Sanyuanli Market/三源里菜市场‎

I’m not sure where the photo for this market came from (on the business profile) but this is a vegetable, meat, seafood market. It’s a pretty good one too. I often go to buy whole salmon filet. Prices are good as are the products but ultimately this is an intermediary market. If you want to get the best prices you’ll have to travel to south Beijing to the BIG SEAFOOD market.

The people who work here generally know their products very well too - most of the stall holders will know the names of their products, cuts of meat, spices, etc. in English. I asked one stall holder if she had Garam Massala once, as unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how to say it in Chinese, and amazingly, she pulled out a packet straight away - impressive.

great fresh sea food market.very reasonable price.lots of choice many spices and vegetables.very near to second embassy san li tun.

Are you in need of fresh basil? Some mackerel? A whole edam cheese just off the plane from Holland perhaps? Then Sanyuanli Market is for you.

The market is not enormous - just a kind of long walkway with shops on either side, but you can buy almost anything there - plus it’s all fresh, top quality and very very reasonably priced.

If you need any imported sauces, spices, herbs, unusual fruits or vegetables that you can’t find anywhere else, very good quality meats, fish, seafoods, tofu products, cheeses, etc., you will find them here.

The people who work here generally know their products very well too - most of the stall holders will know the names of their products, cuts of meat, spices, etc. in English. I asked one stall holder if she had Garam Massala once, as unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how to say it in Chinese, and amazingly, she pulled out a packet straight away - impressive.

By far the best source of fresh ingredients in Beijing, if not China, if not Asia. Every time I visit I am instantly inspired to cook up a banquet and every time I feel the urge to cook, the Sanyuanli market is where I shall go. However Beijing’s restaurants are so abundant and enjoyable that the urge is a rare and fleeting one.

It isn’t just the range of ingredients that’s impressive, nor their quality and low prices, but the organisation and layout is of the order uncommonly found in China. The corridor proceeds from small household utensils to dried foods, to vegetables, spices & condiments, fish, meat, bread, tofu, pickles, and fruit. The only things that you might struggle to find, and this is clearly a bonus, as anyone with any culinary credentials will surely agree, are American ingredients. This is in stark contrast to every other purveyor of foreign foods throughout the city whose stock lists invariably focus on such abominations as “cheese string”, microwavable marshmallow-flavoured “pizza”, and boil-in-the-bag “uncle Cletus’” popcorn-coated beef-cakes. No no, here you will find real food, sold by friendly and knowledgeable peddlers, at prices unthinkable to the usual expat shop who flimflam you for every fen.