whimsey21

Hi Everyone,
I'll be in Beijing in a few weeks, and am trying to plan out my dining experiences. Per previous threads on this board, I think I'm well positioned for duck (Da Dong, Made in China, etc.). I have two questions that I haven't seen answered elsewhere:
1) I'm staying at the Hilton Wangfujing and the Park Plaza Wangfujing-- are there any Sichuan restaurants that you'd recommend relatively near these hotels (walking distance would be ideal)?
2) In general (and maybe this is too much of a generality) is it common practice to make reservations at places like Da Dong, or do people just walk in? I'd rather not overplan my stay in advance, but don't want to miss out because I should have made a reservation and am faced with a very long wait or no availablility.
thanks!

trueblu

There are bound to be Sichuan restaurants in that area, but I've not been to any myself -- I'm pretty sure there's one next to Da Dong in the Jinbao Jie mall.
Da Dong should be booked in advance, but there are certain times (most of the time!) that reservations won't be taken, and you just have to pitch up...

tb

drewguy

Same for Made in China. You also need to reserve a duck.

Time Out Beijing has a list of Sichuan restaurants from 2011

http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/featur...staurants.html

I ate at Transit a couple of years ago . . . I haven't eaten at enough Sichuan restaurants to say how "authentic" it is, but it seemed more like a modern take on Sichuan, with the same type of spice you would get in Sichuan style food. Rather pricey as compared to a more typical restaurant.

moondog

I believe Middle 8th has a location in Wangfujing. It's Yunnan, not Sichuan, but very good, never the less.

Chinatrvl

There's a South Beauty (俏江南) at Dong Dan Metro station in the Oriental Mall (东方广场). A good place for foreigner friendly Sichuan food.

Then there is Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant (眉州东坡酒楼) at Wangfujing Jie in the Intime Lotte (yes, really the name 乐天银泰百货) that cannot be missed.

easygoer

Traditionally Sichuan cuisine is not really popular in “old Beijing”, part of reasons is because of the nature of indispensible spicy flavor which is not suitable for the taste and eating behavior of northerners
As resent decades Beijing is somewhat becoming an immigrant city ,more and more young people or college graduates from out of town have started to work and live here ,it seems that the spicy flavor hold great attraction for young people ,it is kind of “modern style” came into being have less to do with Beijing food culture in terms of tradition and origin
Literally authentic Beijing culinary tradition features Lu(Shandong) style and some Jiangsu or Zhejiang cooking
Cui hua lou (翠华楼) is specifically one representative located in north of wangfujing
On the street vertical to wangfujin pedestrian street
Of course all depend on your own favor and choice that what you want to experience
All in all IMHO Sichuan or Cantonese food have been integrated into modern Beijing style and recognized and loved by “new Beijing people” young people
Lu style remains the original of Beijing at least for 100 years and liked by stubborn old school

moondog

For South Beauty, I would just make the trek to Lan (15 minute taxi ride). It's worth seeing once.

whimsey21

Thanks all- I'll give as many of those a try as I can fit in.

trueblu

Do you know if the prices at Lan are the same as a regular South Beauty? Never been, and frankly, it gets hideous write-ups about the service, but wouldn't mind going just the once to check it out (with the family, perhaps for lunch)...but not if it costs an arm and other appendage.

tb

moondog

I believe the prices at LAN are the same as other South Beauty venues. It's honestly not that expensive for guys like you and me. We don't order anything fancy.

But, I will say that I dropped close to $10,000 there in 2008 (don't buy the cigars!)

trueblu

Thanks. And was that USD?! I hope it was expensed, and that there was a sizeable group!

tb

moondog

Our group consisted of around 8 people, including the CEO and chairman of an F500 company. Those cigars cost y3000 each!

trueblu

$1.2k a head. Extremely pricey, but assuming that you each had a cigar, that's not outside the realms of other mega meals one can have in BJ (not that I have ever had anything approaching that here).

tb

whimsey21

Moondog- I need your expense account! I'll stay away from the cigars and hopefully exit with my wallet mostly intact.

drewguy

I'm wondering how those cigars compare in price to some of the luxury dishes at some restaurants. Last time I was at Da Dong the waitstaff walked by with a large crab (Alaskan?) that was hanging off the larger platter. I was very curious how much those diners were throwing down for that treat.