 Royal
Cuisine (Gongting Cai): As the name suggests,
royal cuisine is composed of the recipes and dishes of the imperial
kitchens, dating from the time of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Originating from the regional cooking of the Manchu and Han
people, the cuisine pays as much attention to the quality of
its ingredients as to its design. Dishes that have survived
retain much of the culinary art of the royal kitchens, both
lightly-flavored and exquisite. They are now often served by
descendants of chefs who worked in the Imperial palace. The
Man-Han Quanxi, a feast of complete Manchu and Han courses,
was originally designed as a court banquet for the Manchu and
Han people. It included 108 dishes that had to be eaten over
three days.
Imperial Cuisine (Guanfu Cai):Old
Beijing had many high-ranking officials who demanded that regional
homemade cooking be served to the imperial courts. Regional
recipes were collected in the capital and survived much historical
tumult. The cuisine favours natural ingredients, exquisite condiments,
long cooking times and intricate cooking utensil. Some of them
are cooked at homes, and reservations are necessary because
of space limitations.the Tanjia Restaurant is the best example
of Beijing imperial cuisine and provides a combination of Cantonese
and Beijing cuisine featuring seafood. After the founding of
the People Republic, Premier Zhou Enlai asked that the restaurant
move to Beijing hotel, the best hotel in China at that time.
Imperial cuisine is still available there on the seventh floor
of the hotel Building C.
 Peking
Duck: Essential to your Beijing dinning experience
is a brief tour of the many establishments offering Peking roast
duck ( Beijing Kaoya), a delicious lightly smoked, rich meal
complimented by pancakes, dipping sauce, vegetable filling and
irresistible slivers of juicy meat and fat and crispy skin.
After basting in a secret concoction of sweetened sauces, the
ducks are roasted in ahanging fruit-tree oven for up to 50 minute.
They come out looking golden brown and juicy. A chef will then
delicately slice it up for you by your table, making sure each
piece includes at least a sliver of the ducks crispy skin. The
Chinese consider this the finest part of the duck. Every duck
is sliced into 100-120 pieces. Dishes made of different parts
of the duck are also worth trying.
The Quanjude Duck Restaurant leads the popular duck front in
Beijing. The Bianyifang Restaurant offers another way of roasting
duck that is also delicious.
A taste of Peking roast duck is every bit as important as a
visitor to Tiananmen Square during your stay in Beijing
 Hotpot:when
autumn hits Beijing and the weather cools, hotpot (huoguo) is
a firm favorite.
With essentially two kinds of hotpot restaurants in Beijing,
Mongolian and Sichuan style dominate, the staple of both are
mutton.
Sichuan hotpot is spicy whereas the Mongolian hotpot tends to
rely on a clear soup and dipping sauces, such as sesame, such
as sesame. Many restaurants offer a split pot, half for those
who like very spicy fare, half for those who prefer something
tamer. Some Mongolian hotpots are not spicy at all. Standard
ingredients include beef and chicken in addition to the staple
mutton. Vegetables, mushrooms and various kinds of tofu are
also popular. The pot itself is traditionally made of brass,
with a central column that holds hot charcoal that boils the
stock. Once boiling, the stock is used to quickly cook a range
of ingredients. After a few seconds, the thinly sliced meats
and vegetables are ready to eat, often after being dipped in
a smooth sesame-sauce that is delicious and incredibly filling!
Dong Lai Shun is the most famous hotpot restaurant in the city.
 Snacks:All
over China, snack foods are offered by the street-stalls and
restaurant dinning filling alternatives. Some caution may be
required for the uninitiated but in general, eating where everyone
else is eating is a good rule of thumb. You can have steamed
bread with bean filling; flour pancakes cooked with egg, coriander,
chili, and black onion seeds; pancakes stuffed with pork, egg
and vegetables. These gems can be bought from little glass cabinets
on the back of three-wheeled bicycles or from stands on street
corners, hidden down leafy hutongs..
 Regional
Chinese Cuisines:Beijing is a culinary mirror
held up to various regional Chinese cuisines, including Cantonese,
Sichuan, Shandong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu cuisines and more. Cuisines
from minority ethnic group areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet
can also be found in the city.
Rich in natural resources and neighboring the sea, Cantonese
cuisine is dominated by a large range of seafood and the produce
of a semitropical climate. Spicy Sichun cuisine has becomes
very popular in China in recent years. Composed of regional
variations from Chendu, Chongqing and Zigong, it is known for
having more than 50 different cooking methods. Shandong cuisine
relies upon spring onions and garlic with strong flavors. While
Zhejiang and Jiangsu cuisines are delicately seasoned, light-tasting
mix of seafood and vegetables.Temple vegetarian dishes are also
a feature. Dinning in tranquil and traditional Chinese courtyards
is a most fashionable way to enjoy an evening.  Drinking
tea:Tea has been an integral part of Chinese
culture for centuries. A rigid systerm has formed in making
quality tea, including growing, picking and frying. Beijing
is China¡¯s most important distribution center for tea, with
a great selection of tea from different parts of the country.
For foreign tourist, the most convenient place to buy quality
tea in Beijing is at Wuyutai, located beside KFC at the south
end of Wangfujing Dajie.
Long ago, teahouse were the center of social activity and
bubbled with the chatter of people from all walks of life.
In the old teahouses, noblemen, imperial officials, touts
and peddlers chose their teas carefully and caught up on the
day¡¯s events. Today, teahouses in China still have the same
function but with not quite so much bustle.
In many teahouses in Beijing, tea rituals are taught by serene
ladies. In the Lao She Teahouse, Peking Opera and Face-changing
performances can also be enjoyed. Some teahouses are famous
for the dishes fried with tea, which have tea¡¯s fragrance.
Houhai pub street:If you travel to Beijing,
Please don¡¯t miss the HouHai Bar Street, because in addition
to the bustling lives, the architectural and decoration represent
Beijing custom. Excursion from YanDaiXieJie where is the back
of HouHai, authentic Beijing Hutong building was converted
into different styles of the bars. Dusk, red lanterns hung
high, melodious ditty, a kind of speechless Beijing Custom,
and entered the bar, you will find that each have their own
cultural theme. Along the HouHai Lake, dozens of avant-garde
decoration of the bars in the river, built style with Tibet,
Yunnan, post-modern decoration, pop songs exciting downtown,
and you can also boat night. The Beijing Bar Street are combined
the old Beijing culture with the modern way of life, here
is a place for you to enjoy the ancient culture life.
 Sanlitun
pub street:Sanlitun is well-known in Beijing,
as well as in the world. Here is between the east second and
third ring road, and the 2.9 square kilometers set in Canada,
Australia, France, Belgium, Germany, and so on which are 79
consulates and embassies in total, 510 enterprises, Beijing
Workers Stadium, foreign hotels, diplomatic staff apartments,
foreign embassies and Chinese Entrepreneur Association and
Sanlitun Bar Street ¡Â¡ become the meeting point of Chinese
and Western culture, the arts and culture office, the white-collar
workers who go and entertainment paradise. Here are coexistence
Chinese and foreigners and is known as Beijing fashion living
cultural communities.
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