Beijing's best bites

Seasoned food critic Ye Jun recommends some of Beijing's top spots for supreme cuisines for your Spring Festival feasts

Spring Festival is the biggest celebration of the year. Families and friends gather together and there are plenty of banquets. What better time for visitors to explore our culture, and try eating chicken feet and sea cucumber and set off fireworks? Or try some of the capital's foreign offerings.

There have been quite a few best restaurant selections going on. Time to look back on the past year's food exploration and savor the best memories. Here are some restaurants whose foods I do miss. If you wanted to go somewhere to celebrate the holidays with your friends, here are some ideas.

Best beef

Meat &Wine

This steakhouse ages its steaks from 21 to 30 days, chilled to 1 C to 4 C, to achieve the best possible chewing sensation. The Wagyu rib-eye (300 g), and a Wagyu rump (500 g), have an MB score of 6+ and are 500-day grain-fed, which means they are medium in terms of marble fat, providing just enough juice after grilling. A sommelier will give his suggestions as to which wines to pair with the meats. Tel: 6512-1761

Yellow Stone

The French restaurant's chef marinates beef ribs kalbi style, in finely chopped apple, pear and honey, for 24 hours, before slow cooking for 3 hours. The beef absorbs all the fragrance from the marinade, and is sure to wow customers with its rice flavors and soft, pleasant tasting sensation. Tel: 6481-7000

Best teppanyaki

Cherry Pavilion

Chef Zhu Shicai, from Shanghai, brings back new concepts after working for 20 years in Japan. His cooking team combines good foodstuffs with simple but arty presentation. Teppanyaki goose liver is frozen to the right extent and melts in the mouth. Flambe beef fillet imported from New Zealand is another specialty. Tel: 8446-4077

Uama

This restaurant has done its bit to bring down teppanyaki set meal prices in the capital city. For 128 yuan ($18.70) at lunch, and 158 yuan at dinner, one has up to 100 options on the menu, and unlimited flow. That includes sashimi, suhui and salads, besides seafood and meat prepared in front of you, Atlantic ice fish, oyster, foie gras, sirloin and rack of lamb. Tel: 8587-1377

Best brown braised pork chops

Private Room

Braised pork chop is a classic Chinese dish, but it is often considered a bit too greasy. Chef Luo Yaocai, from Hong Kong, uses abalone, braised with the pork belly chops, along with morel mushrooms, to bring new life to the dish. The restaurant is one of the best Cantonese restaurants in Beijing in terms of general food quality. Japanese pastry chef Kiyoshi Utsumi's desserts are creative winners. Tel: 8567-1118

Zang Su

The restaurant at Houhai does a good job of recreating classic Chinese foods in a modern fashion. It uses rice wine sauce to give a nice flavor to its brown-braised pork chop with abalone. Tel: 8328-6766