A gathering of gourmets

Mike Peters joins an elite group of serious eaters in Beijing for an evening of gastronomic indulgence.

There are invitations to dinner, and there are invitations to dinner. When one is invited to dine in Beijing with members of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, the oldest international gastronomic society, it's hard not to lick one's lips in anticipation.

"Devoted to preserving the camaraderie and pleasures of the table," says the society's webpage of its founding in Paris in 1248.