Originally Posted by
anaidross
Dear all
I have a about eight-hour stop over in Beijing (arriving 7 am and departing 3 pm) on a Saturday.
I would like to visit the forbidden palace during this trip (after seeking advices from other FT travellers) and have some nice beijing duck...unfortunately alone. I decided to drop the purchaing fake goods plan...
Being a tourist, I only know and heard of quanjude. But it seems there are much more choices.
COuld someone recommend me a decent place (and not overly expensive) to go for some duck and side dishes (e.g. pepper beef cubes) that is not too overly far from the forbidden place or near any metro station and importantly I do not need to stay in the line for too long since I do not have too much time to spare.
Actually, I think I need to start my lunch at 11 am, so that I could finish it by 12:30 pm and get back to the airport by 2pm.
Appreciate your advices.
In light of your schedule, you should go from the airport directly to the north gate of the Forbidden City, walk south, and exit through Tian'an Men. I'm guessing you'll be out by around 1015a.
From there, the two most logical choices are the Qianmen Quanjude (10 minute walk south across Tian'an Men Square) or Made in China (15 minute walk to the east). If you decide to go with the latter, you should pre order your duck a day in advance.