Beijing Restaurant Tips by mke1963

Restaurant Name: Afunti Uighur Restaurant

Well known from the guidebooks, Afunti is a sanitised Uighur restaurant that has established a reputation for excellent Uighur food.
It is a bit of an institution in Beijing, and so tourists now outnumber locals.
The reputation for the post-meal dancing on the trestle tables, the Uighur music, and the...err...cabaret performance have pulled in the punters.
Sadly, the excellent food is rushed, to get the tables cleared away and so the dancing can begin. For this reason, you need to arrive early - no later than 6.30 - to allow time to eat. It also closes early, and once it is down to a handful or remaining drunken revellers, the music slackens off (you can't really whoop it up on a table to Greensleeves) and you are ushered out into the night. Houhai or Sanlitun beckons.

It is not the most typical of Xijiang or Uighur restaurants, but it is the easiest.

Favorite Dish: Roasted leg of mutton. Forget about chopsticks. Forget about cutlery. Even the plate may be optional. Just gnaw.

Unusually for Muslim restaurant (except in China) they serve alcohol and everyone drinks. This could be the reason that anyone is even prepared to contemplate dancing on a trestle table to Greensleeves.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 010 6527 2288
Address: 2A Houguaibang Hutong...
Directions: ...in a small side street off Chaoyangmen Nei Dajie, inside the second ring road. However, its location means that the traffic in this srea is VERY congested at the time you will want to arrive there!

Restaurant Name: Qian He Xiang

Excellent, cheap Sichuan vegetarian (I think it's vegan) restaurant.
A bit off the beaten track - it is in the university district. It is also not on the main street, but down a little lane. Phone for directions.

Food was great. I could have munched all day. Food also was light, seemed very fresh.

No English or Pinyin on the menu so you will need to have a Chinese reader with you.
The staff also don't understand any English and also don't understand anything other than the usual "R-laden" Beijinghua accent!

That said, it IS worth the effort. Best place I've been in all year.

If I can name drop (which I can because this is my tip) I was with Dr Jane Goodall and she loved it! Can't come more highly recommended than that, eh?

Favorite Dish: The aubergine in batter. So sweet and light. And the pickled kidney beans (but you get them everywhere...I just love the taste!)

Lunch for six cost RMB217 (~US$4.36 per head) and we were f-u-l-l by the end.

The staff are great as well.

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Theme: Vegan/Vegetarian
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 010 6225 5792
Address: Haidian
Directions: Inside west Third Ring Road, two minutes from main entrance of Jiaotong University. Can't remember the name of the road.

Restaurant Name: Xiheyaju Restaurant

Xiheyaju is well known to the expat community, lying in an ideal spot close to the embassies and also the main Central Business District. It is tucked away behind the big grey walls of Ritan Park, a particularly popular kite-flying park, so a quiet walk in the park can precede or follow your meal.
Despite it's popularity I suspect that most diners do not realise that there are two gardens at this excellent restaurant. The obvious one, at the entrance is always crowded when the weather is crowded. The second one is behind the main resturant and is always deserted. Needless to say, the rear garden is much nicer.
They have a very good, extensive menu, and service is quick and friendly. They are used to the vagaries of laowai.

Favorite Dish: Too many to mention.

Open from 11am-2pm for lunch and from 5pm-10pm for dinner.

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Theme: Chinese/Dim Sum
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 01085611915
Address: Ritan donglu
Directions: On the NE corner of Ritan Park. The entrance is a just a gateway in the wall. It is almost opposite Creation Gallery.

Restaurant Name: Taj Restaurant

Run by one of only two Sikhs in Beijing, the Taj is a favourite of many working in the China World complex.
It's lunchtime buffet is an absolute bargain, and always has four or five vegetarian dishes together with two meat dishes served at the table. Nan, poodaums, chutnies, yoghurts.

Don't let the bland plat-glass and net curtain frontage put you off. This is a good, cheap eat with quick, friendly service. If they had beds, I'd move in.

Favorite Dish: Aloo Gobi, Chicken Jalfrezi...all the usual Indian dishes and plenty more of the less usual.
The mango lassi is always a great way to start the meal, and to end it, and even to break the monotony of those times when your hand has nothing to do!

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Theme: Indian
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: China World 1 (west side)
Directions: Facing Jianguomenwai Dajie, and next to KFC

Restaurant Name: Mexican Wave

The Mexican Wave is one of those 'establishments'. Everyone knows where it is, no-one admits going there. It's always "just out of fashion", just the wrong side of cool or hip.
The Mexican Wave is brightly painted and has cacti - but so does every other Mexican restaurant on the planet. It serves margueritas. Ditto. Quesadillas, fajitas, tacos. Yada yada yada.

I don't know why but I didn't really come away thinking "I want to go back". You get a decent filling meal, at a good price, nice music, friendly service, and they didn't complain too much when my daughter set fire to the table.

But....aaaaarggghhh..I just can't put my finger on why it didn't hit the food G-spot!

Want Mexican? The Mexican Wave is fine. But it is missing "something" and I have no idea what that something is!!

Favorite Dish: No favourite, but it was nice to see cider on a menu!

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Theme: Mexican
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter

Restaurant Name: Churrascos (Brazilian)

One of the few Brazilian restaurants in Beijing, Churrascos is just off the lobby of the gargantuan Crowne Plaza Hotel on the NW 4th Ring Road (so not exactly convenient for many tourists!) but is definitely worth the ride.

The restaurant decor does not feel Brazilian but the friendly staff (including, yes, a Brazilian) are chatty and good fun.

It does have an upmarket 'hotel' clientele, but the food is really excellent.

Favorite Dish: The buffet is great: the salads and side dishes are not your usual hotel buffet, and there is a real Latin feel to them all.
The meat that is brought round constantly and served from a skewer is fresh and tender (especially the sausage!). They keep on bringing the meat until you turn over a green stone on your table to show that you are full.

The deserts are the Achilles heel though, as there was little more than fruit, fruit salad and a (very nice) coconut in tapioca.

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 010 8498 2288
Address: Crowne Plaza Park View
Directions: By the International Convention Centre

Restaurant Name: Three Guizhouren

It's a long, long way to Guizhou from Beijing, and there are not a lot of Guizhou restaurants in the big city, but Three Guizhouren is an impressive addition to Beijing's expanding culinary attractions.
The restaurant uses a cool mixture of avant-garde glass, minimalist furniture and photographs of the Miao minority: it all makes for interesting surroundings throughout the meal.
You are shown to your table by a chuckling lady dressed in the full Miao regalia, clattering and clinking as she slides between the tables. The waitresses are in simple brown peasant costume, and all carry one of the embroidered bags that you see on the tourist markets of Yunnan and Guizhou - who would have ever thought you would see one of these carried without it looking completely out of place?
The menu - in English and Chinese - is varied, but is heavy on fish and plenty of vegetable dishes as well.

Favorite Dish: The ginger chicken salad was good, but suffered from having vast numbers of bone fragments throughout.
The food could have been better: it felt a bit heavy, but the variety and the Guizhou style made up for the eeling that everything had been overcooked.

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Theme: Other
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 5869 0626
Address: Soho 7, East 3rd Ring Road
Directions: Soho Building 7 is at he very back (west) of the new Soho complex, at the junction of the E3rd and Jianguomenwaidajie.

Restaurant Name: Cafe Annies

Cafe Annies serves up a good selection of Italian which goes way beyond the usual pastas and pizzas, although the pizzas remain a real favourite with our children!
Annies is very family-friendly and bring a plate with some dough, cheeze and tomato for your children to make their own free mini-pizza which gets put in the oven with the real thing. They also have a play area for the Under-5s.
The original Annies is by Chaoyang Park West Gate, next to Jenny Lou's.
There is a new Annies now one block north of WAB...again by Jenny Lou's! They know what's good for business!

Favorite Dish: A whole bundle of them. My kids swear by te pizzas, my wife loves the salmon dishes...and I always seem to end up with the bruschetta followed by the baked eggplant and tomato.

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 6591 1931
Address: Chaoyang Park West Gate
Directions: Also 1 block east of WAB, on north side alongside new Jenny Lou's.
Also in SOHO (new or old SOHO?)
Phone no is for Chaoyang

Restaurant Name: Riverside Cafe - NOW CLOSED

Sadly now closed down: no idea why as it was always popular. t wil reopen as Schindler's Docking Station, presumably (but in China not necessarily) related to the existing Schindler's.

A well known expat and diplomatic spot just at the far, far, far north end of Sanlitun (just as you pass the Arctic Circle), the Riverside Cafe is not really by the river, as the Liangmahe is another few metres beyond, but in a country which has no trade descriptions act it is close enough to being an honest name.
Owned by Australians, the Riverside Cafe is a popular lunchtime spot, with plenty of filling sandwiches, stuff from the bakery and some good three course meals.
There is an outside terrace during the summer, but it just always seems to be just that bit too windy or stiflingly still out there: ust be something to do with the feng shui!
Inside there is an upstairs and a downstairs.....either provides a friendly lunchtime bite.

Favorite Dish: Nothing outstanding, but pretty much everything on the menu is good. The Riverside Cafe has a particularly well stocked wine shop alongside, but as it is technically separate, you pay retail for the wine and a 60RMB corkage fee. Reasonable enough.
The Riverside is a good place for business lunches because it remains quiet, the service is smooth and quick, and it's just 5 minutes from my office! Can't complain!

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Theme: Bakery
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 8454 1031
Address: 10 Sanlitun Beixiaojie
Directions: In the last block of Sanlitun before you hit the river.

Restaurant Name: Golden Elephant - Sanlitun

The Golden Elephant used to have a god name in Beijing, and was one of the earlier Indian and Thai restaurants in the city. There are now four (I think) branhes, including one on Chang'an near Sci-tech Plaza.
However, a visit this week suggested that the standards have dramatically slipped.
The waiting service was desperately poor: our waitress disappeared without syaing anyhting midway through us ordering drinks, not once but twice!
In the end we had to go and find our own napkins because no-one brought any, despite asking (politely) for some.
We chose to eat Indian (the restaurant has a Thai menu and an Indian menu, plus some extra Thai seafood specials on a separate card). The poppadums were so saturated with grease that it dripped over everything. The raita tasted stale.
The rogan josh was chewy and simply unpleasant. The chicken tandoori was good, as was the chicken korma.
The drinks were vastly expensive and the total bil of RMB318 for two adults and two kids (who shared one dish) was just too expensive.
Sorry, but the Golden Elephant has become a White Elephant. Pity, because we used to like it. There are simply other far better Indian and Thai restaurants in town now.

Favorite Dish: The mango lassi was excellent, but then it is at the Taj mahal and there the rest of the food is good, and the service excellent as well.

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Theme: Indian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 6417 1650
Address: Sanlitun Bei Lu, side alley (around from Poachers)
Directions: At the end of the side alley that runs away from Sanlitun Bei Lu at the northern end of the seedy bar strip.