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The best way to eat well and cheaply in Beijing is to enter one of the ubiquitous restaurants where the locals are eating and pick a few different dishes from the menu. Truth be told, anyone familiar with Western currency and prices will find Beijing a very inexpensive city for food, especially considering that tipping is not practiced in China.
Beijing Roast Duck
Candied haw berries
Mongolian Hotpot
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Beijing Roast Duck is a famous Beijing specialty served at many restaurants, but there are quite a few restaurants dedicated to the art of roasting the perfect duck. Expect to pay around ¥40 per whole duck at budget-range establishments, and ¥160-¥190 at high-end restaurants. Beijing duck is served with thin pancakes, plum sauce，and slivers of scallions and cucumbers. You dip the duck in the sauce and roll it up in the pancake with a few slivers of scallions and/or cucumbers. The end result is a mouthwatering combination of the cool crunchiness of the cucumber, the sharpness of the scallions, and the rich flavors of the duck.
Candied haw berries are dipped in molten sugar which is left to harden in the cold and sold on a stick. You can also find variations with oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas, or dipped in crumbled peanuts as well as sugar. This sweet snack can also sometimes be found in the spring and the summer, but the haw berries are often from last season's crop.
Mongolian Hotpot originated from the Manchu people who emphasize meats over other people. Like variations of hotpot from elsewhere in China and Japan, lamb hotpot is a cook-it-yourself affair in a steaming pot in the center of the table. Unlike Sichuan hotpot, lamb hotpot features a savory, non-spicy broth. If that's not exciting enough for you, you can also request a spicy broth (be aware that this is flaming red, filled with peppers, and not for the weak!) To satisfy everyone, you can request yuānyáng, which is a pot divided down the middle, with spicy broth on one side and regular broth on the other.
Restaurants
Quan Ju De (Peking Duck):-
Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck
Dong Lai Shun Hot Pot
Quan Ju De (Peking Duck):
The Quanjude Restaurant, the largest roast duck restaurant in Beijing if not in the world, opened for business in 1979. Located near Hepingmen Gate (Peace Gate), it has a floor space of 15,000 square meters divided into 41 dining halls, including one, which can serve 600 customers simultaneously. The dining halls reserved for overseas guests can accommodate a total of 2,000 diners, and include a hall where all-duck banquets in which all the dishes are made from parts of the duck can be served to 600 people. Filled to capacity, Quanjude Restaurant can serve as many as 5,000 meals a day.
Address: No. 32, Qianmen Avenue, Xuanwu District
Phone: (86) 010--67011379, 65112418
Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck
Most of the clients of this restaurant are local and experts who live in China. They have menu in English with picture, you can order with reference of those pictures. If you have less people eating together, say for 2 people, you can simply order half duck; there are other plates to choose.
Make sure to reserve the table beforehand, the worst experience for me is almost 1.5 hours in queue waiting for the table!
Address: 1-2/F, Nanxincang International Building, Dongcheng District
Phone: (86-10) 51690328
Dong Lai Shun Hot Pot
Donglaishun is one of the most authentic Muslim restaurants in Beijing, featuring instant-boiled lamb hotpot. Donglaishun hotpot is characterized by the fine lamb slices from a special breed of lamb at the Xilingol Grassland in Inner Mongolia, as well as the old-fashioned brass cooking pot filled with broth which is heated by a clump of charcoal. Submerge the thin slice in the pot for a few seconds, and dip it into the thick sauce made with roasted sesame, pickled garlic and Chinese chives, you must enjoy the authentic flavor of Donglaishun hotpot.
Address: No.130 WangFuJing Street, DongCheng, District
Phone: 86-10-65280932