Eating in Beijing
The food choice in Beijing is just as vast as the city itself, however, without knowing much about the language choosing food from the local restaurants can be a daunting experience. Here is a simple introduction to food in Beijing, I hope it will come in handy during one of your Beijing trips.
The Royal Treats
Beijing has been the capital of China for over 800 years and royal treats are its signature dishes. Royal treats are prepared with hand picked ingredients, and cooked by the most skilful of chefs. After years of formulation in the Forbidden City they can now be tasted and enjoyed by almost anyone in the country. The Fang Shan Restaurant (仿膳饭庄) (map), located within Beihai Park, and the Ting Li Restaurant (听鹂馆餐厅) (map), inside of the Summer Palace, are the most famous purveyors of the food within Beijing. According to the locals, the chefs in these restaurants leant their skills from ancestral royal kitchen chefs. The decoration and layout resemble royal palaces.
An average meal would cost around 90-200 RMB per head.
Rou Mo Shao Bing
Personal recommendation: Rou Mo Shao Bing (肉末烧饼) – a minced pork stir fried with spring onion, ginger and soy source, served with a baked bread with a sesame seed topping. You should slice open the bread bun and fill it with the minced pork – enjoy!
You can also order the grandest Chinese feast, Man Han Quan Xi (满汉全席) here as well. Man Han Quan Xi literally means Manchu and Han Chinese feast, it includes 108 unique dishes from the Man and Han Chinese cultural cuisine, the feast was only reserved for the emperors during special occasions and the whole feast would go on for 6 days.
The Peking Roast Duck
The roast duck and the Great Wall are the two things no one want to miss when in Beijing. There is over 400 years of history behind the Peking Roast Duck dish. It uses local Beijing duck roasted in a special oven which is heated with fruit tree wood. The roast duck has a dark red crispy skin with tender and juicy meat inside. It is usually sliced before serving and comes with sliced spring onion, soy bean paste, sliced cucumbers and extremely thin steamed flour bread with which you wrap the food together with.
The Quan Ju De Roast Duck Restaurant (全聚德烤鸭店) is famous around the country for its tasty roast duck, having the oldest brand name in the country. There are now quite a few branches in Beijing, and can be found at;
Heping men Branch, address: 14 Qianmen West Street (map)
Qianmen Branch, address: 32 Qianmen Street (map)
Wangfujing Branch, address: 9 Shuaifu Yuan Hutong, Wangfujing Street (map)
Beijing Zhajiang Mian (noodles)
Zhajiang Mian (炸酱面) are boiled noodles mixed with sliced vegetables and fried mince pork in a soy bean paste. It is one of the local favourites, and is eaten daily. It is one of those simple yet surprisingly delicious Chinese food and definitely worth trying. You should be able to get it in most of the medium to small restaurants in Beijing.
Vegetarian restaurant
For vegetarian travellers, you can find vegetarian dishes in regular restaurants in Beijing, however, there is a vegetarian restaurant in Beijing called He Tang Yue Se (荷塘月色) (map) worth checking out. It is a local vegetarians’ favourite and I am sure you will be surprised how creative Chinese vegetarian dishes can be.
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