From street eats to fine dining; the best of Beijing's eating establishments
Eating alfresco
Time Out goes in search of an outdoor eating experience that doesn't involve a tartan blanket...
Aria 2/F, China World Hotel, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie (tel 6505 2266 ext. 38). Open noon-2pm; 5-10pm daily. Meal for two with drinks 500RMB. 阿郦雅 朝阳区建外大街1号中国大饭店二层Aria's outdoor dining is quite secluded, with neatly manicured bushes and roses at the front, providing a perfect spot for relaxing in the busiest part of downtown Beijing. The best deal at this elegant restaurant is the Monday to Friday business lunch, when for 128 yuan you can get a soup or salad, maincourse, dessert and coffee or tea. The restaurant has a constant supply of hot, freshly made bread brought to your table and a decent stock of wines, ranging from Old to New World Selections. The beautifully designed Aria, where large Renaissance paintings decorate the walls, has a dining area and bar on the first floor, as well as more intimate dining at the top of the spiral staircase. There's live jazz in the evenings.
Assaggi 1 Sanlitun Bei Xiaojie, Chaoyang district (tel 8454 4508) Open 11.30am-2.30pm; 6-11.30pm daily. Meal for two with drinks 500RMB. 尝试 朝阳区三里屯北小街1号
Your mood begins to brighten as soon as you start climbing the sun-lightened spiral staircase up to Assaggi's rooftop patio. Coming to the top of the winding steps, you pass under a shallow glass panel that's actually a small aquarium. The patio, which includes both glassed-in and open-air sections, is a great place to enjoy a relaxed meal surrounded by greenery. The side of the roof, lined with flower boxes, overlooks the charming tree-lined street below. Some of the trees stretch their limbs over the patio, dropping small flower petals onto the tables, and sometimes into your plate and cup. Assaggi has a comprehensive four-course menu featuring Italian cuisine, including fish, chicken, pork and ham, and a wide variety of pastas with pesto, basil and tomato sauces. The spaghetti with fresh clams, drizzled in extra virgin olive oil, is superb, as are the ravioli and tortellini. The grilled salmon, crisp on the outside, but tender and moist on the inside, comes served with potatoes, spinach, and a huge chunk of lemon. Assaggi offers set business lunches for a very reasonable 60RMB, 80RMB and 99RMB.
Dali 67 Xiaojingchang Hutong, Gulou Dong Dajie, Dongcheng district (tel 8404 1430). Open noon-2pm; 6pm-midnight (last orders 9.30pm) daily. 100RMB per person (set-menu). 大理 东城区鼓楼东大街小经厂胡同67号
This elegant Yunnan restaurant, set in a typical Beijing courtyard, somehow manages to have something of a Mediterranean feel to it. Whether this comes from the earthy peach colour of the outside walls, the terracotta plant pots out in the courtyard, the large golden labrador lazing near the door, or the serene music playing in the background it is hard to say. There's no menu, just a delicious 100RMB set meal, which varies depending on the chef's mood and which Yunnan-grown ingredients happen to be in season. A typical meal includes steamed fish in a spicy-sour sauce, blended lemongrass, chillies and ginger served alongside crispy pork spring rolls and thin slices of pork fried with wild mushrooms. Two people can expect to be served five or six decent sized dishes.
Gui Gongfu 11 Fangjiayuan Hutong, Dongcheng district (tel 6512 7667). Open 10:30am-2pm, 5-10:30pm daily. Meal for two with drinks 200RMB. 桂公府 东城区芳嘉园胡同11号
This restaurant is rich in history and located in a protected courtyard house where diners can enjoy their food sitting under a century-old canopy of wisteria and crab-apple trees. Gui Gongfu's owner has created a selection of remarkable dishes using tea leaves, some said to have been taken from the Qing imperial kitchen. Lu Yu Zhucha is one of the signature dishes: a small statue of Lu Yu – the author of the ancient Book of Tea – sits in the centre of beef stir-fried with red chillies and tea leaves. Other popular dishes include green-tea-flavoured noodles, oolong paigu, tender pork ribs served with baby corn, and quyuan fenghe, a dish of scrambled eggs and minced shrimp named after a Hangzhou beauty spot. While dining, consider Gui Gongfu's rich history. This well-preserved triple siheyuan (or sanjin yuan for the pedants) was the childhood home of the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi before she was chosen as one of the consorts of emperor Xian Feng (1850-61). When she entered the imperial household, Gui Gongfu was passed on to her brother, Gui Xiang, whose second daughter was betrothed to Emperor Guangxu – causing the residence to be known as the 'lair of the queens' because it has produced two empresses.
La Galerie Ritan Park, South Gate, Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang district (8563 8698). Open 11am-10pm daily. Meal for two with drinks 200RMB. 艺苑 朝阳区光华路日坛公园南门往西
La Galerie fills the gap in the Jianguomenwai area for good Cantonese dining. The restaurant's outdoor area is located on a narrow wooden platform on the south side of the park, facing the very busy Guanghua Lu. However, some privacy is afforded by the smoked-glass divider and pine trees. The restaurant is a pleasing mix of traditional and modern design. You enter the restaurant, set in a traditional-style courtyard house, through an elaborate and colorful entrance, passing through a small, but pleasant outer yard before entering the inside dining area. The interior is furnished with contemporary fixtures. The restaurant offers a limited variety of dim sum, but it has the most common ones, some prepared in a novel way. The hawkao, or steamed shrimp dumplings, offer a generous-sized piece of shrimp and water chestnut wrapped in a translucent skin, with a perfect texture. Cheungfen, steamed rice noodles, are rolled up and cut into small pieces, and are then stir-fried with crunchy tiny shrimps, strips of lotus root, and baby bokchoy, accompanied by sweet soybean, peanut and sesame pastes. In the outside area, the restaurant has set up a barbecue where the pork tenderloin, suckling pig, and marinated prawns are cooked.
Red Capital Club 66 Dongsijiutiao, Dongcheng district (6401-7150, 8401-8886). Open 6-11pm daily. Meal for two with driniks 400RMB. 新红资俱乐部 东城区东四九条66号
Dining outdoors in the courtyard of The Red Capital Club – a beautifully restored 200-year-old courtyard house – you feel like you're miles away from the city and decades away from today. There's a crescent moon hanging overhead as you sit at your table under a 100-year-old date tree. A candle placed in an elaborately carved melon provides flickering light, creating a very romantic atmosphere. The cuisine features what owner Laurence Brahm calls 'Zhongnanhai' cuisine, which thankfully has nothing to do with Beijing's favourite brand of cigartette and is instead based on the favourite dishes of Communist officials who lived in the government complex just west of the Forbidden City. Take time to explore the courtyard of this house, once the home of a Qing White Bannerman, which was skillfully renovated by master craftsmen. In the centre of the courtyard is a square cover that opens to the bomb shelter, built during the 1960s when Sino-Soviet relations were at an all-time low. Guests are welcome to squeeze their way down the narrow steps for a look at what is now the wine cellar, where Cultural Revolution slogans can still be found.
Souk Chaoyang Park West Gate, (behind Annie's), Choayang district (tel 6506 7309). Open 5pm-5am daily. Meal for two with drinks 150RMB. 苏刻 朝阳公园西门(安妮后面)
Enjoy Mediterranean and Middle Eastern specialties, and maybe a long toke on a shisha pipe, while looking out over the green fields of Chaoyang Park from the outdoor dining area of Souk. Souk is Arabic for market or bazaar, a place where people gather, and the laid back ambiance, with lights and music both dimmed, make this a good place to do this. The lamb kebabs, humus, pita bread, couscous, taboule and falafel are surprisingly good for an unpretentious place like this. And if it gets too hot or cold outdoors, retreat inside to one of the comfortable opium beds and sink into the large soft cushions.
The Source 14 Banchang Hutong, Kuanjie, Dongcheng district (tel 6400 3736). Open 11am-2pm, 5:30-10:30pm daily. Set meal 128RMB or 198RMB per person, (not including drinks). 都江 东城区源南锣鼓巷板厂胡同14号
Dining under century-old pomegranate and date trees in the central yard of this old courtyard house – acoustically cut off from the hustle and bustle outside its imposing, lantern-lit doors – is a serene and relaxing experience. The Source serves a particularly good set menu of Sichuan specialties for 100RMB per person. The menu, which changes every two weeks, includes several appetizers and hot dishes, a few improvised by the chef. The complex that today houses The Source was once the home of a Qing dynasty general, who was made a prince in the mid-1800s as a reward for his work vanquishing the Taiping Rebellion, the greatest peasant uprising in 19th century China. The courtyard house has been meticulously renovated. The inside, with its subdued lighting and antique-style furnishings, has the feeling of a living room of a wealthy family in old Beijing. Avant-garde artist Bing Bing, also the proprietor of the Yen Gallery at 798, originally intended the structure to be a gallery, but the Sichuan native says that her clients were so impressed with the food and ambience that she changed it into a restaurant.
Xiao Wangfu's trademark Sichuan home-style cooking is served within a small, multi-level building just southeast of the traditional archway at the north of Ritan Park. With a tiled roof-top area overlooking a quiet, green section of the park, there's also a small outdoor dining area on the first floor at the entrance to the restaurant. The interior has the cosy feel of a Chinese home, with sofas and armchairs, although some of the furnishings appear mismatched. The second floor dining area, which overlooks the main dining area and has plenty of natural sunlight pouring through the skylights.
Eileen Wen Mooney