This year, a sudden force majeure event has changed our way of life that we thought was as solid as gold, especially for those who love to play and travel, the changes in life are particularly significant.
When the situation improves, we start to think about how to restore our hobbies to the best of our abilities, so staying in a hotel in our own city has become a choice for many people. A few months ago, a homestay in the suburbs of Beijing was already hard to find.
This weekend, my friends and I embarked on our fourth homestay trip in the downtown area of Beijing this year. Vacation at our doorstep brought a sense of freshness to our lives.
The homestay "Hidden Sea" we stayed in that day was found on Tujia website. When I have free time, I browse it and collect many homestays in Beijing's hutong area. The location and style are unique, some are hidden on the street, some are hidden deep in the hutong, and some are mixed with restaurants.
Last year, I went to two restaurants in Yinhai, which were self popular internet celebrity stores and were hosted by Michelin chefs. I want to try its homestay this year. Yinhai homestays are not hotels that are commonly found in one courtyard or building, but are distributed in the surrounding areas of Shichahai and hidden in many courtyards, including Xisi, Xinjiekou, and Shichahai. That's why the name Yinhai was given, hidden around Shichahai.
Our Li Mu living room is located in the alleyway of Banqiao Toutiao at Xinjiekou, surrounded by houses inhabited by indigenous people in Beijing, with a strong atmosphere of life. Moreover, there are numerous restaurants and small shops, making shopping and daily life convenient.
The Li Mu living room is the name of this courtyard, which is divided into three guest rooms, two regular king size rooms, and one is the Yan Xiu duplex suite where we live. Pushing the door into the afternoon, the wall reflected the light and shadow of the trees in the yard. The shadows swayed, and the light and shadow on the wall swayed, creating unparalleled beauty in every corner and moment.
[Guest Room]
The guestroom has a total area of 60 square meters, which is spacious and bright. Each room has french window for lighting.
Upon entering, there is the master bedroom, a comfortable king size bed equipped with electric mosquito coils, air purifiers, TV, and more. Form a distinctive hidden sea cultural homestay space area.
The second bedroom is on the second floor of the loft, with a single tatami window. The stairs are too steep and not suitable for adults, which children will like.
Downstairs is a small living room, with lazy sofas, books, and ancient makeup boxes waiting for people to explore and enjoy a slow life here.
The bathroom is large and has two bedrooms, so each bedroom has a separate bathroom and bathroom, maintaining their own privacy.
The room should be decorated with more colors, pay attention to details, enhance the design sense, and avoid roughness.
[Kitchen+Courtyard]
The room does not include breakfast and needs to be purchased or cooked in the kitchen. The west wing of the courtyard is the kitchen, with a complete set of kitchen and stove utensils, and also thoughtfully providing four bottles representing Beijing's Arctic Ocean. Homestays can also provide barbecue services, and eating barbecue in the yard is also very pleasant.
In the morning, I slept until I woke up naturally. I set up tables and chairs with friends in the yard, ate big pancakes and drank the Arctic Ocean. Looking up, I saw the blue sky and persimmon trees. This down-to-earth life was once a daily routine, but it has become an occasional dream that can only be realized now.
Yinhai has a total of 20 courtyards in the Shichahai area of Beijing, 50 homestays, two Chinese style private restaurants, and 3 cafes. I haven't been to the cafes yet, so let's continue to try other beautiful places in Yinhai next time.
Yinhai Cultural Space Homestay (Beijing Xinjiekou Branch)
Tujia app, Tujia website
Address: No. 6 Banqiao Toutiao Courtyard, Xicheng District, Beijing (North Gate Road West of Jishuitan Hospital)
Peripheral recommendations:
Fu Rong Ji
Baochao Hutong is a treasure trove, with just the right amount of commerce and a strong sense of market atmosphere. The residents are still left and right, and life is as usual. When I had free time back then, I often came for a stroll, which was also favored by foreigners who could play here.
The surprises that orchids bring us are far more than that, small and beautiful, but also small and comprehensive.
Passing by the Orchid Gate, if you don't walk in, you won't find a Hong Kong style tea restaurant called Fu Rongji hidden in the front face of this ordinary Chinese restaurant in front of the hotel. Since its opening in 2018, it has captured countless people who love Hong Kong style tea and have a deep love for old Beijing.
The L-shaped space is clean during the day and warm at night, with white tiles and black boundaries, typical of a Hong Kong store style. In fact, there are two large circular tables at the bottom, and a small bar hidden inside, only people with similar tastes can enter.
Fu Rongji combines the traditional techniques of Hong Kong cuisine with modern flavors, and offers a wide variety of snacks on the menu of New Cantonese cuisine, making everyone want to order. These foods are the flavors brought back after visiting Shunde and Chaoshan. I do reject the fast fashion of shopping malls and the rigidity of big restaurants. There is nothing here, it's life, it's the atmosphere brought by the neighbors passing by outside the window.
You can tell from the expression on your child's face that they love it so much that they devour it.
My favorite is dried scallop juice chicken feet, which are particularly rotten and flavorful. It's not enough for a basket. But I'd better leave some room for something else. There are chicken feet in Little pan rice. Steamed chicken feet with ribs.
Others, such as Fu Rong Ji Wonton, steamed broccoli with Fermented bean curd, curry dough ball, fresh shrimp Spring rolls, still have mustard flavor in it. You must eat BBQ Pork Soup Powder, Chencun Beef Brisket Steamed Rice Noodles, which have a rich taste.
Fu Rongji soda is very delicious, big chunks of ice, light sweet.
All prices are calculated by portion size, with the small ones being 18, the large ones being 26, the top ones being 36, over 48, and the fine ones being 58 yuan.
Fu Rong Ji
Per capita: 105
Business hours: Tuesday Sunday 11-21 PM
Address: No. 63 Baochao Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing
BAOJIAN Private Room
The nightlife in the alley is particularly unique. Those who are familiar with this art will walk into the innermost part of the Fu Rong Ji and open a dark wooden door. There is a treasure bar hidden there, with an interesting name called BAOJIAN's private room.
The private room is a speakeasy bar hidden in the center of the hotel and two restaurants, like a central beam supporting the entire building. The elevator room in the middle of different dimensions requires you to push open two doors and pass through other areas to "explore" an independent space. The process of searching is a fun of exploration.
The private room aims to present people with interesting and fun cocktail mixing, a comfortable and modern environment, and an infinite possibility of a night. Bartenders from Türkiye use unique base wines and whiskies collected from all over the world to create different wine lists. Specially recommended is the persimmon tree next door. This private room special sour wine is made with coffee sugar brought back by the owner Joel during his trip to Mexico and whiskey soaked in wooden spices. Together, this sour wine feels like eating persimmons.
Climbing up the black steep spiral staircase from the dark small bar room, it was as if Super Mary had found the Sky Tree and climbed up another world in the clouds to eat gold coins in an exotic space. At the end of the tree was connected to One of Beijing's most popular bakeries, The Bake Shop. In 2017, This Bake Shop, which specializes in American handmade fresh baking, appeared. Its predecessor was a handmade bakery owned by two American artists living in Beijing. It baked fresh every day in small quantities and was refined. Natural fermented sour bread, chewy bagels, typical American handmade cookies and sweet pastries, they want people in Beijing to eat the kind of bread that Western families eat.
However, it never had a physical store until 2019, when this soul had a body, The Bake Shop married The Orchid. You can buy American soft cookies, sweet pastries, dipping sauces, open sandwiches, hot pressed sandwiches, and more in this super mini offline experience store. It provides more interesting ways to eat bread, as well as fresh ingredients and creative recipes. The takeout bagels are a daily bestseller. But remember the time, it closes at 18:00.
At 5 pm, the private room opened for business, which was the best time to watch the sunset. The autumn sunshine is no longer scorching, and through the cracks of the big persimmon tree, it falls on the white stone house. With layers of green tiles and dense roofs, we easily have the most beautiful skyline of the Drum Tower.
BAOJIAN
Per capita: 140
Business hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 17:00 to 24:00
The Bake Shop
Business hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10-18 pm
Address: No. 63 Baochao Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Toast at The Orchid
Walking through the lonely street lamp in the alley, using the public restroom and small shop as reference, I touched my room. This experience gave me the illusion of traveling as a local.
In fact, what made The Orchid famous was its rooftop terrace restaurant, Toast at The Orchid. Initially, it was just a place for guests to have breakfast, but it was too beautiful and had too many needs. In 2015, it became a Middle Eastern Mediterranean style restaurant open to everyone.
In order to provide a living experience for courtyard residents, the restaurant that is open to the public has used a separate entrance, no longer following the stairs in the backyard, but following the winding path straight towards the sky, uncovering one space after another.
Standing on the high terrace, looking out from afar, the market and scattered scenes from an instant ago disappear from sight. In a few days, it's time for the big tomatoes to ripen.
Since English entered people's lives, the word "one" has become a contradictory habit. I remember when I was in the first year of junior high school, I even asked the teacher, and they were already the best. There was only one, why is there still one? No one has been able to give me an answer so far. But I know that Toast, rated as one of the most in Beijing's alleyway terrace restaurants, is incomparable and irreplaceable to those so-called terraces built on rooftops.
Since the beauty here doesn't leave, be sure to sit on the garden terrace, order a brunch designed by Joel himself, pack it in your stomach, and take it away. You can also have afternoon tea and formal dinner at Toast.
Middle Eastern style restaurants naturally offer Middle Eastern style cuisine. We encountered the popular North African egg in Israel, Shakshuka vegetable card stewed egg, paired with the long lost Pita cake, which is baked with organic black wheat flour from Shaanxi.
I have always been unable to distinguish between English breakfast and American breakfast, and what was written on Toast's menu also confirms that this may be a confusion for many people: what exactly is English breakfast? Even Holmes couldn't understand, so we decided to do it ourselves. That plate has a Western dish basket with tomatoes, spinach, pork sausages, baked potatoes, and poached eggs, that's it.
In addition, there are also options such as iron plate baked eggs, sweet and tough guy toast, a complete set of sandwiches, concentrated yogurt, and the healthiest and most beautiful. The accompanying drinks can also be added.
Those who love drinking have good wine, those who love taking photos have good scenery, those who love eating have good meals, and those who love homestays want to stay in every room
It's a genuine regret that I haven't been here before.
Toast at The Orchid
Business hours: 11:00-21:00
Per capita: 140 yuan. Afternoon tea for two people is 188 yuan, and there are also breakfast, lunch, and main meals that need to be reserved. There are quite a few people
Address: No. 65 Baochao Hutong, Gulou East Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Author: That's great
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