Why do Wen Qing and online celebrity in Beijing prefer this hutong?

Author: Swallow oil

Bird cage in the alley. /vision china

As soon as the leaves turn yellow, the hutong has ushered in the most pleasant season. Thousands of hutongs are like the folds of the capital, hiding countless past events and urban legends.

If you want to meet a different Beijing, you might as well throw away the travel guide, forget the popular hutongs selling small commodities in Yiwu, and go to a different place:

3 meters east of the Drum Tower, and the north-south Baochao Hutong has become a favorite of young people and trendsetters in Beijing.

Open the wardrobe and walk into the party

In Beijing, besides the office work, there is also the Baochao Hutong.

Every weekend night, handsome men and beautiful women from all corners of the country will take advantage of the night to get into an ugly bar at No.44 Baochao Hutong, but when you follow their footsteps, you will find that this group of people has disappeared.

The bar on the first floor looks nothing special. /Instagram@modernista_bj

Only regular customers will casually push open the door of the bar, ignore the bartender at the bar and go straight up the narrow stairs to the second floor room.

On the second floor of this bar called Modernista, there is a slightly shabby wardrobe.

If you have seen The Legend of Narnia, you should not hesitate to open the closet door and enter the new world-somewhat different from the movie plot, behind the closet is not a world of ice and snow, but a party filled with music and wine.

KUN's new song "Feel Her" was filmed in Modernista. /Sina Weibo @ KUN Studio

The melody of jazz came through the door of the wardrobe. As soon as the door was closed, the outside fell into silence again.

On the other side of the door, down the spiral staircase is the dance floor. People all over the world swayed to the music and enjoyed the midnight feast in Beijing.

Modernista's music scene. /Instagram@jyx53

A place where Chinese and Western cuisines meet

The taste of hutongs is always related to the cuisines hidden in hutongs. Compared with the shops lined up in the street, gourmets always prefer the small private houses in the alley.

The old stone dumplings in Baochao Hutong are well-known, and have been published in newspapers and on TV several times. Dumplings with big stuffing not only conquered old Beijing, but also attracted many foreigners. The store even introduced a new invention: fried dumplings with chocolate and banana stuffing dipped in yogurt.

The menu of Lao Shi dumplings. /hornet's nest @ Lao Shi Dumplings

The "three-sided fried dumplings" here are quite distinctive. Compared with the traditional fried dumplings with only one side, the jiaozi fried on three sides is more crisp, and the oil, meat and starch are stimulated by high temperature, which makes carnivores feel a strong primitive impulse.

Fried on three sides makes jiaozi more fragrant. /public comment @ 京京京京京

Going north to No.63, Baochao Hutong, Canadian Joel Shuchat and his friends opened a Cantonese restaurant "Fu Rong Ji", a homestay "Orchid Hotel", a western restaurant "The Toast", a bakery "The Bakeshop" and a bar "Private Room" in a small space.

The courtyard and rooftop in the hutong are cleverly designed into different compound spaces, just like a small and exquisite maze.

The Toast western restaurant in the courtyard. /The Orchid Hotel

The Cantonese restaurant is called "Fu Rong Ji". Joel Shuchat led a team of chefs to collect the scenery in Chaoshan, bringing classic dishes such as beef brisket, Chencun powder, chicken feet with scallop sauce, radish cake, etc. At the same time, combined with local flavors, he innovated some dishes such as curry chicken balls and wonton mixed with sesame sauce, which were fresh and delicious. Don't miss dessert after dinner. Papaya coconut jelly and litchi black tea ice cream are all signs here.

Fu Rongji's curry chicken balls. /Fu Rong Ji

Walking to the end of Fu Rong Ji, a Speakeasy Bar named "Private Room" is hidden behind a heavy wooden door.

The "private room" hidden in Fu Rong Ji. /private room

The private room has a private bar and a comfortable terrace. On a cool autumn night, the wind is blowing on the terrace, and the gray bricks and the indigenous cats flying over the walls are the daily scenes of hutong.

Autumn is the most beautiful season in Hutong. /vision china

In the daytime, the bar upstairs will become the online celebrity bakery "The Bakeshop" selling sour bread, bagels and American handmade cookies, and countless people will find it after smelling the fragrance.

The Old Time in the Hutong

Joel Shuchat's Orchid Hotel is hidden next to The Bakeshop. This B&B hotel has 16 rooms, all converted from old houses in hutong.

The courtyard of Orchid Hotel. /The Orchid Hotel

Rooms are scattered in different courtyards, and the design is simple and quaint. Although it is not as luxurious as a star-rated hotel, it is a rare experience to live next door to Beijing aborigines.

Living in an alley, the old days were like mottled shadows of trees, accompanied by the hurried footsteps of passers-by. The smell of neighbor's food, the sound of picking up children from school, and the fixed route of the old man walking birds will all become special elements in your travel picture book.

Old times can also be taken home. Vintage Garden, No.71 Baochao Hutong, is an antique shop selling old times. In addition to strange second-hand items, the retro design also makes the store a resort for taking photos and punching cards.

please knock at the door when vintage garden enters. /Little Red Book @ Waxida

Nawangfu, No.19 Hutong, is the only pro-Mongolian palace in Beijing, and once lived in the direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Now this Beijing cultural relics protection unit has been requisitioned by other units and is not open to the public. But even if it's just passing by, the style of Zhumen's big family will make people look back and study it carefully.

The Dahongmen in that palace. /Tonglaga Ranch

Baochao Hutong is only over 8 meters long, and there are so many interesting places, which makes people wonder: How many hidden good places are there in Beijing Hutong?

Q: How many hidden places are there in Beijing's hutongs?