Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( Wángfǔjǐng Xiǎochījiē; west off Wangfujing Dajie, dishes/snacks ¥10; 9.30am-10pm; Wangfujing)
Fron-
ted by an ornate archway, this quadrant is lined with cheap-and-cheerful food stalls that
are always busy. It's a good place to pick up Xīnjiāng or Muslim Uighur cuisine such as
lamb skewers and flat bread. Also on offer are other dishes from all over China, including
málà tàng
(a spicy soup from Sìchuān) and
zhájiàngmiàn
(Běijīng noodles in fried bean
sauce). Also being scoffed by the bowl here are Lánzhōu
lāmiàn
(Lánzhōu noodles),
Shāndōng
jiānbing
(Shāndōng savoury pancake), Yúnnán
guòqiáo mǐxiàn
(Yúnnán cross-
the-bridge noodles) and oodles of spicy Sìchuān food. At most outlets you have to sit out-
side elbow-to-elbow with other diners. You'll also find some of the more exotic skewers,
such as fried scorpion, which are on offer at the nearby Dōnghuámén Night Market. Not
all stalls have prices listed. As a rough guide, most things cost around ¥10 for a portion.
TIĀNDÌ YĪJIĀ$$$
|CHINESE MIXED
( 8511 5556; 140 Nanchizi Dajie; mains from ¥50; 10am-2.30pm & 5-9.30pm; ; Tian'anmen East)
Doing business from a restored building alongside Chāngpú River Park (Chāngpú Hé
Gōngyuán), this refined, Chinese courtyard-style restaurant is notable for the water feature
with multicoloured fish that dominates the elegant dining room. There's also a balcony
overlooking the former Imperial Archives (Huángshǐ Chéng). The menu, which spans a
number of provinces and styles, is strong on seafood with snob appeal - shark's fin, aba-
lone and lobster - as well as traditional delicacies such as bird's-nest soup and local faves
such as Peking duck (¥280). It also does dim sum. The wine list (from ¥450) is hugely im-
pressive, with a number of vintage bottles. The only downside is the slightly stiff atmo-
sphere, not helped by the black-clad waitresses, who are hardly a bundle of laughs.
TEXT MESSAGE ENQUIRIES
If you want to locate or contact a tourist, entertainment, shopping or business venue in Běijīng (and 20 other cit-
ies in China) and you have a mobile phone, then text message the name of the venue to the wireless search en-
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long as your mobile phone can support Chinese text.
