Rare Courtyard Restaurant Steeped in Chinese

Grand testaments to Beijing's central place in Chinese history can be found all over town, in palaces, temples and imperial parks. But it can be a challenge to find places to get a smaller-scale, more personal sense of people and places from the capital's past.

To get exactly that kind of a feel is one good reason to head to Gui Gongfu, a beautiful restaurant in Dongcheng District steeped in two of China's treasures: its remarkably rich history; and its tea culture. A worthy second reason is the fantastic food.

Occupying an impressively large and sprawling courtyard house or siheyuan, and distinguished as the former residence of two empresses from the late Qing Dynasty, the compound as it stands today is surprisingly only one tenth of its original size.

It was first home to the Empress Dowager Cixi before she was married. After she ascended to the throne, she turned it over to her brother Gui Xiang, whose surname inspired the restaurant's moniker. Later, Gui Xiang's second daughter was married to Cixi's nephew, Guangxu, the second-to-last emperor of China.

Even with, or perhaps because of this impressive history, for decades it was neglected and underused, some parts serving as a kindergarten, other parts falling into a sorry state of disrepair.

Recently, a local company received permission to occupy and renovate the courtyard. Great care was taken to preserve the structure, including several ancient trees in the yards, while transforming it into a modern business. Those painstaking efforts are evident in every corner of this beautiful restaurant, which opened earlier this spring.

The theme of many of the restaurant's creative dishes is tea; tea is a key ingredient or dishes are otherwise imbued with tea fragrance. The kitchen also deserves credit for its artful presentations. A mildly tart, crunchy starter of vegetable rolls in shuangkou shucaijuan comes out looking like a cluster of little flowers, the colours of thin strips of carrot, radish and turnip contrasting with wrappers of deep green spinach.

Perhaps the best example of Gui Gongfu's artful touch is a dish called "Lu Yu Brews Tea", named for an ancient poet known as a great connoisseur of the beverage. The dish is served on a long platter, with a small porcelain sculpture of Lu Yu at one end anxiously looking across at a teapot suspended over an edible "fire". The fire portion is made of strips of tender roasted beef in a smoky, dark sauce meant to represent logs, laced with whole dried red chilies portraying flames and fried leaves of black oolong tea in the place of coals.

Another treat that makes use of tea's subtle smokiness is the wulong paigu, pork ribs cooked meltingly tender in a delectable, savory sauce and served atop baby corn.

Diners who like it hot should try the xiaoyao jicuigu, a variation on Sichuan-style spicy chicken. Here, chunks of rich leg meat are flash-fried, so they are crisp yet juicy, and then quickly stir-fried again in a mountain of fragrant dried chilies. The results are hot, but addictively delicious.

Vegetable options show just as much culinary mastery and artful inspiration. Try the velvety eggplant specialty qie xiang, small chunks of eggplant cooked soft and topped with an assortment of nuts and seeds in a recipe taken from the classic Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Mansion. The chaxiang zhusheng qilin features a winning mix of textures and flavors from layers of bamboo shoots, mushroom, pumpkin, and other colorful ingredients served on a bed of crisp asparagus.

While outside the restaurant construction cranes, trucks and other loud markers of Beijing's development drive continue their ceaseless labours, all such modern concerns are easily forgotten inside the tasteful and tranquil main dining area.

Of note are Gui Gongfu's future prospects, as plans call for making the rooms around the second courtyard a sophisticated tea house and one building in the front a welcoming bar. More reasons to come back to this excellent establishment.

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For reservations call +86 10 6512-7667.

The average cost per diner for a full meal is around 90 yuan.

How to get there:

No. 11 Fanjiayuan Hutong
East from Chaoyangmen Nanxiaojie
Dongcheng District