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2014-04-01 16:51:03
en-shopping.bcia.com.cn/travel.cnn.com/
  Duck de Chine

 

Foie gras

In a city famed for roast duck, Duck de Chine, set in a chic refurbished factory complex, stands neck and feathers above the rest.

Having lived in Beijing for more than a decade, Hong Kong-born father-son chef team Peter and Wilson Lam formulated what they believe to be the perfect Peking duck: 43-days-old, two-kilogram birds roasted for a longer-than-usual 65 minutes over 40-year-old jujube wood. Carved up, dipped in a heavenly house-made hoisin sauce and rolled into gently steamed pancakes, the results are hard to refute.

Supporting dishes, mostly Cantonese, are very good, too.

Duck de Chine, 1949 The Hidden City, Courtyard 4, Gongti Bei Lu, near Nansanlitun Lu;+86 (10) 6501 8881

Tiandi Yijia

Foie gras

The burly, Secret Service-like doormen and the choice location beside the Forbidden City lend this Chinese restaurant a VIP air; the prices do the rest.

Inside, it’s all fancy hardwood furniture, lion sculptures, tinkling water features and fawning service.

Chef Zhang Shaogang mixes classical Imperial-style techniques with unusual ingredient pairings for a uniquely contemporary Chinese experience.

The forward-thinking Beijinger puts a creative spin on old Beijing-style snacks, such as his petite take on shaobing (sesame pancake).

Tiandi yijia, 140 Nanchizi Dajie, west of Changpuhe Park; +86 (10) 8511 5556

Mio

Head chef Marco Calenzo, previously number two at London’s Michelin-starred Apsley's at the Lanesborough, had the task of designing a fine-dining Italian menu worthy of probably the glitziest restaurant interior in China.

In the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel, Mio is quite a sight, but Calenzo’s innovative fare, like sea urchin spaghetti, foie gras cooked sous vide or simply the house-baked breads and wood-fired pizzas, holds up impeccably.

Mio, 48 LiangMaQiao Road; 100125 Chaoyang District, Beijing;+86 (10) 5695 8888

Aria

 
The internal view of Aria

One of Beijing’s longest-lived fine dining institutions, Aria, in the China World Hotel, still has the kitchen smarts to impress.

Chef de cuisine David Pooley continues the fine work of previous kitchen star Mathew McCool with dishes such as chicken and corn soup with plump scallops, shavings of jamon iberico and a slowly melting quenelle of foie gras mousse.

The European restaurant's signature dish, "deconstructed" cheesecake, is equally exotic -- the crunch of pistachio soothed by a poached cheesecake cream, booze-infused strawberries and house-made caramel sorbet.

Aria, 2/F, China World Hotel, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, near Dongsanhuan Zhonglu; +86 (10) 6505 2266 ext. 36

Mid-range

Around RMB100-250 per person ($15-40), excluding drinks.

Da Dong

米歇尔一家人北京家宴菜单曝光:烤鸭、炸酱面和水饺_图1-1

Da Dong does Peking duck for the 21st century.

The nightly queues outside this 4,500-square-meter restaurant are all about the duck, but there’s more to the menu than Beijing’s signature. About 200 more dishes, in fact, comprise chef and general manager Dong Zhenxiang’s “artistic conception of Chinese cuisine.”

A student of many culinary styles, Dong Zhenxiang is one of the most celebrated cooks in northern China, famed as much for his “super-lean roast duck” (less oily than the competition) as for his braised sea cucumber.

Many dishes feature showy flourishes -- "noodles" made of lobster meat, hollow globes of C02-filled ice, steaks blowtorched tableside -- you wonder how they can possibly manage in the kitchen. Well, it’s easy when you have 300 chefs.

Da Dong, 1-2/F, Nanxincang International Plaza, 22A Dongsishitiao, near Dongmencang Hutong; +86 (10) 5169 0329

Najia Xiaoguan

Manchu royalty loved nothing more than a spot of hunting, so its no surprise that braised venison is the signature at Najia Xiaoguan, a showcase of China’s northeast Manchu minority cuisine.

Other unctuous meaty treats include salty duck -- a mound of shredded, smoky duck meat -- and some of the most gloriously fatty red-braised pork belly in town.

For a mid-range Chinese restaurant, the wine list is broad and reasonably priced. A combination of comfy surroundings (the chairs and tables are huge), good food, great service and low prices means the 110-seat restaurant packs out nightly.

Book ahead or join the lines.

Najia Xiaoguan, 10 Yonganli, Jianguomenwai Dajie, south of Xinhua Insurance Building; +86 (10) 6567 3663

King's Joy

It's appropriate that King’s Joy’s perch is close to Beijing’s still active Lama Temple, because chef Pan Jianjun is a former Buddhist disciple from a monastery in Jiangxi province.

His menu is a meat-free nirvana, using ingredients from organic farms around Beijing, and with a focus on nutrition and health as well as achieving a rarefied balance of taste, texture and looks.

Chef’s sautéed matsutake mushrooms with asparagus and gingko, eaten al fresco in King’s Joy’s idyllic courtyard, will convince even the most hardened carnivore.

King's Joy, 2 Wudaoying Hutong, Yonghegong, Dongcheng district; +86 (10) 5217 1900

 
 
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