A few weeks ago we compared the results of the Beijinger’s Reader Restaurant Awards and those of City Weekend. All very well, but what about the locals? What do real Beijinger’s rate as the capital’s best restaurants? We took a look at Dianping, the most popular Chinese-language restaurant listings site in China, to see how our readers’ views compared with the views of locals.
The Beijinger's survey selected one winner and two runners-up; Dianping has a Top 30 list in every category, supposedly based solely on user reviews and updated daily (a few ratings actually changed in the time it took to write this post). In order to make a comparison, we just picked the top three in each Dianping section.
As we dug into the Dianping site, however, a few of their rating seemed a little… odd. A place called Forward, for example, is rated Beijing’s best Sichuan, yet no one in our office, foreign or local, had heard of this place and it only has 73 reviews, which for Dianping is a tiny number. We don’t want to suggest that other factors might be at play here, but… judge for yourself.
Duck
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Dadong (best), Quan Ju De, Duck de Chine (outstanding)
Dianping: Dadong (Jinbao Jie), Dadong (Nanxincang), Quan Ju De (Tsinghua University)
Analysis: The one thing Beijinger readers and Dianping users agree on is duck, but then the number of restaurants serving authentic Peking duck in Beijing is small, so perhaps agreement is not so surprising.
Japanese
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Hatsune (best); Matsuko (outstanding), Tairyo Teppanyaki (outstanding)
Dianping: Fortune Cuisine, Sakura, Shota Muni
Analysis: It seems locals probably prefer Japanese restaurants inside a hotel or complex. And, they like sushi.
Sichuan
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: South Beauty (best); Chuan Ban (outstanding), Spice Spirit (Mala Youhuo) (outstanding)
Dianping: Forward (inside Landgent Center, Shuangjing Bridge), Meizhou Dongpo (Daxing District), Yazhou Yingxiang Sichuan Restaurant (Fangzhuang)
Analysis: Has anyone ever heard of Forward? Or has anyone ever been to Daxing? If nothing else perhaps this shows Dianping users are spread around the city to a much grater degree than Beijinger readers.
Dim Sum (Cantonese)
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Jin Ding Xuan (best); Crystal Jade (outstanding), Lei Garden (outstanding)
Dianping: Lei Garden, Ming Yuan (inside Grand Hotel Beijing), Jin Yue (Xizhimen)
Analysis: While this category didn’t see total agreement, at least Lei Garden is on both lists. It seems Cantonese food lovers on Dianping have deep pockets – the average cost per person at Ming Yuan and Jin Yue are RMB 632 and RMB 479 respectively, according to the site.
Service
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Maison Boulud (best), SALT (outstanding), Haidilao Hot Pot (outstanding)
Dianping: Haidilao (Shijingshan District), Haloing the Past (Nanluogu Xiang), Xiangcao Xiangcao Yunnan Yuanshengtai Huoguo (Vanilla Vanilla Yuannan Organic Hot Pot)
Analysis: It seems that you have a better chance of getting good service in a hot pot restaurant.
Restaurant of the Year (Chinese)
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Da Dong (best); Made in China (outstanding), Grand Hyatt Beijing (outstanding), Haidilao Hot Pot (outstanding), Din Tai Fung (outstanding)
Restaurant of the Year (Non-Chinese)
Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Maison Boulud (best); Mosto (outstanding), SALT (outstanding).
Dianping’s best restaurants: Café de Sofa, Xunxian Collagen Hot Pot, Haloing the Past, Haidilao Hot Pot (Shijingshan District), Maison Boulud a Pekin, Fortune Cuisine
Analysis: We can’t compare these ranking directly, but it’s interesting to see Maison Boulud is rated highly by users of Dianping and Beijinger readers. As for the rest of Dianping’s top three – “speechless” best describes our reaction.
I really am curious how Dianping evaluates this.
My guess is it's just a random little list that Dianping does every week to encourage new business slash their clients while only showing public's opinions in categories there is no clients of theirs.
For example, restaurant Forward only has 73 reviews and it's the best Sichuan restaurant in Beijing while fellow Chuanban has about 10,000 reviews, not to mention there are restaurants having more reviews than Chuanban.
Are you talking about this place?
http://www.dianping.com/shop/3489652#ur
According to this it's on the 3rd floor of building B.
I didn't even realise the buildings were open beyond that little courtyard area.
There is a nice malaxiangguo place next to the Shabi-Shabi there now.
Mid range, you can see everything before it gets malaxiangguo-inized and it's all super clean.
interesting.. my comparison a few months back had slightly different results.
http://beijingdaze.com/general/2010/03/17/the-beijinger-2010-restaurant-awards-from-dianping/
@admin La Cascina is/was pretty good! One of the better pizza in Beijing according to many "picky" Italian friends. Haven't been there in a while but it's definitely worth a visit.
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There's also a little Italian eatery in China Central Place called La Cascina that is rated as the Best Italian
http://www.dianping.com/shop/2651593
It's ok but the best italian? I call b.s. on that.
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Quote:Dianping: Forward (inside Landgent Center, Shuangjing Bridge), Meizhou Dongpo (Daxing District), Yazhou Yingxiang Sichuan Restaurant (Fangzhuang)
Analysis: Has anyone ever heard of Forward? Or has anyone ever been to Daxing? If nothing else perhaps this shows Dianping users are spread around the city to a much grater degree than Beijinger readers.
I live next to this complex. I eat at the Langent Center at least once a week, and not only have I never eaten at Forward, I've never even seen it. Where the hell is it?
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