Alleyway Gourmet: Tanghuoshao – Beijing’s homegrown sweet sesame buns

The ubiquitous tanghuoshao (糖火烧) you find in street stands across the city is completely unique to Beijing. As a traditional snack, these sweet sesame buns date over 300 years. Its name is pretty self explanatory: "Tang" (糖) means "sugar," while "huoshao" refers to the special kind of bun made from flour, sesame paste（芝麻酱, zhimajiang）and brown sugar（红糖, hongtang）, which usually has a brown color and consistency. Most types have a firm outer shell that keeps the layers inside moist and chewy. However, there are also many other varieties on the market ranging in size, shape and texture.

Tanghuoshao consists of two major types:

The Tanghuoshao “Danish” contains a high percentage of flour and is made the same way as shaobing（烧 饼）(i.e. with flaky layers) and is served as a kind of staple food to accompany boiled mutton hotpot（涮羊肉, shuanyangrou）. They are typically found in Muslim restaurants or shaobing vendors' stands.

Tanghuoshao "Brownies" are made from a large quantity of sesame paste and brown sugar making it the perfect tea time snack. You can find it in traditional snack stores such as Daoxiangcun ( 稻香村, see listing below).

In our search for the most superior sesame seed bun, we trawled the streets of the capital to sample 30 types of tanghuoshao and have listed the top 5 brands most recommended in Beijing:

Dashunzhai Bakery (Dashun Zhai 大顺斋)
Beijing’s most famous brand is also the sweetest (RMB 1.3).
1 Niujie, on the ground floor of Niujie Muslim Supermarket, Xuanwu District (宣武区牛街北口西侧1号,清真超市内 (6355 6687)

Lifayuan Bakery (Lifayuan 力发源)
Lifayuan’s buns (RMB 1.1) are evilly rich and suprisingly satisfying, especially for extreme epicureans. The buns feels hard, but they quickly melt in your mouth quickly.
1 Niujie, on the ground floor of Niujie Muslim Supermarket, Xuanwu District (宣武区牛街北口西侧1号, 清真超市内 (6355 6687)

Beijing Daoxiangcun Food Store (Daoxiang Cun 稻香村)
With their trademark flower shaped red stamps on top, Daoxiangcun’s tanghuoshao (RMB 0.8) emit a distinctly laurel fragrance and are somewhat reminiscent of an oriental brownie. They are sold in all Daoxiangcun branches, including the Dongzhimen branch. 19 Dongzhimen Neidajie, Dongcheng District 东城区东直门内大街19号 (8404 3305)

Hongji Snack Shop (Hongji Xiaochi Dian 洪记小吃店)
Hongji’s addictive buns (RMB 0.5) come in original shapes consisting of petite cubes connected to each other. Soft in texture and just the right intensity in flavor, they are so cute you’ll want to swallow five within five minutes and then go for more.
12 Niujie, located opposite the Niujie Muslim supermarket, Xuanwu District. 宣武区牛街12号, 牛街清真超市对面 (8351 3828)

Baikui Old Brand Restaurant, Jiaodaokou Branch (白魁老号饭庄交道口店)
This time honored chain of Hui restaurants sells “The Giant Brown” variety of tanghuoshao (RMB 1.5), the only one in the "Danish" edition. Quality varies from store to store, so we can recommend the Jiaodaokou branch.
158 Jiaodaokou Nandajie (near the intersection of Ping’an Dadao), Dongcheng District(东城区交道口南大街158号(近平安大街) (6406 0667 )

The author is a psychology major at Beijing Normal University and avid foodie