Avocado Jianbing Finds a New Rooftop Home at Avotaco
Most of the time, passing through a suspicious doorway in the back of a grocery store is an endeavor that will bear little fruit – more than likely, you will find yourself in a storage room or employee lounge. But at Gulou Gormand, the doorway will take you to a rooftop that bears the finest fruit of all – Avocado.
Frequenters of Dada and Temple are likely to have tried the street-side grub Avocado Drum, purveyor of the not-so-normal jianbing featuring cheese and that namesake fruit. Though you won’t find them slinging tacos to late-night partiers at that location any longer, the enterprise has found a new location in Andingmen. Now that they’ve moved shop, they are operating under a new name, Avotaco, but they’ve kept their signature triangular logo.
One advantage that diners have at the new location is seating – as long as the weather is nice, that is, as the entire venue is out in the open air, with only the jianbing stove and counter protected by a canopy. The upside is that all customers get to enjoy a rooftop view of the hutong buildings.
The menu remains largely the same – a choice of tacos, burritos, and jianbing. Tacos and burritos both come in chicken, tuna, and veggie varieties, the latter including avocado and black beans among a host of other veggies. Of course, the go-to jianbing is the guacamole cheese, but regulars might also want to branch out into the chicken, tuna, or even the dreaded pork floss version.
While not a total game-changer for lovers of non-traditional jianbing, the new location means that Avotaco will differ from Avocado Drum in one key way. Rather than a drunken afterthought or taco to-go, Avotaco promises to be a party destination in itself – although drinks aren’t sold on the roof, there are plenty to grab from downstairs to wash down all that guac.
Avotaco 牛油果子
221 Andingmen Neidajie, second floor (enter through Gulou Gourmand), Dongcheng District
东城区安定门内大街221号 2层 （Gulou Gourmand 进口）
READ: Revisiting the National Treasure That is Jianbing Man... On National Jianbing Day!
Images: Joey Knotts
