The Imitation Cuisine Dining Hall in Beihai Park, a famous Beijing old-fashioned dining hall, is characterized by its imitation of imperial food from the Qing Dynasty Palace, which has a history of 80 years.

Beijing was the capital of the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and over the centuries, the imperial meals enjoyed by the emperors of each dynasty were kept secret, making them difficult for the public to see.

Republic of China thirteen years (1924), the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City, the palace of the imperial chef also immediately out of the palace, to the private sector to develop their own.

Republic of China fourteen years (1925), the original in the imperial kitchen vegetable library when the Zhao Runzhai, with his son and five or six chefs in the north bank of Beihai Park, east of the Five Dragon Pavilion, rented five bungalows, opened a teahouse named "imitation food".

They were originally the special status of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Chef, specializing in imitation of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Cuisine, production and operation of a variety of traditional pastries, snacks and flavors of the Qing Dynasty Palace dishes.

The imitation restaurant was small in scale, but it was the first time that the Qing Dynasty palace flavors were shown outside the Forbidden City, which aroused great interest among customers.

Beihai, as a forbidden part of the royal palaces of the emperors of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, was not opened to the public as a park for the first time until 10 years after the abdication of the Qing Emperor, in 1922, the eleventh year of the Republic of China (R.O.C.). The opening of the Imitation Cuisine Tea House provided good conditions for people to enjoy the royal gardens and savor the emperor's food. Therefore, the imitation of meals on the opening of the customers, unusually hot.

Imitation of meals produced by the meal, from the flavor of snacks to the later introduction of the "Manchu Manchu feast", are a unified combination of color and flavor, all show the former Royal style. Such as the classic traditional snacks, minced pork biscuits, small nest, pea butter, kidney bean rolls, etc., whether it is the material, workmanship, or taste are excellent, and behind each dish, there is a section of the legend of the court story.

Take Xiaowuwuotou for example, the legend says that when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing in 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi fled westward in a hurry with Emperor Guangxu. When she was tired and hungry, a commoner gave her a small nest, a sweet and savory nest that she had never eaten before. When she returned to Beijing, she ordered the imperial kitchen to make it for her.

The Imperial Kitchen thought of Cixi's special status, it will be cornmeal grinding extra fine, done, after tasting, by the Empress Dowager joy. Later for the Palace Imperial top quality, but also become a "fasting" when eating a sweet.

In 1956, the Chinese government held in celebration of the seventh anniversary of the founding of the National Day reception, the imitation of the 4,000 small food restaurant on the national banquet, by Chinese and foreign guests praised.

The minced pork baklava made by the Imitation Cuisine also has a legend related to Empress Dowager Cixi. Said Empress Dowager Cixi one night when she went to sleep may be a little hungry, dreaming of eating minced pork baklava, I did not expect the next day meal on the table with soft and tender minced pork baklava, Cixi was very happy, ordered to reward the person who made the cake.

Snacks pea yellow, kidney bean roll "into the Palace", but also with Empress Dowager Cixi. Legend has it that the Empress Dowager Cixi like to rest in the North Sea on the north shore of the Jingxinzhai cool, Jingxinzhai and the northern wall of the Imperial City is only separated by a wall, the Imperial City outside the Shichahai Lotus Market was bustling in Beijing at the time.

One day, the Empress Dowager Cixi listened to the sound of gongs outside the Imperial City, it turned out to be the sale of peas and peas, kidney bean rolls hawking, Cixi let him call him in, tasted his peas and peas and kidney bean rolls, very much like it, then he stayed in the palace imperial food room.

Imitation of meals in addition to the operation of tea, snacks, but also some of the traditional fried dishes in the Qing Palace. These dishes are distinctive, fragrant and refreshing.

such as "slippery chicken breast" is also the Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite dish in her later years. This dish is made, the main material chicken breast white color, decorated with a few green peas, fragrant and elegant, soft and not greasy taste.

"Dragon spitting beads" is made of black sea cucumber in the shape of a swimming dragon, and quail eggs are as round as beads, which is a vivid and gorgeous modeling.

Sea red shark's fin, grilled venison, pregnant guppy, toad abalone, goldfish, duck's paw, fried sliced fish, pipa prawns, sea cucumber's trotters and so on also have their own specialties.

The dishes will be crowned with "dragon", "phoenix" in the name, is also a major feature of the Palace Imperial Cuisine." Dragon and phoenix", "dragon and phoenix enjoy the moon", "dragon spit pearl", "two dragons play pearl", "grilled dragon beard mushroom", "phoenix lying snow", "phoenix on the nest", "phoenix fish maw", "phoenix prawns" and other famous dishes, all of which reveal the imperial meals of yesteryear, the fine work, nobility and elegance.

Imitation of meals in the dishes, the choice of auspicious, as expected, fortune, fortune, life, happiness and other words to do the name of the dish, but also reflects the characteristics of the Palace Imperial meals, such as "rivers and mountains for generations", "Hong Fu Wan Nian," "as expected bamboo shoots," and so on.

During the Republic of China period, the "Manchurian banquet", which was very popular in the society, was also a reserved dish of the imitation cuisine.

The "full Manchu banquet" of the imitation cuisine had 108 dishes, with "32 treasures" as the raw materials, including "mountain eight treasures" (such as camel's hump, bear's paw, monkey's head, scarlet lip, leopard's fetus, rhinoceros tail, deer's tendon, etc.), "sea eight treasures" (such as bird's nest, shark's fin, large ginseng, fish maw, fish bone, abalone, etc.), "poultry eight treasures" (such as red swallows, flying dragons, quails, swans, etc.), "grass eight treasures" (such as monkey head mushrooms, fungus, bamboo shoots, donkey's nest fungus, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom, mushroom and so on). , bamboo shoots, donkey's nest mushrooms, morel mushrooms, flower mushrooms, etc.).

Cooking techniques on the convergence of the traditional Manchu barbecue and Han Chinese stew, stewing, frying, boiling, frying and other culinary techniques, the whole table, including hot dishes, cold meat and a variety of snacks, fruits, divided into three days and six meals to be on all.

In the late Republic of China, the imperial chef of the imitation food business, some left, some died, the palace flavor characteristics gradually fade.

After the liberation, the operation and development of the imitation meals by the government's attention. 1956 imitation meals from private to state-run, in order to maintain and promote the traditional characteristics of the Palace flavor, imitation meals and deliberately looking for and invited back to the Qing officials in the Imperial Catering Room in charge of the chef of the five masters, and let a break for many years of the development of the Palace flavor dishes.

In 1959, the restaurant moved from the north shore of the North Sea to the Ripple Hall complex on the north side of Qionghua Island. Eleven new large and small banquet halls with imitation Qing decoration were opened, expanding the scale of the restaurant.

Today's imitation meal, consisting of three courtyards, *** has 15 large and small dining rooms for 500 people to dine at the same time. The dining room all to dragon and phoenix motifs, large painted palace lamps and other palace decorations, furnishings simple, elegant and solemn, highlighting the characteristics of the palace.