Dinner with friends in Beijing
Along one of the main restaurant streets in Beijing (Dongzhimennai Da Jie also known as Ghost Street), there is a restaurant called Huajia Yiyuan (Hua Family Restaurant) within a fully restored old courtyard. The owners have since restored another courtyard home which now joins the old one via a Hutong (Beijing street).
I have eaten at this restaurant a couple of times and enjoyed a private room on each occasion. The first time we went as a large group to farewell a friend from Beijing, we were given a private tour of both courtyard homes including the private ancient courtyards with carved beams and pillars connected with interlinked pathways.
The menu has photographs and English translations of every dish which is extremely useful to ensure you order the correct dishes, if, like me you can only read about 100 Chinese characters (and none of those are food), but some of the waiters speak a little English which is also very useful.
There are also pitchers of fresh fruit juice and hot corn juice, which I did taste and was actually not too bad. There is a range of the usual vegetarian options on the menu but the Yongzheng Dynasty Roast Duck is said to be very good. It is based on the recipe in the ‘Notes of Imperial Court Food’ written during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty and has several accompanying side dishes; including pineapple, melon and lettuce, in addition to the traditional cucumber.
Plenty of fabulous ornate doorways in the restaurant also…
The restaurant also offers a show during dinner which is a variety of Peking Opera, acrobatics and ‘changing faces’…I always enjoy the ‘changing faces’…so clever!!
I have recommended this restaurants to several of my visitors and each has always returned with the same view; excellent evening!!
paintdigi said:
nice
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Little Miss Traveller said:
Looks to be a perfect setting to enjoy a meal
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
It was lovely. Thank you.
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Joyce Belfort said:
Hard core traditional house (love)!!! Must be amazing to dine there.
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Amy said:
A fine place to dine. 🙂 Well preserved building 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
My pictures didn’t do it real justice Joyce. It was truly beautiful.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks for always stopping by Amy.
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carentaylor said:
The family running the restaurants seem to have achieved a great balance of restoring and providing excellent food and entertainment for their customer’s pleasure 🙂 The courtyard buildings look really lovely
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Joyce Belfort said:
😍😍😍
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kokodynia said:
Wow, chinese restaurant! I imagine how lovely the place must be! I think the hot corn juice is maybe not the thing I crave most, but maybe I am wrong… Anyhow, chinese roasted duck , wow, this is fabulous dish 🙂
Here in Warsaw we have a few chinese reastaurants and a lot of small chinese and asian bars, eateries etc. Those are not that fancy like this one you have been describing, but also interesting. I am going to visit one with ” dumplings from Tibet” here 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you Caren. You have summed up the restaurants ambience and food so well.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Oh I am sure the Tibet dumpling restaurant will be nice. I love dumplings. I think you are right – I am glad I tried the hot corn drink but it’s probably not what I am make now I am back in Australia. Thanks so much for your comment.
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sileas said:
What a proper, old-school restaurant! That must be a very classy and culturally interesting experience 🙂
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Marta said:
I also like the changing face! The hot pot restaurant Haidilao also has it 😀
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twobrownfeet said:
Looks like a fantastic experience! I remember depending on photo descriptions of meal during our China journey. Make a mistake and we could’ve have eaten something totally different. 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
I agree. When I first arrived in Beijing trying out what I thought was my very good Chinese (no it wasn’t) I ordered some very weird food.
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J L Hunt said:
Very fascinating 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you. By the way I love your blog. I am following you now.
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J L Hunt said:
Wow, Thanks, so much 🙂
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Hemangini said:
The penal painting is a spot on! Such beautiful depiction of Chinese trees. Nice ambiance in the place… love it.
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