27 Best Restaurants in Beijing, China

This beautiful courtyard restaurant serves refined Yunnan food. What's more, the menu is fixed, so this is an excellent choice for those who don't want to misfire on the ordering.

This Taiwanese restaurant specializes in beautifully crafted xiaolong bao—steamed dumplings that are filled with piping hot, aromatic soup. Crab, chicken, and duck are lovely alternatives to the standard pork dumplings, or go wild with the black-truffle option.

Migas is a whirlwind adventure in rustic Spanish gastronomy. The setting is glitzy, and the atmosphere is spirited, especially after 9 pm, when the bar and sprawling terrace really spring to life.

Beijing’s best all-round Japanese izakaya-style restaurant is the place to go for frothy mugs of Asahi draft, sublime soba noodles, and some of the best sushi and sashimi in the city for the price. The slow-cooked pork belly in miso broth with a poached egg gets rave reviews.

Serving contemporary European fare with a Brazilian twist, Alameda is housed in a funky outdoor mall behind the hubbub of Sanlitun's bar street. Though most lauded for its good value weekday prix-fixe lunch (88 RMB for two courses), which often features filet mignon or codfish, on weekends the restaurant slow cooks a big batch of authentic feijoada—Brazil's national dish—a hearty black-bean stew with pork and rice. The glass walls and ceiling make it a bright, pleasant place, but they do magnify the din of the crowded room.

Like other branches in this popular chain of glitzy, see-and-be-seen restaurants, this one dishes up Taiwanese favorites to a largely young, upwardly mobile clientele. A delicious choice is the "three-cup chicken" (sanbeiji), served in a sizzling pot fragrant with ginger, garlic, and basil.

Although good, the French food at this cozy bistro seems beside the point: people come for the nighttime revelry. The bar doesn't close till the last person leaves (even if it's 5 am)!

Inside a cozy traditional courtyard house, this mainstay of Beijing's international dining scene offers some of the city's best Malaysian and Southeast Asian dishes. Sambal refers to the house-made chili sauce that gives an authentic kick to many of the dishes. Best bets include fiery beef rendang, butter prawns, chili crab and the four-sided beans in cashew nut sauce. The antique-furnished interior is stylish and intimate, and a chilled-out vibe makes this a great place to linger over a meal.

Hotpot restaurants are plentiful in northern China, but few do it better than Ding Ding Xiang, a self-proclaimed "hotpot paradise." Diners order a variety of meats, sliced paper thin, as well as seafood, mushrooms, tofu and vegetables to be cooked at the table in a wide selection of broths (the wild mushroom broth is a must for mycophiles), or, better yet, order a partitioned pot to accommodate multiple soup varieties. The dipping sauces, used in the final stage of eating, are thick and delicious. Despite the surly service and gaudy decor, this place is perennially crowded.

More familial than fancy, this cozy restaurant serves Yunnan staples such as Bai-minority goat cheese with bacon (smoked in-house), potato balls (fluffy inside, addictively crisp outside), zingy mint salads, and delicate rice noodle dishes. It's also just a stone's throw from the Bell Tower.

Hunan cuisine, or xiang cai, is famous for its extensive use of colorful chili peppers, resulting in a "dry heat" rather than the more aromatic heat of Sichuan and its famous mouth-numbing peppercorn. This contemporary Hunanese eatery puts an international spin on the region's well-known flavors, like steamed fish with fresh diced chillis, sizzling spice-roasted duck, flame-baked shrimp wrapped in tinfoil, and a giant rack of melt-in-the-mouth, spice-encrusted pork ribs. The dining room is elegant without being showy, and service is friendly and attentive.

An Italian pizza-man can often be seen working the massive brick oven at this glass-enclosed corner joint in Sanlitun, popular with Italian expats for the most authentic Napoli-style pizzas in Beijing. The classic Margherita is top-notch, with a thin crust, bubbled and charred at the edges, topped with creamy buffalo mozzarella and a perfectly tangy tomato sauce. Or you can say "when in Beijing" and try the Peking duck pizza, one of many available options. A good selection of antipasti, salads, and pastas round out the straightforward menu.

Bright and bustling on any day of the week, Lei Garden really packs them in on Sunday afternoons for dim sum amid glamorous surroundings. The pan-fried turnip cake is juicy and topped with generous amounts of grated veggies, and the shrimp dumplings are bursting with sweet plump shrimp and crunchy bamboo shoots. A platter of roast pork, with bite-size pieces laced with buttery fat and capped with crisp, crunchy skin, hits the spot. Private dining rooms offer sanctuary from the crowd.

This sprawling basement venue offers a whirlwind culinary tour of Chinese regional styles in a brightly lit space decked out with sofas, green plants, and stylish photographs of the owner and her friends. Madam Zhu is in fact the founder of the popular Sichuan chain Yuxiang Renjia. Here she's branched out with confident updates of classic Chinese dishes, including delicate "lion's head" meatballs (a Huaiyang dish from Yangzhou) served with crab roe and freshwater bass, crispy duck, tender black-pepper tenderloin, and poached egg whites filled with crabmeat. A great place to discover a contemporary take on Chinese food unconstrained by tradition or convention.

Fluttering prayer flags lead up to the second floor entrance of this Tibetan restaurant, where a pile of mani (prayer) stones and a large prayer wheel greet you. Elegant Tibetan Buddhist trumpets, lanterns, and handicrafts adorn the walls, and the kitchen serves a range of hearty dishes that run well beyond the region's staples of tsampa (roasted barley flour) and yak-butter tea.

In the heart of Sanlitun's shopping and dining district, this trendy Yunnan restaurant, known as a celebrity haunt, is a great place to wrap up a day's exploring. Deep earth tones, soaring ceilings, and traditional handicrafts are a relaxing setting to enjoy sticky-sweet pineapple rice, sizzling platters of Yunnan beef with fried potatoes, "crossing the bridge" rice noodles, and the restaurant's signature paijiu mushrooms. Don't miss the delicious staple of sweet potato rice with mushrooms and chives. The libation of choice here is a tall bamboo pitcher of mijiu, a cloudy, low-alcohol rice wine with a sweet, fragrant taste.

This is the only place in Beijing—perhaps all of China—to get genuine New Orleans grits, jambalaya (peppered with dark sausage), traditional gumbo, and other Cajun and Creole fare. For a quick snack, grab a po'boy served in a crusty roll with a side of fries; the pork tenderloin with bacon-wrapped plums will do for bigger appetites. A lovely rooftop terrace makes for romantic alfresco dining overlooking leafy embassy gardens and nearby Ritan Park. Finish with warm apple cobbler and a melting scoop of nutmeg ice cream.

Instead of the banquet-style scene found in Beijing's more traditional roast duckeries, the setting here is more laid-back, with diners lounging on comfortable sofas in a moderately sized, warmly lit dining room. The succulent signature dish is still made to exacting standards, and other popular dishes such as kung pao shrimp and green beans in sesame sauce are done well, too.

Soaring ceilings and enormous mirrors decorated with Arabic script create a casually exotic atmosphere at this all-white Persian favorite. Portions are family-sized, and a mixed appetizer of three choices from the menu is more than enough for a summertime supper. Standouts include Persian flat bread with thick hummus, grilled chicken in a tangy pomegranate sauce, tender marinated lamb chops or a platter of generously sized meat and seafood kebabs. For dessert, take your rosewater and pistachio ice cream out to the patio to enjoy the breeze. The Baha'i owner doesn't offer alcohol, but you're welcome to bring your own.

An early pioneer in the uber-chic Wudaoying Hutong, Saffron is still going strong, with refined Mediterranean food served in a romantic courtyard house with outside terrace. Tapas, paella, sangria, and desserts (displayed in a glass case), served with warmth, provide the makings for a fine evening. If it's busy, head to a small place opposite called Chi. Sharing the same globe-trotting Chinese owners, it specializes in organic prix-fixe menus of European-inspired contemporary cooking. You won't go wrong.

Don't let the French name fool you: this well-established restaurant serves thoroughly delicious Korean food. The beef stew is a particular hit, as are the kimchi pancakes.

A specialty of this historic restaurant is shaoguo, a traditional fatty-pork casserole. The dish was originated by the Manchus during the Qing Dynasty, when sacrificial offerings of whole pigs were common.

Of the branches in this classy, Beijing chain of Peking-duck restaurants, this one is the most popular thanks to a prime location in the Sanlitun nightlife district. The duck here is roasted in an open kitchen and served with an indulgent selection of traditional Beijing accompaniments.

Since 1998, Beijing's best Indian restaurant has been serving up the classics, like chicken tikka masala, palak paneer (creamy spinach with cheese), rogan josh (tender lamb in curry sauce) and a range of grilled meats and fish from the tandoor oven. Wash it all down with a cup of masala tea flavored with cardamom, cloves, and ginger. Consistently good service and an informal atmosphere make this a well-loved neighborhood haunt. Newer branches have opened in Lido and Shunyi.

A foreigner-friendly introduction to Chinese homestyle cooking, this restaurant is popular with the city's expat community. Thanks to rampant reconstruction, it's moved from location to location as neighborhoods have been torn down, but fans can now happily find the newest site inside Ritan Park, located in a small, two-story building, with an attractive rooftop area overlooking the park's greenery. The Peking duck is solid, and the laziji (deep-fried chicken smothered in dried red chilies) is just spicy enough. The second-floor dining area overlooks the main floor, with plenty of natural sunlight pouring through the surrounding windows.