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If you're feeling adventurous and want to experience food you're not likely to find in your home country, Lao Hanzi is the perfect restaurant destination. Located on the edge of the Houhai lake area, this is one of the true culinary bargains in Beijing. Aside from some of the best whole fish selection I had while dining in the city, Lao Hanzi offers a number of things off the culinary beaten path. Fried snake, which is a little bony and fits the "tastes like chicken" cliche, is a perfect choice for adventurous eating without taking any risks. If you like prawns, you can't go wrong with the bucket of rock salt cooked with enormous shrimp skewered and buried in the salt (yes, you are supposed to eat the head and the shell). Numerous animal parts are on the menu as the Hakka palate is from the part of China where anything is fair game at the dinner table. This is a restaurant where you will likely be surrounded by locals as it isn't a frequent tourist destination, which is always a good thing in my book. Plan on dinner lasting for at least 2 hours as this is an experience.

Location: 1/F, Jiezuo Building, 57 Xingfucun Zhonglu
幸福村中路57号杰座大厦1层

Mexican food is nearly impossible to find in Beijing. As of August 2007, Taco Bell hadn't opened a single store closer than Shanghai. This made El Fogoncito something of a culinary oasis in Beijing.

Four weeks into my most recent trip to China I was sick of noodles and rice and had a craving for Mexican food. Lucky for me, one of the members of my travel group was a Mexican national, who contacted a friend she knew through the Mexican Embassy, who turned us on to El Fogoncito. The restaurant is part of a chain based in Mexico City, with remarkably authentic food. Tacos, burritos, and even the fajita dish are all lightly seasoned, with various salsas and guacamole available to garnish your dish and spice it up. Tortilla chips are heavier than anything I've sampled in either the U.S. or Mexico, but a welcome change. The guacamole is a bit unusual, consisting of something closer to a sauce, but it's apparently hard to track down avocados anywhere in China. Several Mexican beers and many tequilas are available from the bar.

This video is in Spanish, but shows the inside of the Beijing El Fogoncito:

1-01, Bldg. 19, Wanda Guangchang, 93 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang district (phone: 5820 6551). Open 10am-2pm, 4:30-9:30pm.
富宫喜多西餐厅 朝阳区建国路93号万达广场19号楼1－01

Roast duck tastes better in Beijing. I've had it several times in the United States, but Peking Duck is always better in its birthplace. My favorite place to eat Peking Duck is hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant, located in the rapidly shrinking Hutong east of Tiananmen Square. The experience of visiting Li Qun has changed in the past couple of years - you used to wind through the roads of the hutong, pursued by pedicab drivers on your way to the restaurant. With Beijing rapidly tearing down portions of the hutong, replacing narrow streets with roads and housing with updated apartment living, there's a direct path to get to Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant.

Some of the old signs still remain.

Once inside, the feel of the restaurant has changed very little. The first thing you see is the brick oven where ducks are roasting. A narrow corridor leads either to the main dining area or to a private dining room if your party is too large for the 4-top seating that makes up most of the cramped dining space.

There are two ways to order (both require calling ahead to let the restaurant know how many ducks you need). You can either order a complete meal, including ducks, pancakes, hoisin sauce and fixings, along with some additional dishes; or you can order a duck and sample things from the menu ala carte. If you're brave, you can try things like duck feet in mustard sauce and fried duck gizzards, or stick with things more familiar to a Western palette.

For assistance in getting to Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant, I highly recommend calling to have a cab driver get directions in Chinese. The staff speaks reasonably good English, so you'll be able to hand off the phone (and call ahead for ducks) even if you don't speak any Chinese. You can also print this card for additional help in getting to the restaurant.