It's been said that a trip to Beijing is not complete until you visit the Great Wall and eat some roasted duck. On the night before we were going to go to the former, we decided to partake in the latter. In guidebooks, on the Internet and at our hotel's concierge desk, one restaurant name kept coming up as the best place to sample this local delicacy: Quanjude.
This is a large chain of eateries that specializes in roast duck. The one we visited was near our hotel and had six (I think) levels to satisfy the hoards of hungry duck connoisseurs that converge at the place on a nightly basis.
So we went in and ordered a whole roasted duck and a few side dishes (some shrimp and some appetizers that contained "duck treasures." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it was still pretty good. We were a bit nervous about ordering the whole duck and going through the hassle of carving it, but luckily the chef brought it right to our table and took care of the whole thing for us.
It was pretty delicious, but quite honestly, not that filling. I would have thought that an entire duck would have had more meat, but I was mistaken. We did receive a card indicating that we had ordered and eaten a genuine Quanjude roasted duck (#252859). Since the restaurant had been around since 1864, that number seems a little low but whatever.
Still, it was a good dinner and the atmosphere at the restaurant was fun too. We had a great time at Quanjude!
The following night we decided to try another popular local cuisine: the Chinese hot pot. This time, the recommendations were to go to Dong Lai Shun.
At this place, they bring you a metal pot with charcoal in the middle and to boil the water. You then order a selection of raw meat and cook it yourself in the pot. We picked mutton, chicken, beef, scallops and some local vegetables that kind of tasted like spinach. After the meat is cooked, you can top it with some kind of sweet-tasting sauce. It was fun to cook and pretty tasty too.
If you are heading to Beijing and want to eat some authentic cuisine, I would suggest these two restaurants or similar places that offer the same type of experience.
This is a large chain of eateries that specializes in roast duck. The one we visited was near our hotel and had six (I think) levels to satisfy the hoards of hungry duck connoisseurs that converge at the place on a nightly basis.
So we went in and ordered a whole roasted duck and a few side dishes (some shrimp and some appetizers that contained "duck treasures." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it was still pretty good. We were a bit nervous about ordering the whole duck and going through the hassle of carving it, but luckily the chef brought it right to our table and took care of the whole thing for us.
It was pretty delicious, but quite honestly, not that filling. I would have thought that an entire duck would have had more meat, but I was mistaken. We did receive a card indicating that we had ordered and eaten a genuine Quanjude roasted duck (#252859). Since the restaurant had been around since 1864, that number seems a little low but whatever.
Still, it was a good dinner and the atmosphere at the restaurant was fun too. We had a great time at Quanjude!
The following night we decided to try another popular local cuisine: the Chinese hot pot. This time, the recommendations were to go to Dong Lai Shun.
At this place, they bring you a metal pot with charcoal in the middle and to boil the water. You then order a selection of raw meat and cook it yourself in the pot. We picked mutton, chicken, beef, scallops and some local vegetables that kind of tasted like spinach. After the meat is cooked, you can top it with some kind of sweet-tasting sauce. It was fun to cook and pretty tasty too.
If you are heading to Beijing and want to eat some authentic cuisine, I would suggest these two restaurants or similar places that offer the same type of experience.
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