Peking Roast Duck (Peking Duck), Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
Peking Dumpling (Jiaozi), Beijing Cuisine
Introduction
Beijing congregate the delicacies of different parts of China, including Chinese four major cuisine: Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine, as well as local flavors of different places. All the hotels in Beijing offer a pleasant environment and distinctive dishes cooked by skillful, experienced chefs. Restaurants of different flavors can be found here and there and are comparably affordable. Credit cards and travel checks are acceptable at the most hotels and restaurants, and some hotels and restaurants charge an additional fee for service-generally 10 to 15 percent of the bill.
Beijing Roast Duck is the No.1 typical food of Beijing. There are many roast duck restaurants in Beijing, of which the 130-year-old Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant is the most famous. Originally established at Qianmen, Quanjude Restaurant has opened branches at Hepingmen, Wangfujing, and other places in Beijing.
Imperial court dishes are another representative cuisine of Beijing. Exclusively served for emperors and imperial families in the past, the court dishes feature high-grade materials and fine culinary skills. At present, court dishes can be tasted at Fangshen Restaurant in the Beihai Park, Tingliguan Restaurant at the Summer Palace, and Dasanyuan Restaurant.
In winter, tourists in Beijing can taste mutton that is instantly boiled in a hot pot. The famous restaurants for hot pot mutton include Donglaishun, Nengrenju, and Youyishun.
In addition, the Tan's Dishes Restaurant based in Beijing Hotel specializes in cooking the dishes of high official families of Old Beijing. And Grill Wan Restaurant on Xuanwumen Street and Grill Ji Restaurant at Houhai are famous for their tasty grilled mutton and beef.
Beijing has a variety of local snacks, such as almond tea, milk curd, steamed millet bun, eight-treasure porridge, pea cake, sesame cake stuffed with ground meat, fermented soy-bean milk, strings of candied haw, rice cake, syrup of plum, and smelly tofu. The best destination for tasting Beijing snacks are night food stands, and the most famous place is the Snake Night Market at Wangfujing Street.
In addition to Chinese restaurants, there are also many exotic restaurants in Beijing, which offer French, Italian, American, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai flavors. Fast-food outlets, such as McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut, are commonplace in Beijing.
At Chaoyangmen Street, Sanlitun, and Houhai, there are many bars, pubs, and small restaurants, which attract both Chinese and foreigners to meet friends and chat over beer.
