The best of Beijing's food scene, from Peking duck to donkey delicacies
As the capital city of arguably the most food-obsessed nation on earth, Beijing is an aromatic melting pot of delicious eats, where “have you eaten?” is a recognised way of saying hello. Here you can dine like an emperor on China’s regional riches – mouth-numbing Sichuan hot pot, Xinjiang-style grilled lamb, and truffles from far-flung Yunnan. Beijing’s own cuisine is hearty and fortifying for those winters when the icy winds whip south from the Great Wall. More wheat than rice, it’s a diverse blend of local influences, from the traditional snacks of the Islamic Hui community to banquet favourites like Peking duck, dreamed up in the imperial kitchens centuries ago.
Dongcheng
The Georg
Though casual is the mantra at The Georg, service is suspiciously polished and the “sit back and relax menu” far cleverer than the brief dish descriptions would have you believe. A changing carte offers around a dozen European-inspired dishes, all identically priced and with no course hierarchy. Delicate langoustine is paired with a rich whack of foie gras; beef tartare with tangy comté cheese. Desserts offer a similar dalliance of two or more components. It’s a gorgeous space, too (Danish jewellery brand George Jenson are the owners), set within a faux-historic hutong courtyard beside a winding canal.
Contact: 00 86 10 8408 5300; facebook.com/thegeorgbeijing
Opening times: Tue-Sun, 6pm-10.30pm
Nearest metro: Nanluoguxiang
Prices: ￡￡￡
Reservations: Recommended
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Xian Lao Man
A restaurant beloved by Beijing’s lao bai xing (literally ‘old hundred names’, referring to common folk), Xian Lao Man is lauded for its cheap and hearty jiaozi, or dumplings, stuffed with an array of fillings like pork and cabbage or egg and tomato (their English slogan is “our dumplings are the fullest”). As well as bulging jiaozi you can munch your way through austere Beijing specialities like puck-shaped xianbing pancakes, fried starch ‘sausage’, and madofu, which is mung bean pulp (the by-product of tofu making) mixed with pickled veggies and sautéed in gamey lamb fat.
Address: 252 Andingmen Dajie
Contact: 00 86 10 6404 6944
Opening times: Daily, 11am-10pm
Nearest metro: Andingmen
Prices: ￡
Reservations: Walk-ins only
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TRB Forbidden City
When it comes to romance, Beijing most certainly isn't Paris. But amour is in the air at TRB as you dine alongside the Forbidden City’s moat, sipping old-world vintages with your chocolate feuillantine. The sister restaurant to TRB Hutong nearby, TRB Forbidden City offers contemporary European fine dining skewed toward France, with mountains of caviar and white truffle for the high rollers, and a bargain lunch set for 'hoi polloi', which might star roast lamb or house-made gravlax. GM and former sommelier Ignace Lecleir is charm distilled, and the generous mid-course amuse-bouche sweeten the deal.
Contact: 00 86 10 8400 2232; trb-forbiddencity.com
Opening times: Daily, 11am-10pm
Nearest metro: Tiananmen East
Prices: ￡￡￡
Reservations: Recommended
Siji Minfu
Get wise: Beijing’s time-honoured, touristic Peking duck brands (Quanjude, Bianyifang) simply can’t cut it with scene-stealing newcomers like Siji Minfu. The nicest branch of this outstanding chain overlooks the Forbidden City’s moat, so expect to queue. But your patience will be rewarded with a lacquer-skinned bird bronzed to perfection over jujube wood then carved tableside, along with faultless dishes like sticky-sweet kungpao shrimp, traditional Beijing sweet snacks, and the odd donkey dish (a northern favourite). For a truly memorable duck experience, try to bag a table al fresco on the moat-side balcony.
Address: 11 Nanchizi Dajie
Contact: 00 86 10 6526 7369
Opening times: Daily, 10.30am-10.30pm
Nearest metro: Tiananmen East
Prices: ￡￡
Reservations: Walk-ins only
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Chaoyang
Taste of Dadong
Peking duck maestro Dong Zhenxiang felt the claws of American food critics in 2018 for his overpriced New York venture (98 USD/￡74 per quacker!), but back in Beijing, Dong offers a generous portion of his famous fowl for a fraction of that. Taste of Dadong, a casual venture now with several branches, offers a cheap entry point into the acclaimed chef’s cuisine. Known for his molecular dabbling, he can’t resist a bit of showmanship (candyfloss ‘flowers’ in pots, anyone?) but the basics, like clear soups, dumplings and his take on zhajiang mian, Beijing’s native noodle dish, are delectable.
Address: Parkview Green, 9 Dongdaqiao Lforu
Contact: 00 86 10 8563 1016
Opening times: Daily, 11am-9:30pm
Nearest metro: Dongdaqiao
Prices: ￡￡
Reservations: Walk-ins only
Country Kitchen
Rosewood Hotel’s rustic-chic Chinese restaurant, Country Kitchen, eschews the typical five-star Cantonese seafood theme for refined takes on no-nonsense northern fare from the windswept regions skirting the Great Wall. Think spiced, slow-roasted leg of Inner Mongolian lamb, perfect Peking duck, rib-sticking Shaanxi noodles, and plump pork and cabbage ‘posticker’ dumplings. Sichuan cooking gets a look-in (Beijingers love spice), and desserts are particularly creative. Try their riff on Tianjin’s jianbing savory crêpe, served not with egg and spring onion but banana sorbet and crushed peanuts. You won’t leave hungry.
Contact: 00 86 10 6597 8888; rosewoodhotels.com
Opening times: Daily, 11:30am-10:30pm
Nearest metro: Dongdaqiao
Prices: ￡￡￡
Reservations: Recommended
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Sheng Yong Xing
This sophisticated Peking duck roaster is housed within an elegantly partitioned dining room with open brick ovens, where the finest fowl known to humankind are fired at a higher than traditional temperature for glossy skin and less oily flesh. Upgrade to a fancy Peking duck set and enjoy additional flourishes like duck skin shards topped with caviar. Aside from the ubiquitous birds, the menu is an encyclopaedic study of China’s best-loved dishes, covering everything from mouth-tingling Sichuan stir-fries to invigorating soup broths flavoured with spring chicken and aromatic matsutake mushrooms. Good wine list, too.
Address: 5 Xindong Lu
Contact: 00 86 10 6464 0968
Opening times: Daily, 11am-10:30pm
Prices: ￡￡
Nearest metro: Agricultural Exhibition Center
Reservations: Recommended
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Opera Bombana
Bergamo-export Umberto Bombana aced Asia with his previous restaurant, 8? Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA in Hong Kong, the first Italian outside Italy to garner three Michelin stars. Were Michelin to tackle Beijing, Opera Bombana would surely be worth a star itself. Heading up the kitchen is another Bergamo native, Marino Antonio, whose dégustation menus continue the impeccable sourcing and studied simplicity that is the Bombana trademark. Max out your plastic on dishes like hand-crafted cavatelli tossed with scampi and sea urchin, Normandy blue lobster with aubergine, and their famous limoncello soufflé – worth the extra 20-minute wait.
Contact: 00 86 10 5690 7177; operabombana.com
Opening times: Daily, 11am-10.30pm
Nearest metro: Dongdaqiao
Prices: ￡￡￡
Reservations: Recommended
Haidilao ‘Smart Restaurant’
A brave new world of dining is promised by the latest branch of China’s most esteemed chain of hot pot restaurants. Robotic arms select the raw ingredients in the kitchen, which are delivered to tables via Panasonic-built robot waiters who politely navigate their way between diners. As customers are the chefs here – cooking raw ingredients in soup at the table – the robots only perform menial roles. There are plenty of human staff about too, just in case the ‘bots decide to rise up and scald their oppressors with bubbling soup.
Address: World City, 9 Jinhui Lu
Contact: 00 86 10 6501 8449
Opening times: 10am-7pm
Price: ￡￡
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Xicheng
The Southern Fish
Spice, sour, salt, smoke – Hunan cuisine (xiang cai) turns it all up to 11. At this obscenely stylish, white-walled restaurant in west Beijing, traditional Hunan dishes are given a millennial makeover, but it’s still food designed to make you sweat, weep, and beg for mercy, but ultimately you'll be unable to stop digging in with your chopsticks. Dishes like mizhi niurou (‘secret beef’) are a case in point, a mind-blowing combo of slow-cooking, frying, dried chillis and cumin, or duojiao yutou, an enormous, tender-fleshed carp’s head peeking out from under a veil of pickled chillis.
Address: 49 Gongmenkou Toutiao
Contact: 00 86 10 8306 3022
Opening times: Daily, 11am-9.30pm
Nearest metro: Fuchengmen
Prices: ￡
Reservations: Walk-ins only
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Wang Pangzi
Wang Pangzi (Fatty Wang) is Beijing’s most famous seller of lurou huoshao – that’s donkey meat sarnies to you and me. Braised donkey is remarkably tasty, especially when diced up with crunchy green peppers and crammed into toasted, rectangular rolls. The story goes that donkey meat became a thing with the rise of railways in northern China, since their conveyance services were no longer in demand. Around two rolls per person should do it, leaving room for the lip-smacking cold salads, like silken tofu with vinegar, and ‘smashed’ cucumbers with sesame oil. The soups are excellent, too.
Address: 76 Gulou Xidajie
Contact: 00 86 10 8402 23077
Opening times: Daily, 24 hours a day
Nearest metro: Shichahai
Prices: ￡
Reservations: Walk-ins only
