Red Capital Club

This finely restored courtyard restaurant is dedicated to the good things in life – fine food and wine and cigars – and to the spirit of Chinese capitalism.

So its ironic that the restaurant has turned to the past and Communism, for its theme: zhongnanhai (‘leadership’).

The kitchen produces the kind of food served at official state banquests, and said to reflect the tastes of puritanical senior Communist officials.

There is a story behind each dish. For example, the Marshals’ Favourite, large hot green peppers stuffed with minced pork, is said to have been a favoured dish of Party officials during the epic Long March.

Deng’s Chicken is decorated with small black and a white cats, one carved out of a beet and the other from a turnip, in homage to Deng’s statement that ‘It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.’

Don’t forget to climb down to the courtyard bomb shelter, which has been turned into a wine and cigar cellar.