Beijing is undergoing a culinary revolution of the most extraordinary kind. Over the past decade, restaurants specialising in cuisines from around China –and the world – have sprung up across the city. And the venues, from chic, modern dining rooms to hole-in-the-wall eateries hidden in Beijing’s ancient hutongs, are a big part of the fun. The variety is even more impressive when one considers that two decades ago the city was still a culinary desert. In the 1950s, Mao Zedong decided to cut off China’s capitalist tails, a move that resulted in the closure of private restaurants.
In 1980, Yuebin Fanzhuang (43, 31 Cuihua Hutong, opposite main gate of the National Art Museum of China, Dongcheng, tel 6524 5322, mains 10-43RMB) opened in a tiny hutong, becoming the first getihu, or private, restaurant to re-open in Beijing. It was nothing special, and has long since been eclipsed by other eateries, but it ended the long hiatus and offered markedly better food and service than the lethargic state-run restaurants. That said, right up to the early 1990s eating in the capital often meant dining out at one of the ubiquitous Cantonese or spicy Sichuan cafés, usually drab affairs with dim fluorescent lighting and plastic garbage bag table cloths that stuck to your forearms. It was not that long ago that huge heads of cabbage were piled up on the roofs of Chinese houses and on street corners, a reminder of the limited fare then available.
The opening of the Red Capital Club in 1999 in a restored courtyard house set the trend for quaint hutong restaurants. The beautifully renovated The Source offers a set meal of Sichuan dishes; and The Courtyard, once an old house next to the East Gate and moat of the Forbidden City, was transformed into a bright space serving fusion food.
Restaurants also began moving into the city’s parks. Conveniently for tourists many of the best are in Ritan Park. One of the most noteworthy, however, is Bai Family Mansion, set in a sprawling garden that dates back to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.
Gui Jie, or Ghost Street is lined with billowing red lanterns hanging in front of the more than 100 restaurants standing shoulder-to-shoulder on this thoroughfare that stretches 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from east to west along Dongzhimennei Dajie. The all-night dining boulevard is a night cat’s dream. It’s best known for its mala xiao longxia (hot, numbing crayfish); spicy duck’s neck, a specialty of Wuhan; and the hot, sour fish hotpot that made Guizhou famous. Gui Jie was dubbed ‘ghost’ street because gui is pronounced the same as the Chinese word for ghost. Actually, the character for the street name means ‘vessel for holding food’, but ‘ghost’ better captures the open-all-hours feel of the neighbourhood.
The most recent trend in restaurants in Beijing has seen the opening of chic restaurants with an ultra-contemporary design. The avant-garde People 8 is so fashionably dark that you need a flashlight to make your way to what are probably the coolest toilets in the city. LAN, one of the latest additions to Beijing’s restaurant scene, was designed by Philippe Starck, who whipped the 6,000-square metre (65,000-square-foot) space into a fairy fantasyland.
The year 2006 saw a foreign invasion as restaurants from all over the world set up shop in Beijing. In addition to American, European and South-east Asian restaurants, the city now offers Iranian, Turkish, Tunisian, Israeli, Cuban and Greek food, all opened by natives of those countries. French restaurants and pâtisseries are at the forefront. Caféde la Poste, a French bistro set up by a young French chef, serves excellent steaks, while W dine & wine , opened by Belgian Geoffrey Weckx, a former chef at several five-star hotels in China, offers a variety of moderately priced continental dishes.
For all the openings, the ancient ritual of the tea house, or a dinner at an old laozihao may still be the best part of your trip. It’s difficult to imagine where the next culinary trend will take us, but one thing is certain – dining out in Beijing will never be dull again.
Dining etiquette
Chinese meals are ordered for sharing, with guests serving themselves from dishes placed in the centre of the table. It is good manners to take from each dish only what can be eaten immediately; don’t pile up large amounts of food on your side plate or in your rice bowl.
If there is a serving spoon or serving chopsticks, use them; otherwise it’s acceptable to use your chopsticks to take food directly from the communal plate. One custom for serving someone at your table is to flip your chopsticks so you can use the clean ends to take a portion of food to serve guests.
Use your spoon to scoop foods such as tofu or peanuts; after all, your purpose is not to show off your deft handling of chopsticks but to get food onto your plate. For anyone who finds chopsticks awkward, there is no shame in asking for a fork (chazi) or spoon (shaozi). When you’re not using your chopsticks, put them on the chopstick holder – chopsticks sticking up resemble the incense sticks used at funeral services or on ancestral altars.
Cold dishes come first, followed by meat and vegetable dishes, and then fish. Soup comes last. The rice bowl will normally be your soup bowl at the end of a meal.
Chinese friends may try to get you to drink a lot, and you will often hear the toast ‘ganbei’, literally ‘dry bottom’. If you don’t want to down your drink in one you can just say ’suiyi’ or ‘as you like’, which means either party can drink as little or as much as they choose. And if you don’t drink at all, explain that at the beginning of the meal and stick to what you’re drinking.
When dining in a more formal setting, guests normally do not drink at will. It is good manners to wait for another guest to toast you before drinking. After a toast, raise your glass with two hands and tip it slightly in the direction of the person who is toasting with you to show that you’ve taken a drink.
If you are invited to a meal, the person who treats will order the meals. It’s rare for Chinese to go dutch, although nowadays some Chinese who understand the go-dutch concept will comfortably split the bill. But reciprocating is the favoured Chinese way, taking turns to treat. If you’re invited to a Chinese home for a meal, bring some fruit or flowers as a gift.
Practicalities
While most of the restaurants listed in this guide have English menus, some local places will not. Our advice in this case is simply to point to the things you see on other tables. It’s what the locals do.
The Chinese tend to eat early by Western standards. Most local restaurants serve lunch between 11.30am and 2pm, and dinner between 5.30pm and 9pm. Some kitchens are now staying open until 10pm, with a few restaurants even venturing into the wee hours. These places are generally not open for lunch. It is advisable to book in advance for the popular restaurants, particularly at weekends.
The Centre
The historical heart is packed with countless inexpensive eateries. Popular choices include authentic Chuanban , Qin Tang Fu , which specialises in Shaanxi dishes, and the Red Capital Club, which serves Zhongnanhai cuisine. For reasonably priced Western dishes, desserts and coffee, go to the Caribou Café.