Beijing Takes Five of Asia's Top 10 Restaurants in Daily Meal Rankings

Seems Beijing is a pretty good place to eat, at least according to The Daily Meal and its ranking of 101 Best Restaurant in Asia.

Five out of the list's top 10 went to Beijing restaurants, and overall, 21 capital eateries made the 101.

Duck de Chine placed second overall and top among Beijing restaurants. Green T. House placed third overall on The Daily Meal rankings, the only one of their top 10 that received no accolades at The Beijinger's 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards in March. That was followed closely by our Restaurant Awards top award winner, TRB (Temple Restaurant Beijing). Capital M was fifth, and Dali Courtyard in seventh, were the other top 10 entries from Beijing. First overall on the list was Din Tai Fung in Taipei. That's ok; we have branches of that here in Beijing, too.

The middle of the list contains some regular Reader Award favorites, including Da Dong Roast Duck and Hatsune. Here's the full list of Beijing restaurants and their rankings:

2. Duck de Chine
3. Green T. House
4. TRB (Temple Restaurant Beijing)
5. Capital M
7. Dali Courtyard
13. Susu
14. Da Dong Roast Duck
16. Bellagio
40. Southern Barbarian
44. Alameda
49. Noodle Loft
56. Liqun Roast Duck
67. Transit
72. Hatsune
81. Brian McKenna @ The Courtyard
87. My Humble House
89. Man Fu Lou
92. Three Guizhou Men
96. Bao Yuan Jiaozi Wu
98. Jia 21 Hao
99. Karaiya Spice House

Beijing was also well-represented on panelists that produced the list. Eileen Wen Mooney, former dining columnist at the Beijinger, Jim Boyce of Beijing Boyce, and New Jersey native Sarah Ting-Ting Hou all served on the 20-member panel, along with The Daily Meal's editorial staff.

"Migas is at the top of my list. There is no other restaurant that is combining creativity and quality like they are. And, you can experience all of that at lunch for less than RMB 100," said Boyce, who had not yet seen the list but expressed surprise at Migas's absence.

"I'm happy to see that Beijing restaurants are getting more recognition on the international stage. It shows that things here are growing and changing," said Hou, who also had a suggested for Daily Meal staff next time around. "Spend some time double-checking and Googling. Just because a restaurant was on Anthony Bourdain's show doesn't mean it's still open."

Like every such ranking, the ratings are both subjective and questionable. Could Susu, a Vietnamese restaurant, be better than Da Dong Roast Duck, one of Beijing's finest duck places, in its home city? Does Bellagio really deserve to be number 16, ahead of, say, The Courtyard at number 81? Let us know in with your comments below, or start a new discussion in our forum.

Photo: elite-concepts.com.