Local Gem: The Kids of Dragon and Tiger Are Here to Serve You The Yunnan Realness

Local Gem: Yunnan Food Doesn't Get Realer than La Roba

Zeus Zou, Associate Editor | Jul 5, 2020 11:30 am | Add a comment | 597 reads

Local Gem is an exploration of Beijing’s diverse palate. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new! To share your own neighborhood pride, please contact us via editor@thebeijinger.com

Szechuan cuisine may be the people's choice, but with a new generation's increasing attention to personal health, Yunnan's culinary culture, too, has earned its fair share of followers due to its fresh ingredients and unique tastes. You can easily find a Yunnan restaurant in almost all major shopping malls these days, but do they live up to the standards that Yunnan cuisine stands for, or are they just a cheap appropriation?

There are those who insist that in order to place the essence of a regional culinary culture on the dining table, the chef needs to be a local of that region, or at least grew up munching on its goodies since the taste of home-cooking usually contains the love and wisdom passed on from generation to generation. This is one of the ways that La Roba sets itself apart from the countless other Yunnan restaurants around Beijing.

Back in 2014, when I was a student of Beijing Normal University and growing tired of the school’s tedious cafeteria, I tried to explore hidden gems in the surrounding neighborhoods. I was attracted to La Roba from the first time I encountered it in the famous snack street between Beijing Normal University and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, not because of its colorful interior design that celebrates the Yi ethnic culture, nor even the alluring smells that come pouring out of its kitchen, but due to a strange design choice which separates the restaurant in half on both sides of the street. With only one side of it equipped with kitchenware, you would frequently see the waiters and waitresses hastily carrying a pot of rice noodles or plates of roasted fish to customers on the other side of the street. Yet, despite all these inconveniences, they seemed to enjoy their work as much as those diners enjoyed their food. It was hard to miss the genuine pride beaming from their smile. It's no wonder they chose to name their restaurant La Roba, which – I recently learned from Mr. Peacock, the owner of this restaurant and a professional dancer – means "The offspring of a dragon and tiger" in the Yi's local language.

Of course, what sets the restaurant apart is the food on the table, and as far as that goes, La Roba has never let me down. Their menu is not prepared for the faint of heart since, as the likes of ghost chicken claws (spicy black bone chicken feet), a range of fermented ingredients, and even insects will be placed under your nose. However, it is not the kind of restaurant that promotes weird food as a stunt. In fact, these dishes really are just part of the ordinary diet of the Yi minority.

Regardless of the ingredients, the chef cooks and seasons everything to an authentic perfection. La Roba holds its own with classic Yunnan dishes like three black chops (黑三剁 hēi sān duò), a dish containing diced black salted turnips, chilis, and minced pork, and three red chops (红三剁 hóng sān duò) over rice. But what really makes the restaurant special is the chopstick-licking goodness of their fermented bamboo (酸笋 suān sǔn), a rarity in many Yunnan restaurants.

Other treasures hiding in the menu include the thin layer of deep-fried cheese (乳扇 rǔ shàn) for RMB 39, spicy beef jerky with cashew (香辣牛干巴拼腰果 Xiāng là niú gānbā pīn yāoguǒ) for RMB 65, and the rose pancake (玫瑰饼 méiguī bǐng) for RMB 8 per pancake (minimum order of two). Since moving to their current location, La Roba is now capable of accommodating more customers without any cross-street service required, and their improved equipment allows them to explore more sophisticated recipes while staying true to the local ingredients transported from their hometown and the traditional flavor that's undeniably rooted deeply in their culture.

Of course, this year’s pandemic dealt them a blow, but La Roba managed to reopen to the public on May 11 and sticks to their regular hours from 9am to 9:30pm every day. Don't be weird out if you see some debris in front of their entrance that was caused by an ongoing storefront renovation required by the local government for the whole street. These descendants of dragon and tiger will still welcome you with their mouth-watering cuisines and warm smiles.