Things to do during Spring Festival in Beijing

Sunshine Kitchen

The Chinese, especially the Cantonese, believe long-simmered soups with natural ingredients can help boost our health.

Such soups are believed to be nutritious, easily digested and the perfect anecdote for Beijing's dry, cold winters.

Sunshine Kitchen is a reasonably priced Cantonese restaurant offering soups simmered with natural and original flavors for four hours. The soups are boiled with purified water, and the soups contain no additives- not even salt. But tables are topped with saltshakers for those who want to add a dash to their broths. More than 10 soup varieties are available from 12 yuan a bowl.

East of Jinbao Dasha, 21 Jinbao Jie, Dongcheng district. 50 m east of C exit, Dengshikou subway station. 6528-2121.

Lotus Thai

Lotus Thai's four Beijing branches provide tasty Thai food in very different settings.

The eatery near the ice rink at the China World Shopping Mall has become a canteen for many people working in the building

Its authentic Thai flavors, along with a beautiful Thai-styled yard and attentive service, have attracted quite a few frequenters.

Classic dishes include Tom Yung Kung, a fresh prawn soup that combines sour, spicy, sweet, salty and fragrant flavors. Curry crab, curry chicken, seafood salad, and steamed sea bass with lemon and chili are some other popular choices.

11am-9:30pm. 8518-6391. B1 Oriental Plaza, 1 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district; 5/F, Twin Towers, B12 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Yong'anli, Chaoyang district. 5109-6089; B115 China Central Place, 87 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang district; NB201, B2, China World Shopping Mall, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang district. 6505-5386.

The Royal Restaurant

The Royal Restaurant proffers an imperial dinner fit for the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors in a beautiful two-floor villa on Shichahai Lake's west bank.

In private rooms featuring traditional Chinese furniture and antiques, a server clad in a Qing Dynasty minister's robe deciphers for diners the mysteries of ancient Chinese imperial cuisine, narrating the stories behind the dishes.

This winter, the restaurant offers a special hotpot and grilled dinner, based on written records of a grand feast to which the Emperor Qianlong treated 1,000 officials in 1785. The imperial chefs used these two cooking methods to keep catering for such a large crowd simple and scrumptious.

10am-10pm. Reservation required. Near Xinjiekou Beidajie, 48 Xihai Nanyan, Xicheng district. 8328-4099.