Checking in on Guijie: Cook Your Own 5,000-Year-Old Chuanr Amidst the Rubble

Commuting past Guijie on a daily basis it's evident that construction here is not done yet: many restaurants are still encased in scaffolding, last week we spotted porta-potties outside every restaurant as water had apparently been turned off street-wide, and at night the road is closed to cars both ways. In fact, we were once almost pushed off our bicycles by a steamroller.

But despite this, what is still happening on Guijie? We decided to check out the Guijie branch of the chain A Long Time Ago Lamb Chuanr, a place that undoubtedly has 5,000 years of meat-on-a-stick history, but is nevertheless news to us.

The concept is simple: you cook your own chuanr. That is unless you're so foreign (i.e. us) that you can't be trusted to know when your meat is cooked or how to use a barbecue. Our experience was thus a little tainted by the fact that at least three waiters were hovering around us at all times, taking the chuanr off the barbecue for us without prompting. As someone who is fairly afraid of undercooked chicken following a bad case of food poisoning, this was a little stressful.

Apart from the invasive service, the food was pretty good: we had tasty, tender lamb skewers (RMB 24.50 for six, RMB 49 for 12) that most certainly weren't centuries old and happily spun on our barbecue. The DIY aspect meant that we were also able to add our own chuanr spices; as much or as little as we wanted. We also tried the yudoufu (literally "fish tofu", RMB 3 per stick) which came shaped like the deer often found in cave paintings, and were really moist and delicious. Leaving them on the barbecue a little longer also gave them a crispy outer layer that we liked, much to the dismay of the staff.

The bacon rolls we had (either filled with chives or mushrooms at RMB 3.70 per stick) were juicy and flavorful, and we tried a chicken wing from each of the categories (RMB 8.70 for a stick with two wings). The New Orleans' style wings were a little sweet, but not unbearably so, while the mala wings were a tad too hot for our liking and required an extra order of smashed cucumber with garlic (paihuanggua, RMB 15) to cool them down. 

We'd say this is a good place to come for chuanr when the air is too bad to sit outside or on rainy or cold days when al fresco chuanr just won't do. Large, cold beers (RMB 29 for 1L of draft Budweiser, RMB 38 for 1L of draft Carlsberg, and RMB 22-25 for 0.5L of Paulaner or Franziskaner) mean we will be knocking on their door again soon with a group of hungry and thirsty friends.

Judging by our stroll, apart from A Long Time Ago Lamb Chuanr, Huda is also going strong (surviving not only the sledgehammers but also an opium scandal) with people flooding the street rubble waiting for tables, and Hua's Restaurant is also unaffected in both appearance and operation.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Photos: Margaux Schreurs