Best Restaurants in China
 

We're traveling to China in mid-September. Looking for suggestions for the best restaurants in Beijing, Xian, Guilan, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Thanks!!

Define best.

Good question. We're 3 women in early 60's. On person is probably not that adventurous. Would love some less touristy places yet we speak no Chinese. Would mix expensive and less. Looking for good food and fun experiences.

I never found the language barrier too high, but I was mostly eating in small local places, or even on the street - I've found street food safe in China. A few times I went into the kitchen and pointed at ingredients and wound up with excellent stir fries. In the big eastern cities and posher restaurants you're likely to find some English these days. Take a good phrase book with characters, write down the characters for dishes you especially like (or at least things like chicken, stir fry), or try pointing at what others are eating.

For Hong Kong look for Cicerone's threads here.

For Peking Duck, I was very pleased with DaDong in Beijing. it was more expensive (and more upscale) than most of the restaurants I went to in China, but less expensive than I expect in a comparable restaurant in the U.S.

For information about foods and restaurants in China, I found Frommer's guide book invaluable -- descriptions of local specialties in English with the names in both pinyin and Chinese characters, so I could work with wait staff to order what I wanted.