Best bites of Beijing

The Chinese capital’s food scene has developed quickly in recent years. Some restaurants worth visiting: Peking Duck — The Da Dong chain is justly famous for its elegantly presented though pricey duck, and there are more than a dozen locations around the city. For a more intimate experience, try the sedate Duck de Chine in the Sanlitun district’s 1949 complex. European —Temple Restaurant Beijing (now branded as TRB) offers fine French fare at the east gate of the Forbidden City and in a 600-year-old restored temple in a nearby hutong. For gourmet Italian fare with a superb wine list (and some eye-popping images of Marilyn Monroe), Opera Bombana is the standout, housed in the hip Parkview Green center. The Georg, operated by Denmark’s legendary artisan firm of Georg Jensen, features Nordic cuisine in a fine-dining environment. A more casual French dining room is F Bistronome, the newly opened Parisian-style cafe with dinner set menus for two and a to-die-for dessert souffle. Silk Road flavor: Xinjiang restaurants in Beijing offer great tastes of flavors that spread from Central Asia. Crescent Moon gets high marks from local foodies for its delicious succulent roast lamb, and unlike some Muslim restaurants this cozy hutong eatery offers beer and wine from China’s far west. Japanese: Beijing’s sushi guru is a Japan-trained US chef, Max Levy, whose handpicked market selections dazzle at Okra in the Sanlitun area. Alan Wong’s Hatsune restaurants are popular for his California-style fare, but his most mouth-watering offerings can be found at his Haiku restaurant on the lake in Chaoyang Park. Chinese: Visitors are spoiled for choice here. For Beijing comfort food in an elegant setting, it’s hard to beat the Rosewood Hotel’s Country Kitchen. But if you really want to be immersed in local food culture, make a reservation at a Haidilao outlet and enjoy the congenial hubbub, the “noodle dance” at your table, and delicious hotpot.