Beijing

Peking Duck

Beijing's most famous dish: a whole duck roasted to a lacquered, crackling skin, carved tableside and wrapped in thin pancakes with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce. It is the meal most visitors build an entire evening around, best eaten at a specialist roast-duck restaurant.

◆Quanjude and Bianyifang are the two most historic roast-duck restaurants, though smaller local spots are often cheaper and just as good.

Zhajiangmian

Thick wheat noodles topped with a rich, savoury sauce of fried fermented soybean paste and minced pork, mixed with shredded cucumber and other fresh vegetables. Many Beijingers consider it the true taste of home, a hearty everyday classic rather than a tourist dish.

Tanghulu

Skewered hawthorn berries, or sometimes other small fruit, dipped in a hard, glassy sugar coating and sold from street carts, especially in colder months. The tart fruit against the brittle candy shell makes it one of Beijing's most recognisable sweet snacks.

Jianbing

A savoury folded crepe made on a hot griddle with egg, a crispy cracker, scallions, coriander and a smear of sweet-savoury sauce, cooked to order at street stalls. It is the classic Beijing breakfast on the go, cheap, filling and unlike any Western pancake or wrap.