Best Beijing Restaurant for Beijing Imperial Cuisine – Najia Xiaoguan Restaurant (那家小馆)

Najia Xiaoguan Restaurant (那家小馆) is a good place for typical Beijing Imperial cuisine where the story goes that the descendant of a Qing emperor’s doctor opened this Beijing restaurant based on instructions in an imperial cookbook. We went to the branch located at 798 Art District after we took a morning stroll around the art district. Since they didn’t allow us to order just half the Peking Duck, we decided just to order 1 Peking Duck (RMB268) and 2 other vegetable dishes (I quite like the Spinach with Sesame Sauce).

The Peking Duck was different from the one we had at Xi He Ya Ju (click post here), we both agreed that we preferred the Xi He Ya Ju’s  one better. This one here wasn’t bad, but instead of separating the skin and the meat, they just sliced them altogether. Nonetheless, it’s still a good place to try other Beijing Imperial dishes if you have more people to share, as they have quite a few great unique dishes on the menu. However, we couldn’t be too greedy and waste too much food just for the 2 of us. Perhaps another time then…. maybe….

If you want to try some Beijing Imperial dishes, do check out their signature dishes like Huang Tanzi (皇坛子), a thick, meaty soup slow-cooked for at least 18 hours, or the more typical Manchu dishes such as the appetizer known as Baqi Qiezi (八旗茄子a.k.a. eight banner eggplant) and Qiezi Men Huangdou (茄子燜黃豆 ), braised soybean and eggplant. So, have you tried Beijing Imperial cuisine before? Or tell my which is your favourite Beijing restaurant.

We couldn’t get enough of Peking Duck

The full set of Peking Duck

Green Salad (那家拌菜)

Spinach with Sesame Sauce (麻酱菠菜)

Inside the restaurant

The branch at 798 Art District