- Han Kejia (Beijing):
This restaurant's stylized mix of stone floors and rough-hewn wood tables, set against the backdrop of one of Beijing's lakes, is enough to make it noteworthy. But it is the food - a delicate interpretation of little known Hakka cuisine - that places it among the best restaurants in the country. The sweet "secret recipe" paper-wrapped fish ranks among the most divine seafood entrees anywhere.
- ShijiXing (Turpan):
Set in grape fields north of town, with a melt-water stream flowing by, this Uighur restaurant is a favorite among locals for carousing late into the night, and features dancers form all over Xinjiang.
- Baoguo Buyi (Chengdu):
The artfully rustic surroundings are a pleasure in themselves, but this restaurant is a particular favorite with locals for its delicious local fare made with fresh, natural ingredients.
- Wumai'erhong Meishi Cheng (Kuqa):
This is the most illustrious restaurant in this charming oasis town. Cheerful Uighur staff serve the tastiest, most filling kabobs in the Xinjiang region.
- Mayke Ame (Lhasa):
Set in the former pleasure palace of Dalai Lama VI, who preferred skirts to sutras, this is the Tibetan capital's most charming restaurant.
- Dongfang jiaozi (Dumpling) Wang (Harbin):
This always-busy restaurant on Harbin's celebrated Zhongyang Dajie produces some of the best Jiaozi (Dumpling) anywhere, served the way they should be: generously filled and unadorned, with a month-watering, make-it-yourself vinegar-and-garlic dipping sauce.
- Beijing Dadong Kaoya Dian (Beijing):
When done properly, roast duck, cooked in a wood-fired oven then sliced and rolled in pancakes with plum sauce and green onion, is one of the finest dining experiences in China. This place does it best.
- Lao Sun Jia (Xi'an):
This is the best place to sample Xi'an's most celebrated dish, yangrou Paomo, a self-assembled lamb stew with coriander, chili, and garlic, thickened with bread you crumble yourself.
- Ming Yuan (Nanjing):
Few people have heard of Dingshan dishes, but locals will tell you that this unusual cuisine, created in Nanjing over 20 years ago, is guaranteed to refresh and delight even the most jaded of palates with crab steeped for a week in wine, honey, and spices; sauteed Yunnan mushroom with crab paste; and the restaurant's signature handmade fish noodles.
- Cucha Danfan (Wuhan):
Among the specialties, which rely on local produce, are dishes served in bamboo stalks and hollowed-out melons and squashes. This is a chance to try Hunan dishes rarely seen in restaurants in the West.
- Kong Yiji JIulou (Beijing):
Decorated to look like a traditional study and named for the drunken scholar-hero of a short story by father of modern Chinese literature Lu Xun, the atmospheric Kong Yiji serves wonderfully executed dishes from the Yangtze river delta where Lu was born.
- Chang Mu Di Youmian Da Wang (Hohhot):
This bustling restaurant, a mix of Mongolian ger and prettified farmhouse, specializes in Mongolian pastas and pancakes that you're not likely to find anywhere at home. Try husked-wheat pancakes filled with carrots, potato, and cabbage, rolled up and sliced like Mediterranean levant sandwiches.
- Luk Yu Tea House (Hong Kong):
First opened in 1933, this is the city's most famous remaining tea-house, a wonderful Art Deco-era Cantonese restaurant with ceiling fans, spittoons, individual wooden booths for couples, marble table-tops, and stained-glass windows. It's one of the best places to try Chinese teas, but it's most famous for its dim sum, served from 7am to 5:30pm.
- Shang Palace (Hangzhou):
This restaurant is expensive, but it deserves its place here as the purveyor of simply the best of the region's delicate Huaiyang cuisine, using modern techniques to turn "beggar's chicken" into a feast fit for an emperor, and in equally imperial surroundings.
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