Authentic Guilin-Style Eatery Dangui Renjia is Reborned in Galaxy Soho
Our heart was torn into a thousand tiny pieces when the small eatery Dangui near National Art Museum of China was shut down during the Great Brickening last year. Thankfully, they have fought their way back, and reopened in Galaxy Soho.
Thinking “no one will visit a small eatery in the basement of Galaxy Soho”, we were proved wrong when we saw the small place was packed with patrons at 2pm on Sunday. Similar to the street stalls in Guilin and the original outlet near Longfusi, the restaurant is running with the minimal decoration – tiled floor, eight pale plastic tables and plastic round stools. The menu is piled high with authentic Guilin cuisines in Chinese, such as pungent and spicy rice noodles, lipu taro and pork, bamboo shoots with various ingredients, duck stew, and stir-fried fish.
A lot of people describe that Guilin-style dishes are pungent, sour, and spicy, thanks to one ingredient in particular – suansun (酸笋) or marinated sour bamboo shoot. You can’t visit a Guilin-style eatery without giving it a try, and believe me, you will change your mind after you get used to the taste. The signature dish 酸笋炒肠仔 (suansun chao changzai), literally means stir-fried marinated sour bamboo shoots with pig intestines, and exceeded our expectations. The pig intestines were crunchy, the flavor was balanced well with the bold sour taste from the bamboo shoots, and the generous amount of chili pepper and as green bell pepper helped us to finish it swiftly. If you are not ready to try pig intestines quite yet, go for the bamboo shoots with beef instead.
Unfortunately, lipu taro and pork was out of stock during our visit, so we chose lipu taro with pork ribs (RMB 35) instead. The purprle, marbled Lipu taro is grown in Lipu in Hunan province, and the pork ribs were stewed until perfectly tender. It's a hearty dish with strong flavors from soy sauce, chili pepper, wine, and other condiments.
Both dishes were heavy in flavors and screaming for some noodles, and the basic rice noodles (米粉, mifen) here didn’t let us down. The round noodles made of rice powder were pliable and springy, topped with dried fatty pork slices, chopped scallion, chopped bird-eye chili, pickled beans, and deep-fried soybeans. You are required to stir it evenly before eating, because the sauce sits at the bottom of the bowl. Aside from the basic rice noodles, there are over ten rice noodles with various toppings to choose from.
While not exactly a "hidden gem", Dangui's location in the basement of the quiet SoHo is a bit off the beaten track, but their flavorful offerings wins patrons back again and again. In addition, the dishes are so affordable that RMB 100 will easily fill up two people. We hope Dangui Renjia will stay true to their roots, and thrive.
Daily 10am-10pm. 2-107, B1, Bldg B, Galaxy Soho, Chaoyang District (138 1050 1704)
丹桂人家：朝阳区朝阳门银河SOHOB座–B1层2-107
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure
Photos: Tracy Wang
