Beijing Dining

Beijing Dining

Crisp Beijing Roast Duck
Beijing cuisine learns from many different cuisines, thus, thousands of restaurants with various dining choices are available in the capital city. And the best part is that you can splurge at a fancy restaurant or dine supremely well (any much more cheaply) at any of the smaller family-run operations located all over the city.
 

What to Eat - Traditional Beijing Food


Although there are various cuisines in Beijing, the must-try food should be the Roast Duck, Imperial Cuisine Food and local street food.
 It is said that there are two things that you must do when visiting this city: One is to enjoy the roast duck and the other is to take a stroll on the Great Wall. There is simply quite nothing like a perfectly roasted duck with bronzed crispy skin and tender, succulent meat. There are literally dozens of restaurants that serve this famous dish, but perhaps the best known are Quanjude and Bianyifang.
Quanjude Restaurant     Top 10 Peking Duck Restaurants

 Imperial Cuisine has evolved over time to be enjoyed by all of the country's people, characterized by complex preparation techniques, the freshest ingredients and elaborate presentation including colorful vegetable carvings. It is the foundation of Beijing cuisine. Probably the finest expression of classic imperial cooking is the Tan Jia cuisine served at the Beijing Hotel.
 

Fancy street food and local snacks are a must in tasting the authentic flavor. These dishes emanate from many different cuisines, but the Chinese Muslim influenceis the most apparent. There are probably 200 varieties of snacks and street food in Beijing. Most of them can be found at the  top 15 snacks restaurants in the city, or in any of the 10 best night markets and snack streets, among which the Guijie Street, Wangfujing Snack StreetGuanganmen Food Street, Huguosi Hutong Snack Street, and Qianmen Food Streets are the most representative.

 Read more: 

15 Must-eat Beijing Foods – Local Beginners’ Picks

5 Beijing Famous Foods Most People Dare NOT to Eat
 


In Beijing, visitors can go to Quanjude and Bianyifang to taste Peking Roast Duck and wander along the snack streets to try mouth-watering street food. Besides, they can also find a large number of great restaurants serving other Chinese cuisines and even foreign food.

Beijing Restaurant

Chinese Cuisines & Restaurants

Besides of the eight cuisines, most of regions and minorities in China also have their own particular cuisines that supply customers with more choices. Here is a bilingual menu which can help ordering dishes in restaurants.

Asian Restaurants

Are you still looking for the special food which could suprise you by totally different flavors? Why not try an Asian restaurant?

Western Restaurants

In addition to the thousands of Chinese restaurants, there are also lots of places serving foods from all over the world. You can basically get any type of food you want here, if you know where to find it. 

 

 10 Michelin Restaurants in Beijing
To enjoy the food and service of Michelin Restaurants, you can go to some branches of the Michelin Guide Restaurants in the city.

 Vegetarian Restaurants
Like fastfood is for people in a hurry, the increasingly fashionable vegetarian dishes are for vegetarians or persons who love this healthy dining style, but not only for those vegetarians for the religion's sake. Merits and Virtues Vegetarian House is a time honored brand that was first founded in Shanghai. Absolutely, there are more vegetarian restaurants listed on page for references.

  Halal Food
Feature food from Chinese ethnic minorities contributes a lot to Beijing's colorful dining culture. Characterized by its fresh yet dense flavor, Muslim Cuisine is also known as Islamic cai and Hui cai, the best dish of which is Whole Sheep Banquet which has won wide praise. 

  Seafood Restaurants
Seafood  is a special dish in east and south part of China. It is well liked around the country with its fresh and special flavor.

  Hot Pot Restaurants
You will never be disappointed to look for various kinds of food. For the cold weather, Hot Pot is a good choice to try. It is no wonder that some love to have in summer too. Hot pot is so popular nationwide.

 Buffets
Helping oneself in buffets restaurants is a popular and free dining style favored by multitudes of people. Many BBQ restaurants and cafes are of this kind. Here are many excellent cafeterias getting well spoken. For specialty cafeterias, Golden Jafuar, Amazon and Max's Cafeteria are all sound ones.

Fast Food
Apart from KFC, McDonald's and other well-known western fastfood shops, there is no lack of Chinese, Japanese and special flavor (such as curry) fastfood restaurants in this city, some of which are chain shops.

 

Desserts & Drinks

If tired of big dishes all the time, small restaurants offering desserts, milk tea, ice cream, takeaway coffee, and Chinese tea are comfortable places to spend an afternoon. One can sit and enjoy in the small but delicately decorated shops or buy some drinks and candies by the way while roaming about.

- Last updated on Dec. 28, 2023 by Kate Liu -
Questions & Answers on Beijing Dining
Asked by Lina from INDONESIA | Jun. 21, 2019 15:30Reply
Heard many street food in Beijing have closed down, such as Wangfujing has lost its authenticity.
I am in the city now and wish to reminisce old street food. Are they street food in Guijie Street Dongzhimen and Huguoshi Hutong Street, Shuang'an market still exist? Are they reachable by subway?
Answers (1)
Answered by Jane from USA | Jun. 23, 2019 23:57
00Reply


1. Yes, they still exist.
2. Yes, of course, there are subway stations near these areas.
Asked by nitika from INDIA | Jul. 11, 2018 22:03Reply
Are there any indian vegetarian food restaurants near Park Plaza Wangfujing
Answers (1)
Answered by George from GERMANY | Jul. 12, 2018 18:52
00Reply


There is a Ganges River Indian Restaurant located in The B1 layer of the South Tower of the 9 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District, which may be the closet one.
Asked by Syed from PAKISTAN | Jul. 11, 2018 11:45Reply
I intend travelling with a small group of 5 persons to Beijing during mid Aug'2018.
We shall be arriving PEK at around 7.00 am in the morning.Could you plz suggest some restaurants inside PEK where we can have nice continental breakfast in the morning. Also suggest an approximate price per person of such a breakfast.
We would like to move to Railway station West to catch a bullet train to Xi'an at around 10 am the same day. Kindly guide us how to move to West Beijing station from the airport.
We shall highly appreciate a swift response.
Thanks
Syed
Pakistan
Answers (1)
Answered by Nelly from USA | Jul. 11, 2018 20:55
00Reply


I’m not sure which terminal you will arrive. However, in all the three terminals, there are some fast-food restaurants and cafés open in 24hours and the fare is acceptable. The shuttle bus line 7 can take you directly to the West Station and it takes about 1 hour.
Asked by febe from INDONESIA | Oct. 20, 2017 02:51Reply
food recommendation in Beijing
hi,
can you reccomend cheap and good taste (not at big restaurant which is cost much money) where i can have breakfast (B), lunch (L), snack (S), dinner(D) near some places i need to go such as (B) >> summer palace, old summer palace >> (L) >> world park >> (S) >> 798 art district >> (D) ?
thank you
Answers (1)
Answered by William from AUSTRALIA | Oct. 23, 2017 22:53
00Reply


Near Summer Palace: You can go to SUBWAY in North Rd, Zhongguan Village, Baisui Chengdu Snacks in 79 North Street, Zhongguan Village, and Yunnan Rice Noodles in the same road.

Near World Park: Qinmen Restaurant in 88 Fengbao Rd, Laomao Shaanxi Snacks in 188 Fengbao Rd and Yahui Food Park in the 3rd floor of Yongwang Shopping Center, 88 Fengbao Rd are all good choices.

Near 798 Area: You can go to Sixi Restaurant in 4 Jiuxianqiao Rd, Hongzhuangyuan in 2 Jiuxianqiao Rd and Mc Donald’s in the third floor of Hongyuan Building, 4 Jiuxianqiao Rd.
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