The south-north lane, about 800 meters (0.5 miles) long and quite narrow in places, is about a block east of Houhai, and is said to have been established more than 700 years ago. Many restaurants here are hidden in small and quiet traditional courtyards (siheyuan), offering a good experience of life in old Peking on idle Sunday afternoons. However, the cuisines offered are new, and you can sample a selection of East-West fusion foods, such as Kung Pao Chicken pizza. There is also an authentic Chinese yoghurt sweet shop. Many restaurants here have English and even French menus, catering to visitors who like to browse the lanes quirky shops.

Restaurants and bars are scattered along the sides of a serpentine lake north of the Forbidden City. At the very center of Beijing, it makes a great place to sit back and enjoy the views, particularly at night when the lights glisten off the water. Restaurants here offer a range of Chinese and foreign cuisines, including Hakka cuisine from south China, spicy Sichuan and Yunnan dishes, light Vietnamese and heavier Russian food. Most of the restaurants offer a cozy dining environment. Many have a lake view, some set up tables in the open beside the water, and a few even offer boats for dining on the lake itself.

It is said that there are over two hundred kinds of snacks in Beijing such as Quick-Fried Tripe, Boiled Sheep's Head, Pancakes with Meat-Fillings, Sugar-Coated Haws, Roast Sweet Potato, Shish Kebab, Roast Mutton, and Sticky Rice with Sweet Fillings. The local Beijing people, especially elder ones, especially enjoy Mung Bean Milk, Fried Liver and Filled Sausage. Many of these tasty snacks don 't have suitable translations in English, but you can simply wander down some of the numerous snack streets to see for yourself which ones you would like to sample. Even if you aren 't quite brave enough to try, the stroll will be certain to provide plenty of good entertainment and you never know what kind of local delicacy might wet your tongue!