Nowhere on the Chinese mainland has the culinary wealth of Beijing, with every style of Chinese food available, just about any Asian, and a smattering of world cuisines. Amongst all this abundance it's sometimes easy to forget that Beijing has its own culinary tradition - specialities well worth trying are Beijing duck ( Beijing kaoya) and Mongolian hotpot . Beijing duck appears in Chinese restaurants worldwide and consists of small pieces of meat which you dip in plum sauce, then wrap with chopped onions in a pancake. It's very rich and packs a massive cholesterol count. Mongolian hotpot is healthier, a poor man's fondue, involving a large pot of boiling stock, usually heated from underneath the table, into which you dip strips of mutton, cabbage and noodles, then if you're really committed, drink the rest as soup.

 

There's ample opportunity to eat Western food in Beijing, though it generally costs a little more than Chinese. French food is currently fashionable with the nouveaux riches, though it's pretty mediocre and expensive. An exception is the excellent DeliFrance chain, which has brought great French baking to Beijing at a fraction of what it costs in the West - and no praise is high enough for their coffee, about the only decent stuff in the whole country. German food is better, though again expensive, with a number of outlets in the more exclusive parts of town. If you really want the comforts of the familiar, try international places such as the Hard Rock Café - everything just like at home, including the prices. Japanese and Korean cuisine is mainly available from restaurants in upmarket hotels, though it's possible to eat both without breaking your budget, and they're well worth trying.

Fast food comes in two forms: the Chinese version, a canteen-style serving, usually of noodles in a polystyrene packet, which you find in department stores or buy from street stalls; and Western imports such as Pizza Hut, McDonald's and KFC, which have made a considerable impact and are now greatly imitated. McDonald's arrived in 1992 and there are now more than fifty branches, often so packed that getting served is an experience not unlike that of buying a train ticket. Prices are cheaper than in the West, but expensive by Chinese standards. Street food , mostly noodle dishes, is widely available, though not in the centre, where vendors are shooed away by the police; your best bet is at one of the designated night markets. Avoid the ice cream vendors who hang around the parks as their home-made wares are often of a dubious standard.

If you want to get a picnic together, or have the facilities to try some self-catering, the capital is well stocked with supermarkets . The Wellcome Supermarket - part of the Hong Kong chain - in the basement of the World Trade Centre is the most impressive, though everything costs about fifty percent more than you would pay in Hong Kong. The supermarket on the first floor of the Friendship Store is not nearly as good, but it does sell butter, cheese and Western beers, as do the supermarkets in the basements of the Parkson Store and the SCITECH shopping centre. Head for Sanlitun to find speciality shops catering to homesick Westerners; Jenny Lou's on Gongrentiyu Bei Lu is renowned, but not cheap.