Beijing Li Family Imperial Restaurant

The most unique characteristic about Li Family Restaurant is that you are not allowed to order food there; on the contrary, you eat what they cook for you. Even though, there are still many people who compete to reserve a table weeks earlier. Another unique feature is that they only serve food at dinner. Plus, there is only one table every day. And for this dinner, the whole family of Li has to prepare from the early morning to the afternoon. The food they serve is imperial food. You may wonder why they need such a long time to prepare a dish. In fact, they don’t just prepare one dish. In Li Family Restaurant, dishes are in packages. There are almost 20 packages and each package has from 18 to 22 dishes, the price each package ranges from 200 to 2000 Yuan.

Founded by Professor Li Shanlin, Li Family Restaurant is located in the small Yangfang Hutong. In 1984, the second daughter of Li Shanlin called Lili, took part in a Banquet Contest on National Day. In 2 hours, Lili made 14 dishes by herself and she won the champion. Since then, the Li family got many calls and letters every day that encouraged them to open a restaurant. In April 1985, making use of the recipes handed down from his great-grandfather, once a senior courtier in the Security Office in Qing Dynasty, Li Shanlin opened Li Family Restaurant, only to serve one table at dinner every day.

Professor Li loves to communicate with foreign guests with his fluent English. Many famous dignities and celebrities have come to eat at Li Family Restaurant. Among them, President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister John Major, Bill Gates, and Jackie Chan all spoke highly of Li Family dishes.