Originally Posted by
moondog
By the way, nobody seems to have mentioned that duck restaurant on the east side of Ritan Park (the name escapes me; find it using google maps). My business partner in Beijing swears that it is the best, though I must admit that I don't have a great deal of respect for his tastes in the general sense. I have been there numerous times, and the duck is good.
Xi He Ya Ju is what you're looking for, and it's not really a duck restaurant though they do have it. I like their food in general and often take visiting out of towners there, particularly when the weather is good and you can get a courtyard table. Don't usually eat duck there, but it is OK.
They now have a sister restaurant,
Xi He Ya Yuan, which is quite nice yet still reasonable in cost, and which touts duck as more of a specialty. It is in the CityMall (3rd floor) which adjoins the Westin Chaoyang. We had our October 2011 Beijing "mini-do" dinner here, and it seemed to work out quite well. The duck was decent; we probably should have ordered more of it.
