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Since imperial times, Beijing has drawn citizens from all corners of China, and the country's economic boom has only accelerated the culinary diversity of the capital. These days, diners can find food from the myriad cuisines of far-flung regions of China, as well as just about every kind of international food.
Highlights include rare fungi and flowers from Yunnan, chili-strewn Hunan cooking from Mao’s home province, Tibetan yak and tsampa (barley flour), mutton kebabs and grilled flatbreads from Xinjiang, numbingly spicy Sichuan cuisine, and chewy noodles from Shaanxi. And then there are ethnic foods from all over, with some—notably Italian, Japanese and Korean—in abundance.
You can spend as little as $5 per person for a decent meal or $100 and up on a lavish banquet. The variety of venues is also part of the fun, with five-star hotel dining rooms, holes-in-the-wall, and refurbished courtyard houses all represented. Reservations are always a good idea, especially for higher-end places, so ask your hotel to book you a table.
Beijingers tend to eat dinner around 6 pm, and many local restaurants will have closed their kitchens by 9 pm, though places that stay open until the wee hours aren’t hard to find. Tipping is not the custom although some larger, international restaurants will add a 15% service charge to the bill, as do five-star hotel restaurants. Be aware before you go out that small and medium venues only take cash payments or local bank cards; more established restaurants usually accept credit cards.
Yanjing, the local beer, together with the ubiquitous Tsingtao, is available everywhere in Beijing. A growing number of imported beer brands have entered the market, and Beijing has a burgeoning craft beer scene of its own. And now many Chinese restaurants now have extensive wine menus.
You can readily sample your way through culinary history at some of Beijing's oldest and most famous eateries, all grouped under the one roof of a house with a traditional courtyard. Soft bean curd topped, perhaps, with braised lamb and mushrooms, pot stickers shaped like traditional little satchels, or tripe served with a dipping sauce that's an old family secret are just some of what might be on offer.
The area just south of Qianmen was once the nightlife hub of imperial China. Visit this old teahouse for a taste of Chinese performing arts along with your cuppa.
Healthy, light dishes served in modern, hip surroundings make Moka Bros a surefire winner if you're in downtown Sanlitun and time is tight. But not everyone here is in a rush: this is also where Beijing's cool crowd come to hang out over laptops and lattes. Trendy but not pretentious, this excellent café is the perfect place for a pit stop, especially if you're after a nutritious salad and smoothie, a tasty wrap and filling rice bowl, or something similar.
This patisserie takes its name from a Lenin speech and its aesthetic from Melbourne's contemporary coffee scene. Although the selection of pastries is limited, each freshly baked item is sure to hit the spot.
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