Ritan Restaurant

ADD: Guanghua Road, CBD, south Gate of Ritan Park
Signature dishes: Cantonese, Japanese, "French-style barbecue", Imperial courses

Long-term residents may have fond memories of the old Ritan Restaurant in Beijing, a foreigner-friendly, Sichuan home-style joint snuggled into the southwestern corner of Ritan Park. Now, after more than a year's renovation at a cost of 10 million yuan, the restaurant has been reborn as the Beijing Ritan Inn House, a high-class and eclectic eatery whose new owners hope will occupy a unique place in the CBD dining scene.

Four specialties are on offer: Cantonese, Japanese, "French-style barbecue" and guanfu cai, a style derived from the kitchens of those high officials of Imperial China who set great store by dining and entertaining.