Peking Duck has the reputation of being the most delicious food Beijing has to offer. Some find it a bit too greasy, but others get hooked after one taste. In any case, a Peking Duck dinner is usually a fixed item on any Beijing tour itinerary, Eating Peking Duck is also one of the two things you are absolutely supposed to do while in Beijing. The other one is climbing the Great Wall.

The place that offers the best Peking Duck is the Quan Ju De Restaurant, which has outlets at Qianmen, Hepingmen and Wangfujing. It was established 130 year ago and, if you count from the time when founder Yang Renquan began his duck business, it is 160 years old.

At Quan Ju De, ducks are immesed in condiments unique to the restaurant and are roasted directly over flames stoked by fruittree wood. The best roasted duck is date-red, shining with oil, but with a crisp skin and tender meat.

The chef then cuts the meat into thin slices, each having a piece of skin. Then the meat is served with very thin pancakes, Chinese onions and special sauce. The way to eat it is to coat the thin pancake with sauce, slap on a few pieces of meat and roll up the pancake. Chopsticks are optional; it is much easier just to grab the thing with your bare hands.

     Another famous restaurant offering Peking duck is the Bian Yi Fang (Cheap Restaurant), Which was opened in 1855, nine years earlier than Quan Ju De. At Bian Yi Fang. Roasting is done in an enclosed container fueled with crop stalks.
     There are now hundreds of restaurants serving Peking Duck all over the city. Most of these restaurants offer ducks for 38 yuan a piece, cheaper that at the larger places.

The way to roast ducks:

The ducks are force-fed. So the meat is tender, greasy and fresh. Since it's roasted with hard wood of jujube, apricot and peach, you can smell the fragrance of fruit from the duck. There are two ways to roast the duck: hang-up roasted and stew roasted. Hang-up roast is, just like the way it is called, the ducks are hung up above the fire until they look shining with oil. Stew roast is to burn the oven first and then put the duck in, put off the fire. The remaining heat will stew the duck. So the cooked ducks are tender inside and crispy outside, oily but not greasy.

The best time to taste Beijing Duck is spring, winter and autumn.

Eat the duck right after it is cooked. Or the taste wouldn't be that good.

Most of the local restaurants put Beijing duck on their menu. But the originals and better ones are just a few

The price varies from 59 yuan to 168 yuan for a duck in different restaurants. It depends on the location in the city.

One duck is enough to serve four people. If you have one or two people, order half of a duck.

In the winter season, when chilly temperatures and frigid winds prevail over the land, people like to eat food that instantly warms their bodies and lifts their spirits. For that, the hot pot is a delicious and hearty choice. Families or groups of friends sit around a table and eat from a steaming pot in the middle, cooking and drinking and chatting. Eating hot pot is not a passive activity: diners must select morsels of prepared raw food from plates scattered around the table, place them in the pot, wait for them to cook, fish them out of the soup, dip them in the preferred sauce, and then eat them hot, fresh, and tender. They can also ladle up the broth from the pot and drink it.