Like Being Welcomed Into Someone’s Home: Jin Shan Ge Grilled Fish Restaurant
With the exception of the growing expat enclave in Shuangjing, it’s rare for most foreigners to travel south of Chang’an Jie, but there are some good eats in this oft ignored part of town. Hardly in the middle of nowhere that many consider the south to be, you’ll find Jin Shang Ge (锦尚阁私家烤鱼馆) serving up great grilled fish a quick cab ride from Xidan or within walking distance of Changchunjie subway station (Line 2). When you enter the restaurant, it feels like it should be on Nanluogu Xiang – except the streets outside are filled with old grannies instead of hipsters.
Grilled fish has taken the capital by storm over the past few years and places specializing in this dish are easy to find – but places doing it well are rare. Jin Shan Ge offers catfish (RMB 28/jin) or Wujiang fish (RMB 38/jin). Both are excellent, but the Wujiang was tender and had very few bones.
After you select your fish, you pick the sauce base, with options being fragrant spicy (香辣), pickled chili (泡椒), numbing spicy (麻辣), and fermented black bean (豆豉). Finally, vegetables and/or meat are chosen to be added to the dish. The fish is grilled and then placed in a chafing dish, where it’s topped by all the stir-fried vegetables/meats that you chose.
Jin Shan Ge’s version is far more flavorful and less oily than many of the others I’ve had around town. The fish was grilled to perfection and the vegetables were incredibly fresh. Too often the flavor of the fish is overpowered by the sauce, but here the fragrant spicy and the numbing spicy did a good job of delivering a spicy kick while still allowing the fish to star.
Other than the grilled fish, Jin Shan Ge’s menu features a variety of cold dishes. The majority are vegetable options intended to help cool the spice of the main course. The house specialty is the “not necessarily soy sauce meat” (不一定酱肉). The reason for the name, the young owner explained, is that when she was young, her mother would often make soy sauce meat, though whether it was meat or pork would always change based on what was available. When I went, they were serving pork, and while the flavor was good, it was on the fatty side.
Service is friendly and welcoming – when our fish took a little longer than expected on one visit, staff tried to make amends by offering free beer and some snacks. In this local-style residential neighborhood, finding and entering this restaurant feels like you’re being welcomed into someone’s home, and the staff did what they could to maintain that feeling throughout the meal. Call ahead and your fish will be ready for you when you arrive.
If you’re looking for a unique hutong dining experience away from all the typical haunts, Jin Shan Ge delivers – just don’t get lost trying to find it!
Jin Shang Ge Grilled Fish (锦尚阁私家烤鱼), 13 Tianxian Hutong 天仙胡同甲13号 010-66078779
Directions: Off Naoshikou Dajie (闹市口大街), enter at Yuanhong Hutong (园宏胡同) and turn right at Tianxian Hutong (天仙胡同). Look for the two red lights.
