june-2012

HUB
036
CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: Get
back to basics with hutong
cooking classes; the timeless
appeal of Beijing’s hutongs;
Nanluoguxiang’s Plastered
T-shirt boutique
cooked Western food back in
my apartment,” he explains. “I
guess I should have picked up a
wok sooner.”
On moving to Beijing in 2006,
Zhou discovered a remarkable
absence of cooking classes in the
capital, and decided to transform
her hutong home into a small
school — fi ttingly named Hutong
Cuisine. Opening her kitchen
six days a week, she now teaches
students of all nationalities to cook
traditional Chinese dishes such
as gongbao jiding, mapo doufu (a
spicy tofu dish) and heijiao niuliu
(stir-fried beef with black pepper).
Walking through Beijing’s
hutongs today, they seem to have
an eclectic cuisine all of their own.
“Hutongs are still the best place in
Beijing to sample Chinese snack
food,” says Adlyn Teoh, who runs
a popular culinary tour in the
capital called Hutong Eats.
“You’ll fi nd everything from
Xinjiang-style chuanr (kebabs),
jiaozi (steamed dumplings) and
bingtanghulu (sugar-glazed fruit on
a stick) through to kao baishu (sweet
potatoes), chao mian (fried noodles)
and mahua (fried dough twists).”
“Hutongs are still the best place in
Beijing to sample Chinese snack food”
Back in Hutong Cuisine,
Cleary’s teacher samples her
student’s handiwork. “Not bad,
not bad at all,” declares Zhou with
a smile. “We’ll make a Chinese
chef of you yet.”
Hutong Cuisine’s multinational
roll call epitomises Beijing’s
increasingly cosmopolitan
culinary scene. A growing
number of courtyard homes are
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transforming themselves into chic
cafés and restaurants, off ering
dishes from China and beyond.
When it comes to gentrifi cation,
two of Beijing’s greatest hutong
success stories are the Shichahai
and Nanluoguxiang areas,
now liberally sprinkled with
fashionable boutiques, bars and
bistros. Many tourists opt for a
guided pedicab tour of Shichahai,
which makes a relaxing way to
take in the area’s rich history.
With their iconic architecture
and bohemian charm, it’s little
surprise that Beijing’s hutongs
have become such a popular
hangout. Something old,
something new seems to be the
philosophy of the day, as men in
Mao jackets mix it up with iPodtoting
hipsters.
“It’s all about the faces,”
says Thoreau. “In the past, the
foreigners and the Chinese in
Beijing would generally keep to
themselves, but in the hutong it’s
now one big melting pot.”