Summer Palace

Verdict: A serious Cantonese kitchen inside the tourist corridor — and worth the detour

The common assumption is that you come to Beijing for Peking duck and hutong noodles, not Cantonese cooking. Summer Palace challenges that directly. Under chef Liu Ching Ha, this is one of the few places in Beijing where Cantonese technique — clean stocks, precise heat control, restrained seasoning, is executed at a level that earns repeat recognition from Opinionated About Dining, which ranked it #295 in Asia in 2024 and #335 in 2025, with a Highly Recommended citation in 2023. That consistent presence on a rankings list dominated by Hong Kong and Guangzhou kitchens tells you something about the kitchen's seriousness.

What the kitchen actually does well

Cantonese cuisine rewards technical discipline more than almost any other Chinese tradition. The goal is to make ingredients taste more like themselves, not to layer or complicate. That means the kitchen at Summer Palace is being judged on fundamentals: stock clarity, wok technique, ingredient quality, timing. The OAD rankings, tracked over three consecutive years, suggest chef Liu Ching Ha is consistently meeting those standards in a city where Cantonese cooking has historically been a secondary consideration. For the explorer-type diner who wants to map regional variation across a trip through China, eating serious Cantonese in Beijing, rather than waiting for Hong Kong, is a genuinely useful data point. For comparison, Forum in Hong Kong and Le Palais in Taipei represent the upper tier of Cantonese fine dining in the wider region; Summer Palace sits in conversation with that category, not outside it.

The space and setting

Summer Palace is located in Haidian District, which puts it in the northwestern part of the city, closer to the actual Summer Palace imperial park than to the central hotel and dining corridors of Chaoyang or Dongcheng. The address in Haidian signals a venue that isn't purely positioned for foreign visitors or expense-account hotel dining. Plan travel time from central Beijing accordingly, Haidian is accessible but a meaningful distance from most visitor hotels.

Booking and practical logistics

Booking difficulty is rated Easy, which is a genuine advantage for spontaneous planners or visitors building an itinerary on short notice. Phone and website details are not currently listed in Pearl's records, so the most reliable approach is to contact the venue directly through your hotel concierge or via the address in Haidian District. Price range data is not available in our records, contact ahead to confirm current menu pricing, particularly if you're planning around a budget or a formal occasion. For broader context on where to eat and stay in the city, see our full Beijing restaurants guide, our full Beijing hotels guide, and our full Beijing bars guide.

How it sits within Beijing's Chinese restaurant tier

Beijing has strong representation in regional Chinese cooking beyond its own northern traditions. Fu Chun Ju, Lei Garden (Jinbao Tower), and Zijin Mansion all operate in overlapping fine-dining territory. The Beijing Kitchen (Jianguo Road) and The House of Dynasties offer different regional angles worth considering for a multi-night dining itinerary. If you're building a regional Cantonese comparison trip across China, Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou, Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing, and Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau are the logical comparators in the same quality tier. Elsewhere in mainland China, 102 House in Shanghai, Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu, and Ru Yuan in Hangzhou each represent strong regional alternatives for the food-focused traveller. For experiences and wineries beyond the table, see our full Beijing experiences guide and our full Beijing wineries guide.

Bottom line

Book Summer Palace if you want technically grounded Cantonese cooking in Beijing and you're willing to travel to Haidian District to get it. The OAD recognition across three consecutive years is the clearest signal that this kitchen is working at a different level than most of its Beijing peers in the same tradition. Booking is easy, which removes the main friction point. Confirm pricing directly before you go.