10 Restaurants you need to visit in Beijing

1. Duck de Chine

Address: 1949 The Hidden City, Courtyard 4, Gongti Bei Lu

Price per head: ££

Opening times: 11:30am-2:30pm, 6pm-10:30pm 

Cuisine: Chinese and French

Duck de Chine is the culinary vision of father son team Peter and Wilson Lam, located in a converted industrial complex, the restaurant is in the backdrop of a magnificent Beijing skyline.

The pair have put their own spin on the Beijing signature dish Peking duck; roasting for 65 minutes, over 30-year old date tree wood. The method creates a succulent Peking duck with a crisp, lacquered skin, which is perfectly accompanied by the restaurants succulent dipping sauce. 

Its Peking duck may be its signature dish, but the other items on the menu are also strong, recommended items include pumpkin infused with sour plum, lobster fried with XO sauce and its dim sum.  

(Imagery courtesy of http://hungryasians.com/)

2. Capital M

Address: 3rd Floor, 2 Qianmen Street, Dongcheng 

Price per head: £££ 

Opening times: 11.30am-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm 

Cuisine: European

Founded by chef Michelle Garnaut, located on the southside Tiananmen Square Capital M offers some of the most incredible views of the Zhengyangmen Fortress and the Forbidden City. The menu is influenced by European, Middle Eastern and Asian flavours, some highlights include their crispy suckling duck, smoked salmon and their renowned pavlova. The venue is also home to one of the most popular rooftop bars in Beijing that serves some delicious cocktails.

(Imagery courtesy of https://www.thebeijinger.com/)

3. King’s Joy

Address: 2 Wudaoying Hutong, Yonghegong, Dongcheng district

Price per head: £££

Opening times: 10am to 10pm 

Cuisine: Chinese, vegetarian

The Head chef at King’s Joy Chef Pan Jianjun is a former disciple of the Buddhist Donglin monastery in Jiangxi province. The restaurant is a homage to the vegetarian lifestyle of the monks and uses fresh organic ingredients carefully chosen from local farms. However, it is far from the simple and bland food you would imagine coming out of a monastery. The dishes are bursting with flavour; with a taste and texture that delivers meaty notes which will satisfy even the most devout carnivore. You are also able to purchase delicately balanced healthy beverages that leave you both satisfied and guilt free. This is all perfectly accompanied by the setting, as there is an unmistakable ambience in dining area, which is decorated in a beautiful bamboo forest.

(Imagery courtesy of https://tabletraveller.com/)  

4. Temple restaurant Beijing

Address: 23 Shatan Beijie, Dongcheng District, Beijing

Price per head: £££

Opening times: 11.30am-2.30pm, 6pm-10pm

Cuisine: European, French

Temple Restaurant Beijing is the creation of Belgian restaurateur Ignace LeCleir, perfectly located to overlook the moat and east gate of the Forbidden City, a onetime Tibetan temple is now a sleek and refurbished restaurant complex.   

The menu is that of modern European, most notably influenced by French cuisine offering plenty of caviar and truffle. Recommended dishes include the roast suckling pig and rice flaked crusted lobster. The menu also offers an extensive wine list that can compete with any restaurant in Asia.

(Imagery courtesy of http://www.thatfoodcray.com/)  

5. Najia Xiaoguan

Address: 10 Yonganli, Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District

Price per head: ££

Opening times: 10.30am to 10pm 

Cuisine: Chinese, Manchurian

Najia Xiaoguan presents its take on Manchurian food, the Manchu used to live in the north-east of China during the Qing dynasty. The restaurants signature dish is its venison, but all of its slow-cooked meats and stews are beautifully composed. Other recommended dishes include the ox ribs and hoof, crispy skinned prawns and the braised eggplant. The restaurant also offers an extensive wine list of both local and imported wines.

(Imagery courtesy of http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/)  

6. Chuan Ban

Address: 5 Gongyuan Toutiao, Jianguomennei Dajie, Dongcheng District

Price per head: ££

Opening times: Mon-Fri 7am-9am, 10.50am-2pm, 4.50pm-9.30pm; Sat-Sun 7am-10pm

Cuisine: Chinese, Sichuan

Chuan Ban is the canteen at the Sichuan provincial government office building. Being a canteen, the restaurant is not exactly elegant, but it is the home to arguably the best Sichuan food on the planet. Sichuan food is known for its use of spices, including heavy reliance on the Sichuan peppercorn, thus can be quite hot. Recommended dishes include lazi ji (deep-fried chicken with chilies), shuizhuyu (a spicy fish cooked in broth), as well as its mapo tofu and its kungpao frog.

(Imagery courtesy of https://www.travelandleisure.com/)

7. Haidilao

Address: 2A Baijiazhuang Lu, Chaoyang district, or Eighth Floor, Tianyingtai Department Store, 88 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng district 

Price per head: ££ 

Opening times: 24 hours

Cuisine: Chinese, Sichuan hot pot

Haidilao is a chain that started in 1994 the serves a nutritious Sichuan Chinese hotpot, there are currently over 10 branches around Beijing. Hot pot is the cooking of thin slices of meat, fish or vegetables in a bowl of potently flavoured stock.

The restaurant is open 24-hours but there is likely to be a queue no matter what time you go, however, whist you wait you can enjoy a complementary mani-pedi, shoe shine and fruit plate. The atmosphere is good fun, with enthusiastic staff who give a performance if you order the hand pulled noodles which are served tableside. You also can fashion your own sauce to perfectly accompany your hot pot at the sauce bar.   

(Imagery courtesy of http://www.haidilao.com/sg/)

8. Baoyuan Jiaozi Wu

Address: 6 Maizidian Jie, Chaoyang District 

Price per head: £

Opening times: 11am-10pm

Cuisine: Chinese, Dumplings

Baoyuan is a restaurant that elevates the humble dumpling, offering an assortment of different fillings encased in flavoured dough. The wrapping comes in a collection of colours, which are all died with natural flavours i.e. carrots make the orange and spinach the green. These colours are not simply for appearance, their flavours are used to elevate the dumpling’s filling. The menu includes a healthy mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, favourites include guo bao – a purple dumpling with a crispy rice filling, there are also some very tasty side dishes such as the wan dou (green pea shoots).

(Imagery courtesy of https://culinarybackstreets.com/)

9. Zhang mama

Address: 4 Fensiting Hutong, Dongcheng District

Price: £

Opening times: 10.30am-11pm

Cuisine: Chinese, Sichuan

Zhang mama is a family restaurant that offers some of the most traditional and most affordably priced Sichuan food in Beijing. There are now two locations, the original location a tiny room where diners queue up outside the restaurant and slightly larger second location on Jiaodaokou Nandajie; where diners again cram alongside one another to sample the delicious authentic Sichuan style food. Recommended dishes include there Xiang guo (a stir fry bowl), hui guo rou (twice cooked Sichuan pork rump), as well as the dandan noodles and mapo tofu.

(Imagery courtesy of http://lumdimsum.com/)

10. Dali courtyard

Address: 67 Xiaojingchang Hutong, Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District

Price per head: ££

Opening times: 10am-9.30pm

Cuisine: Chinese, Yunnan 

The Dali courtyard is located near the Drum tower in a beautiful courtyard; during the summer the restaurants glass roof is removed allowing dinners to sit outside, enhancing ambiance. The restaurant serves Yunnan cuisine, and dinners are given no choice, instead you will receive a set menu crafted depending on what the chef found most appealing in the market that day. The menu usually includes a mix of fish, meat and vegetables. A possible menu could be ox liver mushrooms or pan-fried goat's cheese for appetisers and a main of deep-fried crispy prawns and butterflied tilapia fish in lemon grass. The menu is usually priced between 100- 200 RMB for adults, kids eat for 75 RMB and infants are free. 

(Imagery courtesy of https://www.thebeijinger.com/)

Key:

£     0-100 RMB per head
££   100-300 RMB per head
£££ 300+ RMB per head

Team T.G.