With days to go till Sunday's Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional time for family reunions, most long-established restaurants in Beijing have already reported full bookings for family banquets, according to a China News Service report on Thursday.
This year restaurants near rivers and lakes are most preferred since these are ideal places to enjoy the full moon while having dinner. Restaurants near Beihai Park, Shichahai, the Summer Palace and Yuyuantan Park, all with natural or artificial lakes, are fully booked out.
Hongbinlou Restaurant, famous for Muslim food and with a history of 152 years, has designed two sets of "nutritious banquet" for the festival, at prices of 1,200 yuan (US$148) and 1,600 yuan (US$197), which have passed the appraisal of nutritionists and received advanced orders. All their private dining rooms are reserved, according to the restaurant.
Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park, established by imperial cooks in 1925, is offering a special table d'hote of imperial cuisine and selected dishes from the Complete Manchu-Han Banquet ranging from 200 yuan (US$24) to 1,000 yuan (US$123) per person. The restaurant's director Yu said they were fully booked by the beginning of August.
The Complete Manchu-Han Banquet is considered by some to be the best representative of a perfect combination of food, nutrition, health, art, aesthetics, culture and etiquette. It combines different flavors from south and north China and the best dishes from both Manchu and Han peoples.
To add a festive atmosphere on the night, the Shichahai branch of Kaorouji, established in 1848 and famous for Muslim food and roast duck, will prepare a "Lake Cruise, Boat Barbecue" program, one boat for eight to ten customers at a cost of 388-488 yuan (US$48-60) per person, according to vice general manager Jia Feiyue of the Jude Huatian Holding Company.
Kaorouji is one of the tens of restaurants affiliated to Beijing Jude Huatian Holding Company that all said 80 percent of rooms had been reserved.
Meanwhile, many restaurants will offer discounts. The parent restaurant of Kaorouyuan, which features roast and Beijing delicacies, will give customers a dish of roast mutton for every 100 yuan spent and present ten bargain-price courses on the day of the festival.
Youyishun, catering to Muslim tastes, will serve dishes with a 20 percent discount with free moon cakes to each table.
In addition, Hongbinlou, Kaorouyuan, Kaorouji, Tongheju restaurants will also sell made-on-the-spot moon cakes with different fillings.
(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, September 16, 2005)
