Where to eat and drink in China
From trips across the country, Harbin in the ice to Lhasa on the roof to Guangzhou at the table. Google Maps does not work there, so this list is memory and notebooks.
Last checked · 9 places
Harbin Ice and Snow World
Else · Harbin, Songbei, across the Songhua River · China · Peak adult ticket about ¥330; VIP up to ¥988
Order: Go at four in the afternoon so you see it in daylight and then lit; wear everything you own
The ice park on the north bank of the Songhua, the biggest of its kind anywhere, built again every December from blocks cut out of the river and gone by the end of February. Ice palaces you walk into, slides the length of a street, and minus thirty that my photographs do not convey. The 2026 to 2027 season should open in the third week of December. Tickets on the day are fine outside Chinese New Year.
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Huamei Western Restaurant
Eat · Harbin, Zhongyang Street, the pedestrian street · China · ¥¥
Order: The borscht, the beef stroganoff, and a window table on the second floor
Russian food on Zhongyang Street since 1925, from the years when Harbin was more Russian than Chinese, counted as one of the four old Western restaurants of China. The second floor is done up like the Kremlin and the window seats look down on the street, which in snow is the reason to come. The food is nostalgic rather than great and the reviews say so. I still go, because nothing else in Harbin tells that story at a table.
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Potala Palace
Else · Lhasa, Beijing Middle Road, above the old town · China · About ¥200 in season; timed entry
Order: Book the slot two or three days ahead through your hotel, and go on your second or third day in Lhasa, not your first
The winter palace of the Dalai Lamas on Red Hill, thirteen storeys, a thousand odd steps, at 3,700 metres. Daily visitors are capped at around 2,300 and the ticket gives you an hour inside the halls, which is shorter than it sounds and longer than your lungs want. Eat a light breakfast, walk slowly, leave the afternoon free. Nothing else I have seen in China is like it.
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Makye Ame
Eat · Lhasa, southeast corner of Barkhor Street · China · ¥¥
Order: The yak with radish pickle in chapati, the grilled mushrooms and the yoghurt cake, on the roof if it is open
The yellow three storey house on the corner of the Barkhor, three hundred years old, said to have been where the sixth Dalai Lama went drinking and met the girl in his poems, and painted yellow because of it. A restaurant since 1997, Tibetan food done for visitors but done properly, and the roof looks straight down the pilgrim circuit. Touristy and worth it, which is a sentence I rarely write.
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Old Jesse
Eat · Shanghai, Tianping Road, Xuhui · China · ¥¥
Order: The red braised pork, the scallion fish head, and the crab roe rice at the end
The original Jesse at 41 Tianping Road, a cramped lane house over two floors that started the whole Xin Jishi chain and is still the one to go to. Red braised pork the colour of lacquer, fish head buried in scallions, a sizzling pot of rice with crab roe stirred through. Seats are tight, you need a booking, and the service is brisk to the point of rude. If I get one Shanghainese meal in the city this is it.
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Speak Low
Drink · Shanghai, Fuxing Middle Road, behind the OCHO bar shop · China · ¥¥¥
Order: Ask for the second floor; the ground floor is for people who found the door by accident
Shingo Gokan's bar at 579 Fuxing Middle Road, entered through a working bar supply shop, then a door, then floors that get quieter and more expensive as you climb. On the 50 Best lists since 2016. Classics and house drinks lower down, rare spirits and private rooms above. Book for the upper floors; on a weekend without a reservation you will be standing in the shop, as I have.
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Tao Tao Ju
Eat · Guangzhou, Dishifu Road, Liwan · China · ¥
Order: Morning tea before nine: the shrimp dumplings, the char siu bao, and a pot of whatever tea the floor captain suggests
Dim sum on Dishifu Road since 1880, in the old Xiguan quarter, Lingnan building and all. Open from half past six in the morning until midnight, walk in only for morning tea, and the queue between eight and eleven is the real Guangzhou. The har gow are the thing, thin skinned and properly filled. There are branches all over the city now; this is the one I go to.
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Bingsheng Mansion
Eat · Guangzhou, Xiancun Road, Tianhe · China · ¥¥¥
Order: The double boiled soups, the hand made dim sum at lunch, and the black sesame sweet soup to finish
The grander of the Bingsheng rooms, a main hall and thirty odd private rooms on Xiancun Road, with a Michelin star in the 2026 Guangzhou guide. Refined Cantonese cooking, fish maw and ginseng soups, dim sum that is made rather than steamed out of a box. Guangzhou eats better than anywhere in China and this is where I take people when it needs to dress up.
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Pop Land
Else · Beijing, inside Chaoyang Park · China · Ticket about ¥200 to ¥300 by season
Order: Go in the afternoon, stay for the drone show on a weekend night, and do it with a guide who can skip you past the queues
Pop Mart's park inside Chaoyang Park, open since September 2023 and doubled in size in 2026, 40,000 square metres of Molly's castle, Labubu's forest, a Dimoo dessert boat on the lake and shops you will not leave empty handed. No rides. It is a place to walk, photograph and buy, and it is very good at being that. I did it as a private tour with Princess Jenna, through her work, which for a park like this is the way.
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