Beijing China – Best Places ti Eat and Dishes to Try

The cuisine of Beijing has been influenced by food traditions from all over China for centuries as nobles and traders would bring their house staff with them to the city, many aspiring chefs would then remain in the city. Beijing is well known for its snack foods.

Dishes That are Unique to Beijing

There are lots of varieties of food available in Beijing but not too many that can claim to be unique to the city, however there are a few exceptions.

Beijing or Peking Roast Duck is a specialty dish served in lots of restaurants in the city and many of them will serve just this dish. You should expect to pay around CNY90 for a whole duck at a lower class budget restaurant and up to CNY200 at better quality ones. It is served in slices with thin pancakes, sliced scallions, strip of cucumber and a plum sauce.

Savoury pancakes are one of the most popular street snack foods in Beijing, they are eaten at any time of the day or night. They consist of eggs, dough, scallions and finished with a savoury sauce. Lamb kebabs can be found all over Beijing on makeshift grilling stands that appear in the late afternoon and continue into late in the night.

A winter specialty snack food in Beijing is Candied Haw Berries, the berries are dipped into molten sugar which is then left to solidify in the cold, and they are sold on a stick. There are also variations using other fruits.

Beijing’s Cheap Restaurants and Street Food

Some of the best locations for cheap restaurants and street food in Beijing can be found next to some of the most expensive.

Ghost Street has some of the best selections available with over 100 restaurants for all tastes and budgets. For street food you should try Wangfujing’s snack street it runs across Wangfujing Street one block up from Chang’an Street. Here you can get tasty snacks such as grilled lamb, chicken, beef or pork. Various noodle dishes as well as some unusual looking dishes such as silkworm, scorpions or a selection of organs skewered onto sticks and ready to be cooked.

At Huguoshi Street, take subway lines 4 or 6 to Ping’anli station, you can sample noodles from Shaanxi province, stuffed buns, mutton soup or a variety of sweet tasting snacks. Savoury pancakes were described earlier and will cost from CNY2.50 to CNY4. They can be served just like a pancake while others make them more like a taco. Various meat kebabs will cost you CNY10 for 6 skewers.

The Best Restaurants to find Local Beijing Food

In Beijing even the quality restaurants are generally well priced, you can buy good meals in the city without paying over the top prices.

Jin Ding Xuan is a Beijing brand of restaurants specialising in foods from several Chinese provinces and offers food 24 hours a day. This brand has been established since1998 and has a good reputation for quality tasting food at a good price; you should expect to pay CNY70 per person for a meal. Try their restaurant on Hepingli Street in Dongcheng district.

Najia Restaurant is elegantly decorated in a royal court style, a reminder of the Qing dynasty and serves Beijing and Zhejiang meals. It is open from 11.30am until 1pm for lunch and then again from 5pm until 9.30pm, you should expect to pay around CNY70 per person to eat here.

Beijing is famous for its style of duck, in Qianmen district you will find one of Beijings finest restaurants offering this dish. Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurants in the city having been in operation since 1864. It will cost around CNY114 to eat this dish and they are open from 11am until 1.30pm and 4.30 until 8pm, their menu is just the one item, roast duck.

The Revolving Restaurant on Central Television Tower is 221 metres above the ground and is the highest revolving restaurant in the city. It has local food, food from other provinces as well as Japanese and western foods on its buffet. Lunches cost CNY188 each and dinner is priced at CNY298, both include a tour of the TV Tower and Underwater World.

Dadong Roast Duck is highly regarded as one of the best restaurants in Beijing for Roast Duck, but they also have a wider menu wanting you to return again. It opens at 11am until 10pm and the average cost of a meal is CNY100 per person. You cannot just walk in as they only accept advance reservations.

Western or International Food available in Beijing

There is now an abundance of western food available in Beijing, while lots of local food is relatively cheap most of the western food available does tend to be a little pricy. The Georg is one of the newer upscale restaurants to have arrived in Beijing under the design brand of Georg Jensen. It is closed on Sundays, you must book ahead for a reservation and it will cost you over CNY500 per person.

Stuff’d make their own sausages, have a great selection of pizzas and salads among other foods and they brew their own beer. All this is available for around CNY100 per person. Pebbles Lounge is a three storey Mexican restaurant that has been in Beijing for many years. It has a good reputation for its reasonably priced nachos, tacos and burritos. You should expect to pay around CNY100 per person.

The Temple Restaurant has the acclaim of being among the best western restaurants in Beijing, and eating there is a great experience. It has award winning chefs in an exquisite setting; it is in an ancient Tibetan Temple. You should expect to pay over CNY500 per person to dine here.

Cafes and Coffee Shops in Beijing

The Ahava Bistro and Café is a chain of cafes that has several locations throughout Beijing. They serve some delicious sandwiches, salads, soups, burgers and baked goods. They do some great lunch deals and have great tasting coffee. This chain is open from 11.30am until 3am and you can get a good meal for under CNY100.

Café Flatwhite is another small company based in Beijing with 13 branches across the city. They have great sandwiches, burgers, soups and salads and wonderful coffee, particularly the flatwhite. It is open daily from 9am until 9pm and it will cost you around CNY100 for a meal at one of these cafes.

Bars, Pubs and Drinking Venues in Beijing

Beijing has a good bar scene with 60% of its pubs and clubs available in Sanlitun Street close to several foreign embassies and a favourite location for foreign visitors and ex-pats alike. On Sanlitun Street there are more than 80 bars and clubs, so something there to suit all tastes in addition to some restaurants should you become hungry after drinking. On this street it is possible to eat and drink all day and night as some premises are open round the clock.

A word of warning, some clubs will hire people to sell ‘expensive’ drinks to foreign visitors or ask you to buy them a drink. These drinks are usually cheap mineral water but are marked up at greatly increased prices and in the past foreign visitors have faced a bill of over CNY1000 for one drink.