This casual crab house and bar is the first in Beijing to offer a big variety of American-style crab dishes. Crabs, from Alaskan king to Australian snow crab to English bread crab, are held in a big blue tank by the entrance for diners to pick, and no matter which dish you choose, the execution is just right, whether it is the tender and fresh crab salad, the hearty crab cake, or any of the other seafood dishes.

The entrance to this modern, industrial-chic restaurant may be hard to find, but if you and your friends are looking to try some traditional and not-so-traditional Chinese dishes, it might be worth the search. Yue serves Chinese-based fusion cuisine, ranging from standard Sichuan and Hunan-style dishes such as hot and sour chicken feet (deboned) and Chinese yams with blueberries, to reinvented classics such as wasabi-infused “miracle” shrimp balls.

As a celebrity chef who has traveled the world for his more than two decade long TV show “Yan Can Cook,” Martin Yan knows there’s nothing more fun than food. He’s brought that very notion to Beijing’s latest restaurant, which features an open and interactive kitchen, internationally inspired Asian dishes and decorations styled after the Dunhuang murals and Chinese mountainscapes.

This casual and professionally staffed grill, located in the Wangfujing Crowne Plaza, does not beat around the bush: it is a full-blooded steak house. The menu features certified Angus beef, grain fed beef, and Australian Wagyu beef in a variety of cuts, all of which are cooked to order and served with your choice of steak knife and salt (including Australian lake salt, sea salt, rock salt, Himalayan salt, Sichuan chili pepper salt, and fennel and thyme salt).

This posh sushi bar within the 1949 courtyard complex was formerly the Sugar Bar dessert cafe. Chef Martin’s five years in Japan show in his expertly carved sashimi and carefully prepared sushi rolls.