Guide to meals

Beijing is a city with hidden culinary delights waiting to be discovered by adventurous diners. Yet in the face of the sprawling capital, food connoisseurs might be baffled about where to start due to local flavors wafting on every street corner. Sometimes, you have to loiter around the whole city to get your appetite fix for different cuisines, local, inter-provincial or foreign.
Yet there is one easy way to dive into the heart of Beijing's myriad of flavors - and it will only set you back two yuan. Some buses happen to travel along routes that abound with traditional Chinese food restaurants. Bus No.22 is one of them.
Each day it carries people not only going to work, but also going to tackle their appetite. It might look and sound like any other city bus with its horn blaring as cyclists and pedestrians dodge out of its way, but it's also your ticket to some of Beijing's heartiest fare. Here is a preview of the menu offered along the route, which begins in Mudanyuan in the city's north, before snaking down in an L-shape toward Tiananmen Square:
Xinchuan Cold Noodle Restaurant: 
Not too sweet and not too greasy, nothing quite beats the summer heat like a dish of cold noodles. Despite attracting a large crowd at lunch, this restaurant is worth the visit. Noodles are served with your choice of sauce, such as sesame or spicy hot paste. Beside the main attraction of noodles, popular side dishes include vinegar-pepper cucumbers and spicy Chinese leaves.
Bus stop: Xinjiekou
Address: 14 Xinjiekou Nandajie, Xicheng District
Tel: 8328-0452
Opening hours: 6 am - 10 pm.
Average price: 20 yuan per person
Huguosi Snack Shop:
This restaurant not only enjoys hundreds of years of history, but retains its time-honored flavors of famous dishes. Here you'll find all kinds of Beijing snacks, including seasoned millet mush, snowballing usury, douzhi (a sour, fermented drink made from ground beans,) jiaoquan (crispy fried dough rings,) fried sugar cakes and almond bean curd. Reasonably priced and a favorite among locals, the restaurant does a roaring trade during breakfast hours. However, bear in mind that outsiders to Beijing might need a cast-iron stomach to get used to some of the snacks, douzhi in particular.
Bus stop: Huguosi
Address: 68 Huguosi Dajie, Xicheng District
Tel: 6618-1705
Opening hours: 5:30 am - 9 pm
Average price: 20 yuan per person
Luzhu Restaurant:
What this restaurant lacks in size it makes up for with customer satisfaction. Luzhu (a salty, baked wheat cake) is the restaurant's signature dish. Although there are other traditional foods served at the restaurant, many customers come primarily for the classic cake.
Bus stop: Pinganli
Address: South entrance to Pinganli Lukou, 21 Xisi Beidajie, Xicheng District
Opening hours: 5:30 am - 9 pm
Average price: 30 yuan per person
Huatian Yanji Cold Noodle Restaurant:
Like its culinary counterpart the Xinchuan Cold Noodle Restaurant, the Huatian Yanji Restaurant is equally famous for its cold noodles. In fact, many customers contend that the latter's noodles are more authentic. Apples, pickles and lean beef infuse the noodles (served in soup) with zest.
Bus stop: Xisi
Address: North entrance to Fuyou Jie, Xicheng District
Opening hours: 10 am - 9 pm
Average price: 20 yuan per person
Xiangfei Roast Chicken Restaurant:
For decades, this restaurant has built its reputation and customer base of loyal diners on its crispy roast chicken. The ambiance is akin to a Western restaurant, but the flavors are unmistakably Chinese. Apart from the roast chicken dish, the crispy sesame seed cake and soups here are also popular.
Bus stop: Xidan
Address: 2 Xidan Heng Ertiao, Xicheng District 
Tel: 6608-8676
Opening hours: 10:30 am - 8:30 pm
Average price: 20 yuan per person