Beijing’s best food & drink

Traditional Peking duck is roasted in open ovens over burning fruitwood, then carved tableside. The dish was first served to emperors, before the recipe found its way out of imperial kitchens.

Another must-try is hotpot (both the spicy Sichuan kind and the more austere Beijing variety) where diners cook meat, tofu and veggies in cauldrons of bubbling soup.

Donkey-meat sandwiches are an unusual treat, while traditional Beijing sweets include candid hawthorn fruit, pea cake, and old Beijing yoghurt.

Although street food is on the wane as Beijing, you can still find delicious jianbing (savoury egg crepes), paper bags of hot roast chestnuts, and baozi (steamed pork buns) sold throughout the city.

Beijing has options to suit every budget. At the bottom end are street sellers hawking snacks like baked sweet potatoes from bicycle carts. Then there are the cheap hole-in-the-wall restaurants selling noodles, or Xinjiang joints grilling lamb skewers and flatbread.

Hot pot restaurants are a delicious mid-range treat to enjoy with other diners. First you must choose your soup base (spicy, plain broth, tomato, etc), and then the ingredients to cook in it at your table. Often, you can mix your own sesame-based dipping sauce at a station inside the restaurant.

Laozihao are restaurants boasting a famous and longstanding brand. These included Bianyifang and Quanjude for Peking duck, both established in earlier centuries though rather touristy these days. Another name to look out for is Dao Xiang Cun which sells old-timey Beijing snacks and sweet treats, but be warned that this laozihao has many ersatz pretenders using its name.