the fish made from flour are worthy and splendid.

The fragrant, wind-wafted smells at the tables remind one of the coming spring;

The wisteria in the courtyard spreads over ten yards.

 

Thus, Lao She describes the mingling of the Jinyang Restaurant with the former home of Ji Xialan, Yuewei Cottage. Ji was a major scholar during Qing Emperor Qianlong’s reign. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Imperial Collection of Four produced during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).

Now renovated Ji’s former residence is open to the public and managed by the Jinyang Restaurant, an affiliate of the Xiangda Investment Management Company Limited. While enjoying the delicious Shanxi fare, you may also study some of the gifted scholar Ji’s anecdotes of the Qing Dynasty and “meditate on the past.”

Since its founding the Jinyang Restaurant has adhered to its own unique style and presentation: it is recognized as the “real traditional flavour of Shanxi Province and the first Shanxi-flavour restaurant in Beijing.” Its special dishes are xiangsu ya (crispy fried duck), guoyou rou (deep oil fried meat), wenxi bing (happiness cake), wen fenpi (meat slices with warm bean noodle) and chao zahui (fried mixed dish). These flavours have not changed over the years, despite being “all time-cost and manpower-cost.”

Lu Wenhai, the general manager of Jinyang Restaurant, said, “Although it requires complicated ingredients, we never skimp in our efforts to serve our guests.”

As a result, Jinyang Restaurant has grown continuously. In 1985, cooperating with the Sanseqi (Three-Colour Flag) Company of Japan, it opened two branch restaurants in Tokyo, sending ten of its cooks to Japan. The special food of Shanxi has caught the attention of Japanese diners at the expense of other Chinese restaurants in Tokyo. There, too, business is growing each year.

To experience the full force of the cultural atmosphere that is the Jinyang Restaurant, you must go there yourself; there are simply too many stories to tell in one sitting. According to historical records, the structure housing the restaurant was once the official residence of Yue Zhongqi, a senior Qing general before it became the residence of Ji Xiaolan, who was followed by Liu Shaobai. Afterward, it was the final residence of the Beijing Opera group called “Fu Lian.”

Because of its stories and unique Shanxi-flavour food, “the seats are always occupied, and the wine glasses are never empty.” Lao She was just one among the frequent guests of Jinyang Restaurant who were famed for their calligraphy, scholarly work and artistic achievements, which have only added to the old restaurant’s mystique. More recent famous visitors included heads of state and governments, local leaders and foreign VIPs, including former US President George H.W. Bush, who often rode his bicycle here to enjoy the crispy fried duck while he was the director of the US liaison office in China.

You pay for the food at Jinyang Restaurant, but your cultural experience is free, and it remains because of the care given the legacy by the Jinyang Restaurant management. Yet, the preservation of old Beijing’s heritage has been a winner for the restaurant too. As a Zhonghua Laozihao the company and its historic site depend on each other; it seems that they have both found their way in a much more modern setting.

 

Jinyang Restaurant Headquarters

Address: 241 Zhushikou Xidajie, Xuanwu District, Beijing 100050

北京宣武区珠市口西大街241号

Tel: +86 10 6303 1669/6303 7636, ext. 100

Fax: +86 10 6303 4361

E-mail: jinyang@jinyangfanzhuang.com

WWW: www.jinyangfanzhuang.com

 

Jinyang Restaurant Baiguang Lu Branch

Address: No. 10 Baiguang Lu, Xuanwu District, Beijing 100053

北京市宣武区白广路10号

Tel: +86 10 6354 1107

Fax: +86 10 6354 3708

E-mail: jybgld@jinyangfanzhuang.com