As the year draws to a close, we took a moment to reflect on what's made the news in Beijing's dining scene this year. As with any other year in Beijing, 2011 was a year of openings, closings, award-giving ... with a healthy dose of scandal thrown in. Here are just a few of the stories that made the headlines in Beijing dining in 2011.

Food scandals
They never stop, and this year was a "classic" year for dodgy foodstuffs. From glow-in-the-dark pork to recycled oil, exploding watermelons to fears over the bags of duck tourists take home to the family, in 2011 it often seemed as if nothing was safe to eat. For a taster, check out the posts here, here, here, and here.

Pizza
Gung Ho! made good on their threat to conquer the pizza delivery business, opening a second branch in Lido and planning further expansion in 2012. If you want proof of Gung Ho!'s triumph, put it this way: Almost all of us know somebody who has uttered the statement: "Yeah, like I don't really like Gung Ho!'s pizza, you know, but I just love the delivery guys/pink bikes/sense that I am ordering something totally cool." If that isn't genius, I don't know what is. Gung Ho! had a great year, but ultimately the year in pizza was Kro's Nest's. The king of the comeback saw his Xiaoyun Lu branch become an instant hit (mostly because the pizza was actually better than at the Gongti branch), was able to open a Sanlitun branch by autumn, and rounded off the year by coming out on top in our hugely popular Pizza Cup - where Kro's beat Gung Ho! in the final. This contest is only just beginning - it could turn messy in 2012.

Home Plate BBQ
A favorite from the minute it opened, Home Plate turned a little-known delivery operation into one of the runaway hits of the year. If 2011 was a food item, it'd be a pulled pork sandwich.

Commercial developments (or lack thereof)
Today's unsightly hole in the ground is tomorrow's dining paradise. OK, that sentence may only be true if your favorite restaurants are wearisomely predictable shopping mall favorites like Aijisen, Beard Papa and Yoshinoya, but in Beijing this year we anticipated some exciting restaurants opening in projects like Parkview Green (Dongdaqiao Lu), Swire's Indigo (near to 798 art district.) and Tun San Li (opposite north gate of Workers' Stadium). Unfortunately, as the year closes, none of the above are open yet - Tun San Li is now entering its sixth year as a construction site. No such excuses at Sanlitun Soho, which despite honorable exceptions like Moment Cafe, Green Bites and Ssam, has disappointed as a dining destination. Sanlitun Soho really must do better in 2012 - the good venues there deserve better. One success was the opening of Shimao Department Store, which has at least one great restaurant (Nanjing Impression), and brings Sanlitun a much-needed boost in terms of Chinese dining options.

Stars
More Michelin-star visits than ever before, Yannick Alleno's S.T.A.Y, Alice Waters cooking for some celebrities, and the August visit of god of gastronomic experementation, Ferran Adria - all these proved that Beijing is on the radar of the great and good of the culinary world. And we almost forgot Nobu. but at times we seemed to be the only ones who did.

Deliveries
2011 was the year we decided to stay at home. But this is Beijing, where almost nobody can cook for themselves. Delivery services exploded this year, saving us the need to ever learn how to boil dried pasta. There were the delivery specialists like Jinshisong.com (and recently launched Sherpa's) who connected bike-less restaurants with our homes. There were the likes of Gung Ho! and Obentos, with their shiny bikes and shinier teeth. There was Nola's Brandon Trowbridge, giving us first homemade granola and later cookies, both deliverable. But most of all there were all the cake and dessert delivery companies: Divina, Sweet Tooth, Pie House, Homaroma ... the list goes on.

Restaurant Awards

Finally, we'll just blow our own trumpet a little, if we didn't think our own Reader Restaurant Awards weren't one of the big stories of the year, there'd be no point doing them. Maison Boulud, Modo, Capital M and Da Dong were among the big winners, but in our 2011 awards our readers recognized restaurants Chinese and non-Chinese, high-end and less higher-end, new and old, big, small and everything in between. See the results in full here.

Of course, Beijing wouldn't be Beijing if restaurants weren't constantly going under. In 2011, we said goodbye to a number of venues (some of which also opened in 2011). Some will be missed, some will not at all be missed, but they all deserve a moment of your time. Click on the above video and take a minute to reflect on how fickle the restaurant industry can be here - next year, it could be your favorite restaurant.

In Memoriam (and no particular order)
Za'atar
Hegel's Bagel
L'isola
Waffleboy
W Dine and Wine
Tonton and Tata
Unconditional Love Coffee
Bambu BBQ
Bananafish
Big Boss
Yo Good
Mexican Wave
American Cafe
Obama Fried Chicken/UFO
Casa Latina
River Club
Cafe Europa
Blu Lobster
Swensen's

That's just a few of the things that have been going on in 2011 - what have been your favorite places or restaurant-related trends and stories in 2011? Leave a comment below to get it off your chest.