Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to a shop selling organic coffee and tea, and a spacious dining room. As in most Chinese
vegetarian restaurants, many of the dishes masquerade as meat or fish. Here, though,
they're more imaginative - think lamb kebabs, sizzling shrimp and Peking duck. With
courteous service, this is one of Běijīng's more soothing dining experiences, and it's
nonsmoking throughout. There's also a separate and extensive tea menu, and customers
are welcome to come here just to sample the tea. To get here, walk north on Dongzhimen
Beixiaojie from the junction with Ghost Street for 100m, then turn left into the first
hútòng
. The restaurant is on the right.
DÀLǏ COURTYARD$$$
( Dàlǐ; 8404 1430; 67 Xiaojingchang Hutong, Gulou Dongdajie, set menus from ¥128; 11am-3pm & 6-11pm;
Andingmen)
The beautiful setting in a restored courtyard house in a
hútòng
makes this
one of Běijīng's more idyllic places to eat, especially in the summer. Specialising in the
subtle flavours of the cuisine of southwestern Yúnnán province, it's also one of the more
creative. There's no menu. Instead, you pay ¥128, ¥200 or ¥300 per head (drinks are ex-
tra) and the chef decides what to give you, depending on what inspires him and what in-
gredients are fresh that day. It's the first left down Xiaojingchang Hutong; look for the red
lanterns.
|CHINESE YÚNNÁN
QÍ SHĀN MIÀN$
( 32 Yonghegong Dajie, 10.30am-10pm; ; Yonghegong-Lama Temple)
Wildly popular restaurant
specialising in food from Shaanxi province. The badly translated English menu includes
delicious noodle dishes - try the 'particular handmade noodle with hot oil and seasoner'
or the 'Qí Shān Miàn (dry style with pork)' - as well as the house speciality:
ròujiāmò
(¥7), a baked bun filled with juicy shreds of pork, and China's answer to the burger. It's
translated onto the English menu as 'Traditional Chinese pork (beef) pancake (Xi'an
style)'. The bowls of hot noodle juice (
miān tāng
) are free, and the friendly manager
keeps a strict no-smoking policy; very rare for a budget restaurant in China. No English.
|CHINESE SHAANXI
