Beijing’s restaurant scene, while still less vibrant and innovative than Shanghai’s, is evolving fast. Food and eating are deeply ingrained in China’s psychology and visitors don’t have to walk far to find a local restaurant serving the city’s famous duck, or more eclectic delicacies such as fried pigs trotters or duck’s tongue. Fast food outlets sit on virtually every street corner, and everyone from skateboarder kids to Mao-suited elders tuck into burgers and shakes. The international dining scene is also moving towards the scale and variety expected from the
capital city of a nation of China’s size and (just as with everything else) the onset of Olympic fever is fuelling a rush to open new eateries. That does not mean all new openings are any good, so check out several options. Today, Beijing offers a broad suite of culinary fare but the city’s dispersed geography often means having to catch a cab rather than walking home after a good meal.
The restaurants below are listed under five headings: Gourmet, Business, Personal Recommendations, Trendy and Budget, with three restaurants in each section, thus giving a small sampling of the city’s good food.
These restaurants are grouped into four different pricing categories:
$$$$ (over US$50)
$$$ (US$25 to US$49)
$$ (US$12 to US$24)
$ (up to US$12)
The prices quoted above are for a three course meal for one person, including a bottle of house wine or equivalent. Tax is included, but not the tip.
Gourmet
The Courtyard
Quite simply one of China’s best restaurants. Its wonderfully romantic setting on the Forbidden City moat and jaw-dropping views would probably be enough to recommend it, but the fusion food and extensive wine list complete the perfect dining experience. After your meal, head to the gallery or cigar room - the views are yet better.
95 Donghuamen Dajie (side of the Forbidden City)
Tel: (10) 6526 8883.
Price: $$$$Li Jia Cai
An Imperial cuisine gem. This intimate but exclusive restaurant by Houhai Lake serves set-priced menus that are high on both quality and price, yet steeped in historical significance. The owner’s grandfather worked in the imperial kitchens, and smuggled out the Empress’ recipes, which are still adhered to even today. Bookings essential.
11 Yangfang Hutong, Denei Dajie, Xicheng District
Tel: (10) 6618 0107.
Price: $$$Red Capital Club
Bring visitors here and they are sure to be impressed. This is a gorgeous old courtyard home, decorated with an amazing collection of communist paraphernalia, from Mao’s armchairs to Zhou En Lai’s radios, and serving food from Zhongnanhai (the communist leaders’ compound). The Imperial cuisine more than does justice to the unique surroundings.
66 Dongsi Jiutiao, Dongcheng District
Tel: (10) 8401 6152.
Website: www.redcapitalclub.com.cn
Price: $$$
Business
Danieli’s
Top-notch homemade pasta, excellent breads, desserts and fine wines served in sumptuous surroundings. The St Regis hotel’s signature Italian restaurant oozes class and elegance. Popular with business guests, the quality cuisine can prove pricey, though the daily business lunch specials are good value.
2/F St Regis Hotel, 21 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 6460 6688 ext 2441.
Website: www.stregis.com/beijing
Price: $$$ Huang Ting
Meaning ‘Phoenix Court’, this atmospheric restaurant recreates a Ming Dynasty courtyard, replete with grey brick walls, antique furniture and a wooden entrance door that would grace any Beijing temple. Specialising in Cantonese dishes and dim sum, Huang Ting also serves up Beijing specialties including the famous roast duck. Several private dining rooms are available for business functions.
Peninsula Beijing Hotel, 8 Goldfish Lane, Dongcheng District
Tel: (10) 8516 2888 ext 6707.
Website: www.peninsula.com
Price: $$$ Made In China
Unique concept restaurant serving northern Chinese cuisine, including beggar’s chicken and Beijing duck. Beautifully designed. The dining experience is based around a traditional Chinese kitchen and brick oven, where the chefs prepare the food in different parts of the dining space so that patrons can witness first-hand the preparation of their meals. The aromas are fabulous, wine racks line the shelves, and fresh vegetables and spices are contained in vestibules dotted around the restaurant.
Grand Hyatt Hotel Beijing Oriental Plaza 1 Dongchangan Dajie, Dongcheng District
Tel: (10) 8518 1234 ext 3608.
Website: www.hyatt.com
Price: $$$
Trendy
Garden of Delights
Tasty contemporary Latin American cuisine served up in a long, simple-yet-stylish restaurant owned and designed by Venezuelan architect Antonio Ochoa. The cocktails are fabulous and the signature ceviche bar is exceptional.
53 Donganmen Dajie, Dongcheng District
Tel: (10) 5138 5688.
Website: www.gardenofdelights.com.cn
Price: $$ Hatsune
Sleek and super-chic Japanese restaurant which draws a mixed crowd of business high-flyers and hip 20-somethings with deep pockets. Specialising in sushi and succulent handmade rolls, the food is fresh and artistically presented, and service is attentive.
2/F Heqiao Building C, 8A Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 6581 3939.
Price: $$$
Xiang Jiang Shui Xiang
Located beside Chaoyang Park, this Chinese-fusion restaurant features new takes on southern Chinese cuisine. The result is lighter, home-cooked dishes which rely less on oil and MSG than other regional cuisines. The bright and airy interior includes a giant fake oak tree in the center of the room.
A1, 5 Tiao Bei Tuanjiehu, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 8597 8069.
Price: $$
Budget
Bookworm Café
Bright, airy and friendly this cross between a library, Internet café and coffee shop serves fresh-brewed coffee, sandwiches, salads and simple lunch dishes. It has also has decent wine list. Free wireless Internet can make it resemble a laptop jungle by day. It also hosts an eclectic program of talks and presentations by visiting and local writers and artists.
Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Jie, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 6586 9507.
Website: www.chinabookworm.com
Price: $Donghuamen Night Market
A sizzling treat for street food addicts. Clean, cheap and very popular, this 200m (656ft), red-lanterned roadside strip buzzes every night after dark. Over 100 regional dishes and desserts are served, though most popular are the various kebabs, featuring meat, vegetables, fish and even silkworms. These skewered treats are accompanied by pancakes, dumplings, stews and dipping sauces. Even for those not wanting to eat, the crackling atmosphere is not to be missed.
Junction of Donghuamen Lu and Wangfujing Lu, Dongcheng District
Price: $ The Olive
A casual all-day spot in Sanlitun serving pastas, salads, sandwiches and juices. A pleasant outdoor deck terrace is popular in summer and the laid-back atmosphere attracts a mixed clientele of local residents, students, office lunchers and tourists.
17 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (opposite Workers’ Stadium)
Tel: (10) 6417 9669.
Price: $
Personal Recommendations
Green T House
Yes, it is over-designed and the concept rather pretentious, but this cool dining space is unlike any other in town. And it deserves praise for its determination to go its own way. The upscale food is imaginative, unashamedly aesthetic and (here’s the nub) every dish somehow incorporates China’s favorite brew - tea. The iced teas and cocktails are great and the desserts are worth the extra calories and cost.
6 Gongti Xi Lu, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 6552 8310.
Website: www.green-t-house.com
Price: $$$In and Out
Traditional lanterns, wooden tables and walls lined with colorful photos of the picturesque town of Lijiang bring a flavor of beautiful Yunnan province to China’s capital. The cuisines of eight different ethnic cultures (among them the Dai, Bai and Naxi) of southwest China are served. Highlights include ‘ghost chicken’ (a dish of shredded chicken in a lemon dressing with cilantro and Yunnan spices), fried potato balls, and Lijiang sticky rice cake.
Sanlitun Bei Xiao Jie, Chaoyang District
Tel: (10) 8454 0086.
Price: $Taj Pavilion
Beijing’s friendliest and best Indian restaurant is also one of its first. The Taj regularly wins readership polls in the local press for its well-crafted dishes and generous portions. The pleasant, spacious interior, good location (no Beijing taxi driver can pretend not to know this one) and impeccable service make this a perfect place to sate a curry craving.
1/F, West Wing, China World Trade Center (next to KFC)
Tel: (10) 6505 5866.
Price: $
Nightlife:
Beijing’s nightlife and entertainment scene is undergoing something of a revolution, as modern Beijingers seek to offload disposable income their parents never even dreamt of. Throughout the 1990s, numerous new nightclubs were set up to cater for a chic and affluent clientele and new ones continue to open all the time. The music at these Western-style clubs covers a wide range, with techno and house being hugely popular and international ‘superstar DJs’ performing with increasing regularity. Many nightclubs are open nightly until the small hours of the morning and charge entrance fees of between RMB100 and 200.
The most popular bar area (heavily frequented by foreigners) is Sanlitun, in the northeast of the city. The bars here all offer draught beer at Western prices, and are generally much livelier than any of the hotel bars. New bar districts are opening up all the time, particularly in Chaoynag District near Workers’ Stadium, the lakeside area of Houhai, and along Lotus Lane on the northern bank of the Ba River. Most bars open until about midnight but are liveliest around 2200.
Details of events (including gigs) are listed in the city’s guide Beijing This Month (website:www.btmbeijing.com) or on the Xianzai Beijing website (website: www.xianzai.com). The two best city listings magazines are That’s Beijing (monthly) (website: www.thatsbjeijing.com), which also publishes the extremely helpful Insiders’ Guide to Beijing handbook, City Weekend (every two weeks) (website:www.cityweekend.com.cn) and Time Out Beijing (monthly) (website: www.cimgchina.com).
Bars: Situated in the older part of Chaoyang’s Sanlitun bar district are the ever-popular Poachers Inn, 43 Bei Sanlitun Lu, and the equally welcoming pub, The Tree, 43 Bei Sanlitun Nan, - the latter serving over 40 Belgian beers and excellent pizza. Beijing’s weekend bar du jour is Browns, Nansanlitun Lu (above The Loft), which offers a long wooden bar for late-night table-top dancing, 366 different shooters and an atmosphere of convivial excess. Passby Bar, 108 Naluogu Xiang, Dongcheng District, is a hip, relaxed and ambient bar located in an old hutong. Bed, 17 Zhangwang Hutong, Xicheng District) is a minimalist lounge bar in a renovated hutong house with an uber-cool minimalist décor, with undressed cement floorings and walls, and beds for its ‘beautiful people’ clientele to sit on. World of Suzie Wong, 1A Nongzhanguan Lu by the west gate of Chaoyang Park, is an elegant and stylish faux-1930s throwback that serves killer daiquiris.
Clubs: Undoubted king of clubs is the cavernous Vics, inside Workers Stadium north gate, which mixes up a nightly thrash of soul, R&B, pop and reggae and is popular with visiting celebrities and music stars. JJ’s, 74-76 Xinjiekou Bei Dajie, packs ‘em in at weekends and features lasers, a sci-fi theme and scantily-clad Russian dancing girls; imported British DJs play a mixture of techno, reggae and house. Tango, South Gate of Ditan Park, Dongcheng District, is another superclub with a giant dance floor, smaller lounge bar and live music. Opened in 2006, Club Fusion, A8 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang District, is a haven of house and electronica and a promised line-up of guest spots from touring international DJs.
Live Music: Local rock bands perform regularly at What Bar, which has two locations, West Yuandadu Bar Street, Chaoyang District (tel: (10) 8461 4683) and 72 Beicheng Jie, Xicheng District (tel: (10) 133 4112 2757). Tucked away in the car park beyond the north gate of Workers’ Stadium is Yugong Yishan, 1 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang District (tel: (10) 6415 0687), a throbbing live music venue which hosts everything from rock to jazz and improv to DJ sets. Live jazz sets top the bill from Thursday to Sunday at the East Shore Live Jazz Café, 2/F, 2 Qianhai Nanyan Lu, Xicheng District (tel: (10) 8403 2131), owned by legendary jazzman Liu Yuan.
