traveldk.com

Lots of restaurants specialize in Beijing’s most famous dish, and debate rages endlessly over who serves the best fowl. This place is less over-blown and over-priced than many of its rivals, and for that it gets our vote (see Beijing Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant).

Preparing Beijing duck

Sharing a hotpot is an essential Beijing experience and there’s no better place to do it than on beguiling “Ghost Street.” The décor may be a bit dingy but ingredients are fresh and the broth and dipping sauces are terrific (see Guizhou Luo Luo Suan Tang Yu).

Authentic Guizhou food, uncompromisingly spicy and sour, is generally too coarse for foreign tastes, but here it is blended with more conventional Chinese flavors. The atmosphere is stylish, in keeping with the local hipster fondness for minority cuisines (see Three Guizhou Men).

Little known even in China, the cuisine of the southeastern Hakka people is a delight. They use heaps of hot salt to bake chicken and fish, and do lots of dishes featuring smoky pork. Han Cang does excellent Hakka dishes and has a fun and vibrant atmosphere to boot .

A supremely hip and stylish Taiwanese chain, also serving quality Hakka dishes. Everything looks stunning and it tastes even better. Leave room for one of the hugely popular red-bean ice desserts (see Bellagio).

The kitchen is open allowing diners to view ducks roasting and nimble fingers speedily making disks of dough and spooning in fragrant fillings to make the little dumplings known as jiaozi, a Beijing specialty (see Jiaozi).

Qing court kitsch doesn’t get much more over the top than this: wait staff dolled up in traditional dress, while dances and songs are performed throughout dinner. Touristy? Yes, but the Qing court-styled food is excellent and you are ensured a memorable evening (see Princess Mansion).

The most famous and popular Uighur establishment in Beijing, specializing in Muslim Xinjiang cuisine. Expect lots of lamb, skewered and roasted, in addition to after-dinner table-top dancing and live music (see Afunti).

A beautiful restaurant: a recreation of a traditional siheyuan (courtyard) house reusing thousands of bricks from demolished properties, along with wooden screens, carved stone friezes, and door guardian stones. Dishes lean towards the Cantonese, but there are also Beijing favorites, including classic Beijing roast duck (see Beijing duck).

A fashionable, superior chain owned by a Beijing-based artist serving authentic Yunnanese food. Diners can sample all manner of flowers, insects, and mysterious animal parts, as well as more conventional dishes (see South Silk Road).