Xu Yuan Homestyle Restaurant was adapted from a small courtyard house, the residence of the family chef of an official who moved from Guangdong to Beijing in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The eighth generation of the family inherited both the cooking skills and the courtyard and set the place up as a restaurant.

                        
The dishes served up at this little eatery are different from any cuisine you are likely to taste, combining a number of popular culinary delights. The food has a home-cooked taste but is professionally prepared and presented.

Many dishes are the chef's own creation. Appetizers include turnip slices with sweet sauce, chicken feet, corn grain salad and vegetarian abalone slices made from moyu, a plant root powder.

One dish not to miss is the delightfully fried scallop cubes with sliced asparagus , celery and carrot. The Hai Wang Shi Zi Tou is pork meat balls served in soup with two crabs, very different to meatballs you are likely to find elsewhere. Sea cucumber, shrimp and water chestnut are used to add flavour to the soup. The deep-fried shrimp balls, served with slices of golden potato tastes sweet and sour on the inside and crisp on the outside.

The Grilled lamb ribs are seasoned with honey and sweet-scented osmanthus giving the meat a pleasantly rich taste. The lamb is cooked to perfection although there is slightly too much fat. The steamed weever is quite tender, although the skin has a slightly unpleasant smell of fish.

The restaurant's walls are painted dark red, like that of the Forbidden City. On one of the walls hangs a big black and white picture of a tree growing in the middle of a Beijing courtyard.

Although the place is small, there is a good selection of wines. The menu is in both Chinese and English. A meal for one will cost around 50 yuan.

Xu Yuan Homestyle Restaurant
Opening hour: 10am-11pm.
Address: 18 Xilouxiang Hutong, Xicheng District, southwest corner of the crossroad between Di'anmen and Ping'an Dajie.
Tel: 010-6404-4330