Dining in Beijing

• Chinese emphasize "to eat is the most important thing". All grand hotels in Beijing collect many famous cooks with high skills and are famous for a kind of particular flavor all through the ages, such as the Tan Homely Food in Beijing International Hotel and the Western Food of French Style in Jianguo Hotel. You could hardly have a taste of them in other places.

Restaurants of different flavor in ordinary hotels provide three meals, breakfast, lunch and supper. Beijing is a food capital that collects the delicious food all over the country. There are tens of thousands of restaurants in the street, hundreds of them are famous and have several special dishes of their own. There are also authentic western restaurant of French, American, Italian and Russian style and Japanese food, Korean barbecue, food of Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand flavor, which could meet the requirements of guests who miss home food in foreign countries.

It is usually cheap to dine in the restaurants in the street. The opening hours is usually from 10:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon and 4:00 in the afternoon to 10:00 at night. Please pay attention to that the restaurants are usually crowded with customers in dinner hour. But foreign guests and country fellowmen of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (if only two or three persons) will enjoy priority for dinning. The menu is usually written in Chinese as well as in English. The restaurants are usually fit up well and there is elegant single room. Customers could make reservation by telephone. But the demand always exceeds supply, especially in busy tourism season. Customers need to make a reservation in advance at that period of time.

If you have interest, you could also visit small restaurants in the street for sake of saving time and money. You will feel more warmness there especially when the dinning hours have passed in grand hotels. It is cheap and the taste is quite fine. You could also have a taste of steamed stuffed bun, dumplings, noodles and homely dishes exclusively possessed in Beijing. Of course the environment here is not as elegant as in grand hotels, but the dish taste is not inferior to grand hotels.

• Service fee Restaurants in Beijing usually do not charge tip or service fee. But in some high-end restaurant will charge 10% to 15% extra service fees in the bill autonomously.
• Food and drinking consuming account for 16% of travel consuming. Information in this chapter lists restaurant at different levels, which cater for different consuming classes and groups coming to Beijing with different aims. The best restaurants, which provides Chinese and Western food, are listed with the classification of different districts in detail. You could have a taste of various foods in Beijing by consulting this book.
• Chinese cooking has a long history and is a brilliant pearl in the cultural treasures of the Chinese Nation. It is equally famous with French and Turkish cooking, which are called as the three flavor systems of world cooking. Chinese food embodies the food culture tradition of the Chinese Nation and compared with cooking of other countries in the world, Chinese cooking has its own distinctive features. For example, Chinese cooking has various tastes. Chinese food has been divided into many styles from ancient times. There are four styles of food under the classification of regions-Bashu, Qilu, Huaiyang and Yuemin.
• Spinning Restaurant Romantic Tour
It is suitable for romantic supper date for couples. But it is not a bad choice for a single person to enjoy the romance and beauty. Sitting in the spacious dinning hall, looking Beijing City in light at night and the flowing cars river, let night Beijing enjoy the supper with you.How do you feel? You could enjoy scenery as well as delicious food in Beijing tour. To fix one quickly and to have a try with your friends!

Beijing Chongwen Hot Zone
Beijing Chongwen District is a key touring destination to investigate the simple and unsophisticated relics of Beijing: courteous and hospitable Beijing native dwellers, street-and-lane-across dainties, silent but still moving historic sites of past dynasties, and, of course gradually disappearing well-known old hutongs (lanes). It seems that your every step links the history of Beijing into a series of splendid playback pictures, so familiar and touching. Heat sweet smell of soymilk flies over from far away. Yeah, I think this is just the taste of Beijing!

1. Zhengyanglou Restaurant Qianmen Branch 2
- Specials recommended: Zhengyanglou Braised Chicken, Fried Kidney With Chili Sauce, Fried Lamb Kabob, as a first-grade restaurant, Zhengyanglou Restaurant is a time-honored brand with a history of one hundred years among Beijing's "Eight Grand Restaurants". Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant.
- Address: No.162 Xidamochang (West Polishing Plant), Qianmen
- Directions: Take No.22 or 808 bus and get off at Xidamochang stop, then go to the West Polishing Plant; or drive to Qianmen along the East Chang'an Avenue, then to the West Polishing Plant.

2. Quan Ju De Roast Duck Qianmen Branch
- Specials recommended: Quan Ju De Roast Duck, Bush Banquet, Hiss Banquet (10 tables for each variety supplied every week, a 72-hour advance reservation is required.)
- Address: No.32 Qianmen Street
- Directions: Take buses No.22, 53, 59, 5, 803, 110 or ring-line subway ring and get off at Qianmen (Da Shi Lan) stop, then walk south for about 3 minutes

3. Donglaishun Untton Hotpot
- Specials recommended: instant-boiled mutton in hot pot, Muslim dishes.
- Address: No.44 Dongjiao Minxiang
- Directions: Northeast exit of Qianmen Subway

4. Yushan Restaurant
- Specials recommended: Assorted Tofu, Lobster, Mushroom, Shrimp Balls With Vegetable, Sesame Pancake with Minced Pork, "Red Lotus on Snow Mountain". Eating at Yushan, you will feel like in the royal court. You can enjoy singing and dancing free of charge while eating. It's really a dye-in-the-wood experience of return to the ancients.
- Address: No.87 Tiantan Road, Chongwen District

5. Beijing Xiaochang Chen Restaurant (Xigexinli Branch)
- Specials recommended: Crisped Pig's Large Intestines, Stewed Pig's Large Intestines, Stewed Pig's Stomach With Garlic; Marinated Combinations in Hot Pot, and a variety of country style dishes.
- Address: No.110 Xigexinli, Yongdingmenwai, Chongwen District
- Directions: Take No.14 bus and get off at Silutong stop, and go north, at the east side of the road

6. Old Beijing Fried Bean Sauce Noodle King
- Specials recommended: Cucumber with Mustard Sauce, Fried Tofu With Minced Beef & Chili Sauce, Radish Peel, Braised Meat, Stewed Chops, Lobster with Hot Sauce.
- Address: No.29 Chongwenmenwai Street
- Directions: Take buses No.41, 106 or 39 and get off at Hongqiao stop

7. Maxim's De Paris
- Specials recommended: Prawn Salad, French Style Snail, French Beef Steak with Red Wine, Raspberry, onion soup French style, chef's goose liver, snail with Bogendy sauce, goose liver with sauce and beef steak.
- Address: 2/F, Chongwenmen Hotel, 2 Chongwenmen West Street
- Directions: at the Chongwenmen station by subway

8. Gong De Lin Vegetarian Restaurant
- Specials recommended: The Restaurant specially offers vegetable dishes of superior materials and high quality. Have a try? Both of the Sauteed Diced "Chicken" With Red Pepper and Sauteed Shredded "Ee" here are made from soy food, but are meaty in your mouth. Very delicious!
- Address: No.158 Qianmen South Street, Chongwen District
- Directions: Take buses No.110, 120 or 20 and get off at Zhushikou stop

9. Hunan Turtle Restaurant (Deren Restaurant)
- Specials recommended: Stewed Turtle, Stewed Fish Head with Pepper, Sauteed Mashed Pork with Preserved Cowpea. Hunan soft-shelled turtle is very fresh and delicious due to a very distinctive cooking method.
- Address: No.211A, Xiheyan, Chongwen District
- Directions: Take buses No.41 or 48 and get off at Zhengyilu Nankou stop, go 150m south from the Zhengyilu Nankou crossroad, it's at the eastside of the road

10. Kaifeng Steamed Dumpling With Pork & Vegetables
- Specials recommended: Fish in a Chrysanthemum Shape, Mashed Sweet Potato, Braised Pork Knuckle in Casserole, Steamed Dumpling With Pork & Vegetables of the Restaurant is well known across the country!
- Address: No.83 Qianmen Street, Chongwen District
- Directions: Take buses No.54, 59, or 110 and get off at Zhushikou stop

11. Capsicum House
- Specials recommended: Southeast Asian food, Thai style curry, Indian Barbecues Specially recommended: Braised Perch with Sauce of Thai Style
- Address: No.3 Chongwenmenwai Street, Chongwen District, in the New World Wanyi Hotel
- Directions: Take No.10, 104, 108, 106, 44 and 48 or subway, get off at Chongwenmen station; Behind New World Shopping Mall

Beijing Xuanwu Hot Zone
Strolling on the street corner of the old district Xuanwu with a history of more than 3000 years, walking into a street restaurant casually, what is always shown in front of you is a colorful and vigorous picture of Beijing folk customs. Old and fresh looks of the southern area of Xuanwu district are combined here. A bit of past scenes of ancient Beijing can be found dimly here.

1. Tian Xing Ju Pig's Liver Congee Restaurant
- Specials recommended: snacks of ancient Beijing style including Pig's Liver Congee, Sesame Pancake and Steamed Dumpling, a 100 year-old restaurant, authentic pig's liver congee.
- Address: No.95 Xianyukou Street, Qianmen Wai, Xuanwu
- Directions: Take No.110 bus and got off at Qianmen stop, then 200 motors east from the crossroad

2. Beijing Hepingmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
- Specials recommended: Roast Duck, Scalded Duck's Heart, Duck Feet With Mustard Sauce Braised Mullet Egg Soup. "Quan Ju De" was founded in the Year Tongzhi 3 of Qing Dynasty (1864), As a time-honored theme restaurant famous in China and foreign countries, it mainly offers roast duck and Shangdong dishes as well as "all duck banquet" of distinctive flavor. It's the largest restaurant serving specially roast duck in China as well as in the world.
- Address: Bldg.14, Qianmen West Street
- Directions: Take buses No.44, 48, 66, 14, 15, 707, To 7 or subway and get off at Hopingmen stop, at the southeast corner of the crossroad

3. Fengze Garden Restaurant
- Specials recommended: authentic Shandong dishes. Braised Biche-de-mer With Scallion, Mullet Egg.
- Address: No.83 Zhushikou West Street, Xuanwu

4. Chao Du Cheng Restaurant
- Specials recommended: Serve you Shanghai food and different zone's flavor: santed shrimp, sauteed eel, garlic sauteed eel.
- Address: West of No.175 Qianmen Hotel 1st floor, Xuanwu District
- Directions: Take No.23, 15, 66, 7, 6, get off at Hufanglu, opposite 50 meters

5. Red Nose Guilin Style Hotpot
- Specials recommended: Clear Chicken Tonic, Stewed Chicken Hotpot, Beer duck with seasoning, sour and hot soup powder.
- Address: No.1A, Beibinhelu, Guanganmenwai Street, Xuanwu District
- Directions: Shoupakounanjie Stop by Bus No.708 and 932