Moscow feast

A Soviet-era landmark was the first foreign restaurant in Beijing, and is still a great place to ring in the new year, Mike Peters reports.

Our Russian friends have a gift for making New Year celebrations last ... and last ... and last. Feeling a bit left out, we went looking for a suitable place to join in the merry-making, or at least see what all the fuss was about.

The Chinese capital has plenty of Russian restaurants to pick from, but we couldn't resist the great babushka (grandmamma) of them all. There are zestier - and certainly cheaper - choices, but none quite as original as Moscow Restaurant, which opened in 1954 as part of a huge exposition complex that the former Soviet Union built in the Xizhimen area.