Adventurous visitors can savor rainbow trout and colored tofu

Liugou village in Yanqing district attracts visitors with its homemade delicacies.[Photo provided to China Daily]

If you are in Beijing for a short holiday, a visit to the suburbs will enhance your travel experience with its natural beauty, its historical sites and its distinctive delicacies.

Among the various delicacies is the rainbow trout.

The Huairou district in northern Beijing, which has mountains and abundant water resources, produces some of the best rainbow trout in China, although the fish is not a native specimen. It was brought to the region from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1959.

Nowadays, visitors can catch the fish and have a restaurant cook it for them.

Chefs in Huairou have developed myriad of ways to prepare the fish.

You can enjoy the fish barbecued, pan-fried or deep-fried. Or go for rainbow trout soup, rainbow trout skin salad sided with vegetables, stewed rainbow trout, rainbow trout dumplings or sashimi.

With so many different ways to cook the fish, many restaurants in the area also offer a rainbow trout feast, where diners can sample dishes all made from the rainbow trout.

Meanwhile, as the only district in Beijing with a Manchu township, Huairou offers you authentic Manchu dining culture.

One of the best-preserved Manchu dining traditions is er ba xi, which means two eight-dish feasts, because the dishes must be served in eight bowls and eight plates respectively.

The delicacies in the eight plates are four hot dishes and four cold dishes that change according to the season.

The delicacies served in the bowls are typically made using pork, tofu and mushroom, and are a fixed menu. The pork is usually boiled and fried before being cooked to get rid of its greasiness.