Lunch in the Forbidden City

China Bingjiao Restaurant in the Forbidden City is crowded but the service is fast and professional, the tables, chairs, floors, and walls are all clean.

Reader Trinh Hang (over 40 years old, Hanoi) and her daughter went to China in early June. She shared her experiences during the trip with VnExpress .

Once the most secretive and heavily guarded area throughout the history of many Chinese dynasties, the Forbidden City now welcomes millions of visitors every year. You can even have lunch right in the Forbidden City for only 150,000 VND.

The Forbidden City is located in the heart of Beijing, the capital of China, and is a famous symbol of China. It is recognized by UNESCO and is respected worldwide for its cultural and historical values.

To visit the Forbidden City, you need to prepare good health and patience, endurance. This is one of the largest palaces in the world, far exceeding the area of ​​the Kremlin (Russia) and Buckingham (England). All vehicles must stop quite far from the entrance, so visitors need to walk at least 1 km from the parking lot to the ticket counter, then walk hundreds of meters from the ticket counter to the main gate.

To visit the entire Forbidden City, even fast travelers need 4-5 hours and walk many kilometers. Some people visit all day. Every day, tens of thousands of visitors come here and you will have to queue up many steps to get to the door. Most visitors need to eat and drink during their visit to this giant structure. There are also many free, modern and clean toilets.

Outdoor tables of Bingjiao restaurant.

Although it is a place of strict security, the Forbidden City allows visitors to bring food and drinks inside, and there are a series of restaurants with different prices right on the premises. Most palaces, castles and historical sites in the world that we have visited do not allow this, both to protect the relics and to ensure the hygiene of the places visited.

After a morning of visiting the palace, we stopped at Bingjiao - a rather simple restaurant, making use of the former ice cellar of the Forbidden City. The restaurant's humble sign is placed right on the ground, using the red of the city walls as the main color so as not to disrupt the overall landscape. The outdoor and indoor areas have dozens of tables and chairs, all of which are full of customers. If the weather is nice, you can dine in the outdoor area while enjoying the view. Bingjiao's interior is a cool-toned Western style, reminiscent of the former ice cellar, including white chandeliers that create a luxurious, comfortable feeling.

In the restaurant, you can visit the Royal Ice and Food Storage, which still has its underground basement and 2 meter thick stone walls that are more than 300 years old. Built during the Qing Dynasty and serving the needs of only a very small number of people, the ice cellar now welcomes hundreds of visitors for meals every day.

Ice cellar and 2 m thick stone walls.

Bingjiao is crowded but the service is quite fast and professional. All tables, chairs, floors, and walls are clean, without any stains or dirt. Guests enjoy their meals in comfort and quiet, not as noisy as other crowded restaurants.

Bingjiao's menu is traditional dishes such as rice, noodles, and cakes. Since it is designed for international guests from different cultures, the menu has a reasonable mix of Eastern and Western elements. We ordered a beef stew noodle set and a mushroom noodle set, both served with eggs, vegetables, and salad with Western-style dressing.

Noodles are a familiar dish to us, but back home we have never tasted the combination of braised pork and noodles like here. Unexpectedly, the dish brought about a special taste effect. The braised beef was tender with white radish, full of spices but not greasy, served with light noodles and lightly blanched vegetables. The broth was clear and had an attractive brown color, rich but not harsh. Lunch with two sets of noodles in the heart of China's most famous cultural heritage cost a total of 104 yuan, equivalent to 343,000 VND.

The next day, when we went to the National Museum of China (also in Tiananmen Square), we learned that this is China's "national dish". Braised pork noodles are modeled and displayed solemnly in a room of the museum, showing the position of the dish in the lives of the Chinese people. That is probably also the reason why in the Forbidden City, they introduced this dish - an effective way to satisfy the eating needs of tourists, at the same time showing off Chinese culinary art to visitors from all over the world, at a quite affordable price.

The Forbidden City has been open to visitors for nearly 100 years. During peak months (April to the end of October), the palace is open from 8:30 to 17:00, with an entrance fee of 60RMB. During the remaining months, it is open from 8:30 to 16:30, with an entrance fee of 40RMB. It is closed every Monday. Visitors need to book tickets at least one day in advance. For more information about the exhibitions inside the Forbidden City, visitors can refer to the official website.

To visit the Forbidden City, you can take the subway Line 1 with a ticket price of 3 RMB (about 10,000 VND) to Tian'anmen Dong (E) Station or take a bus or taxi to Meridian Gate (Wu men). Like most other monuments in China, the Forbidden City is protected by multiple layers of security. Visitors are required to present identification, have their photos and faces taken, and have their bags screened. It is recommended to bring a small amount of luggage.

If you have more time and energy, you can combine walking to visit many surrounding places such as the National Museum of China, Monument to the People's Heroes, and Wangfujing Street.

Trinh Hang

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