Xu Yuan Homestyle Restaurant is 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 the courtyard, and their chef ancestor's cooking skills, so they put up the restaurant. It¡¯s a place for a New Year's Eve family dinnand also for stories about ancient Beijing.

               

The restaurant walls are painted dark red, like that of the Forbidden City.

The dishes served up at this little eatery are different from any cuisine you are likely to taste, combining a number of well-loved 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 frommoyu or plant root powder.

One dish not to miss is the Fried Scallop Cubes with Sliced Asparagus, Celery and Carrot. The Hai Wang Shi Zi Tou is a pork meatball served in soup with two crabs. Sea cucumber, shrimp and water chestnut are used to add flavor to the soup. The deep-fried shrimp balls, served with slices of golden potato is 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 though slightly fat. The steamed weever fish is quite tender, although the skin has a slightly fishy smell.

Xu Yuan Homestyle Restaurant

Address: No 18 Xilouxiang Hutong, Xicheng (southwest corner of the Di'anmen and Ping'an Dajie intersection)Open: 10am-11pm

Tel: 6404 4330
Cost: 150 yuan per person

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