Beijing Imperial Cuisine

Beijing Imperial Cuisine, or Fangshan in Chinese, is the court food which consists of dishes once prepared exclusively for the royal family. Nowadays, the imperial cuisine can provide not only the original Qing Dynasty palace dishes, which was enjoyed by the emperors' family, but also the developed Beijing cuisine, which was enjoyed by the local people. In the past, ingredients in the imperial dishes were strictly blended, and the auxiliary ingredients could not be modified. All the raw materials from the land and sea, such as: rice, flour, vegetables, meat, fruits, fish, poultry, etc. were carefully chosen by the local officials in the country as the tribute and sent to the imperial restaurant to make the dishes for the emperors' family. They were unmatched in quality and purity. Most of the food can be ate by the imperial family only, because of its nutrition and high quailty taste.

All chefs in the imperial kitchen were well trained and the masters in their area. Imperial cuisine highly values a subtle balance among color, fragrance, and taste and stresses the original stock and taste of the dishes. All the dishes must look as an exquisite art from its shape and provide a strong appetite for the eaters. Most of the chefs specialized in one or several dishes during their lives. Their excellent cooking skills were the key to the making of palace delicacies. Palace dishes were named simply, usually for their cooking methods, main ingredients, so the emperors knew what was in the dish as soon as they saw it. Imperial cuisine can be regarded as a collection of the best examples of Chinese food.

Following is a list of the famous Beijing imperial cuisine restaurants:
Beijing Beihai Fangshan Restaurant
Address:1 Wenjing Street (inside the east gate of Beihai Park), Xi Cheng District, Beijing
Opening Hours Lunch: 11am-1:30pm Mon-Fri; Dinner: 5pm-7:30pm Mon-Fri.  Reservation Telephone: +86 10 6401 1879
Ting Li Guan Imperial Cuisine Restaurant
Address: south of Wanshou Hill, inside the Summer Palace, Haidian District, Beijing.
Opening Hours: 11:00 - 14:00 16:30 - 19:00  Reservation Telephone:86 10 6288 1955
Da Zhai Men Imperial Cuisine Restaurant
Address: 20A, Shouti Nan Lu, Haidian District, Beijing
Opening Hours Lunch: 11am-2pm; Dinner: 5pm-9pm  Reservation Telephone: +86 10 6817 5710
Baijia Dayuan (Garden of the King) Imperial Cuisine Restaurant
Address: 15 Suzhou Street, Wudaokou, Haidian District, Beijing
Opening Hours Lunch: 11am-2pm; Dinner: 5pm-9pm  Reservation Telephone: +86 10 6285 8851

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