The original Xiyuan bridge under the sesame seed fried dough sticks — Restaurant in Wanhua District

This is the best Taiwanese breakfast place I've ever had, no joke. Better than all the other types of yonghe dou jians. Let's move beyond the fact that it's cheaper than all other hyped places as well and focus on the fact that this isn't a franchise, this isn't housing dozens of people at a time (with a kitchen to reflect that). This is a pure, mom and pop (and possibly their kids?) shop. It's a grandma holding down the fort, a grandpa handmaking the sao bing right in front of you, a gal making you tiao (also right in front of, and another guy acting as the runner/go between.

They have their own respectable line of people for carry out as well, so because it's the four of them making everything, the turnover for what they're making is quick, which means the food you get is fresh as heck. If you have a little time, you can definitely skip the line, and head on in to grab a seat. You may have to wait a sec (like 5 min), but the grandma sees you, and she'll get to you to get your order the second she can fit in time between all the other stuff she has to do. And when you order, it comes QUICK.

We ordered 2 fan tuans, 2 cold soy milks, 1 salty soy milk, 1 sao bing you tiao, 1 sao bing you tiao with egg (all less than 200 yuan). The fan tuans, are what my born and raised in Taiwan way back when mom considered traditional. The rice was packed a little looser, so it allowed the you tiao to stay crispy (seriously, I've never had a you tiao that crispy in a fan tuan before). There was sparse (the right amount of) pork floss, and the pickled radishes were just just just just deeelcious!. I usually only like fan tuans for breakfast, somewhat of a connoisseur and really, when you go back to the fundamentals, you really understand why they're they fundamentals.

So yea, obviously the you tiao in the sao bing you tiao was crispy. But! The sao bing? Also the flakiest I've ever had. And it wasn't burnt like some places do them, you know? It was perfect.

The soy milk was good. I know you guys probably are like, why am I even bringing this up? Because I live in NY where people think selling soymilk means selling watered down soymilk, so I have to mention when some place does soy milk right. Also, because I've been to a place IN TAIWAN where they BURNED the soymilk and had the nerve to tell me and mom THAT'S THEIR SIGNATURE FLAVOR! THE HELL?

Anyways, it's good and delicious here. Full disclosure: Because we went to a yonghe dou jian place the next day, my mom said she thought the salty soymilk was a little better at yonghe. And my brother loves pork floss, so he said he liked the fan tuan at younghe better as well. But if you like balance in your fan tuans, you'll probably like it better here.

But me? This is the place I will be craving to...

If you are looking for an old school place to go to, this is really one.

We had the youtiao, which is so different from Singapore's version, the chewy type.

This is crispy. Just like those you add into the rojak in Singapore.

Saw diners dipping it into the sweet soy bean drink. Tried that, and that is an interesting way to eat it, too!

Prepared to share tables with others. That's how you know the locals and learn new stuff.

Like the vinegar+salty soy bean drink eaten with youtiao. Wow! Unique way of eating, shared by the local...

A hole-in-the-wall place serving traditional Chinese breakfast to locals. There's always a long line for takeout but just go right in and sit down. They'll come and ask what you want in a few minutes. They don't speak English but they have an English menu you can point to. The menu is small: youtiao (Chinese donut), shaobing (sesame pastry), either by itself or stuffed with egg or youtiao, and soy milk, which comes hot or cold and in two sizes. I love shaobing and theirs are the best...