I first discovered “Made in China,” the stunning Chinese restaurant at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing, when it first opened in 2004. It’s STILL one of the BEST restaurants in China. It’s four open kitchen areas captivate diners!! You can watch your Peking Duck bake to a lustrous golden brown in a massive, brick wood-burning oven. At a neighboring station, foods are tossed in woks over roaring fires and nearby a group of white-jacketed chefs roll out paper-thin dumpling skins and cook freshly made noodles. Surrounding walls are lined top-to-bottom with shelves full of wooden moon cake molds, tea pots, woks, clay pots, and an eclectic assortment of kitchen objects all “made in China”, underlining the restaurant’s theme. It is one of the MOST STUNNING restaurants anywhere!! It’s also pretty neat in a country where customers are usually barred from seeing ANY Chinese restaurant kitchen.
The ingenious décor is the creation of Super Potato, an innovative design firm that has established an international reputation. The menu stresses classic Chinese dishes with an emphasis on northern regional cooking. Peking Duck skin is memorably crisp; pot stickers have a dramatic crusty top hat; and dumplings are generously stuffed with beef and leeks. A “must have” dish is the “tonghao” vegetables (edible chrysanthemum greens) which are tossed with chopped garlic and clear rice vinegar. The details are: Beijing Grand Hyatt, 1 East Chang An Avenue, (86 10 8518 1234)

Another Insider Beijing Dining Tip

For carnivores, who long to nosh on mouth-watering kebabs of tender lamb and rustic breads, seek out the Xinjiang Provincial Restaurant located at Beijing’s Xinjiang Municipal offices. On your way out, you can pick up some of the famous Hami melons, grapes and other seasonal fruits at bargain prices. They are all flown in daily from Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital city, along with sides of fresh lamb.

Xinjiang Fanzhuang, #7 Sanlihe, Haidian district 86- 10 8836 5363, 6835 1820.

Enjoy!

Nina

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