Restaurants in Beijing (compilation)

[moncrieffalgy]

I was in Beijing last year and was absolutely flabbergasted at the number of excellent restaurants on offer, all for reasonable prices!

Couldn't find a thread compiling where to eat in Beijing, so thought I'd get one going!

I ate at quite a few restaurants when I was in Beijing, but a few in particular stand out:

1. SALT Restaurant (contemporary/mediterranean)

http://www.saltrestaurantbeijing.com/

A bit far out from the city centre, but worth it for what you get. Excellent decoration, attentive service, and an excellent 3-course meal (complete with a perfect chocolate lava cake!) clocked in at around RMB 180 when I was there in 2010.

2. Lei Garden Beijing

Posh, and right in the heart of the business district. Their menu is intimidatingly thick. If you don't feel like flipping through the entire menu, ask them to help you 配一套 (which I did, for a table of around 10). They'll draw up a list of recommendations based on what's available that day and bring it to you for your final approval. You can obviously request that some dishes be changed. Around RMB 200-250 which gets you a few signature dishes. We tried the abalone chicken legs (quite okay, but not exceptional) and shark's fin (which was not bad).

3. Dadong Beijing Duck Restaurant

All my local friends recommended Dadong over Quanjude. I went to the Dongsishitiao branch and wasn't disappointed. I don't think I have to say too much about this famous restaurant. Apart from the duck, try the spiky sea cucumber. Really quite expensive (I think around RMB 200 for a 60g piece), but very worth it.

Vegetarian:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/4415-vegetarian-restaurants-in-beijing/

Turkish:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/9073-turkish-restaurants-in-beijing/

Japanese:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/18092-where-can-i-find-a-decent-japanese-restaurant-in-beijing/

[WestTexas]

Those sound like interesting restaurants, but where are the restaurants with reasonable prices you mentioned?

[greenarcher]

Noodle Bar in Sanlitun is great. Reasonable price for very good beef noodles.

The Muslim Restaurant inside BLCU is another good value for money restaurant.

Dong Lai Shun - Amazing soup! The expensive one of course.

Peking Duck - I prefer Quanjude over Dadong. Dadong is too dry. Made in China is somewhere in between.