Provincial restaurants The capital dining scene benefits greatly from the presence of provincial and municipal government offices that have been established in Beijing, complete with adjoining hotels and restaurants. This is where visiting officials stay and dine when they come to Beijing on official business, and so the food tends to be authentic. Many of these restaurants ship fresh ingredients and seasonal vegetables to Beijing from back home, making the cooking often better than what you’ll find at private restaurants serving the same cuisines in the city. The presence of the provincial government offices in the capital was the evolution of the guild halls which were established in the Ming dynasty. These guild halls were set up to provide both accommodation and food for its hometown denizens who came to the capital to conduct their businesses, to take the impossible-to-pass imperial examination, and frequently many were in a transit awaiting for their new postings. The guild halls went into decline when the imperial civil service examination was abolished in 1904. Today’s provincial government offices or known as zhujing banshichu maintain the same function to service its fellow townsmen, providing lodging to their own kinsmen, only the dining is open to public. The advantage of dining at the provincial-run restaurants is that aside from the genuine food, fresh and seasonal ingredients are either shipped by train or flown in without paying a high price tag either that not all restaurants could afford to do so. The interior of the provincial government run restaurants have gradually improved in the last ten years, clean and service is efficient. However, the design of the dining venues somehow look alike from place to place, as if it has a standard template of putting bright-lit chandelier, yellow table cloth and chairs are covered with red color covers. The floors are either marble tiles or covered with carpet, and sometimes embellished with artificial grapes and trees. But, authentic food matters most. List of provincial restaurantsProvincial_restaurants.htmlProvincial_restaurants.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1

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Eastern and Western RestaurantsEastern_and_Western_Restaurants.htmlEastern_and_Western_Restaurants.htmlEastern_and_Western_Restaurants.htmlEastern_and_Western_Restaurants.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3
Laozihao The term laozihao refers to classic brands that have existed for many decades, in some cases for centuries, and which were run by families who handed the businesses down from generation to generation. These time honored brands were turned into a mixture of private and state enterprises in 1956 after the Communists came to power. Quality fell and these establishments lost their reputations that had been built up over time. With China’s reform and opening up, some of the descendents of the original families, and some of the state owners, have sought to reclaim control of their family establishments and to regain their former glory, but it’s been an uphill battle. Laozihao.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0

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