I haven’t quite gotten over the fact that my first meal in Beijing was at a McDonalds. On our first day Dad and I were up at the crack of dawn thanks to Jetlag. So we went out foraging for food. Unfortunately, the early opening restaurant recommended by Fodor’s was nowhere to be found. Cue Mac Donald’s. Sigh… a Big breakfast definitely not in the plan.

Thankfully, our other book, the Insiders Guide to Beijing, led us to Jin Ding Xuan, a Cantonese chain that specializes in Dim Sum. The location we went to was a 24- hour golden four-story palace of Dim Sum. Did I mention the neon sign advertising the fact that it is open 24 hours? Just in case the fact that the entire place is painted a golden yellow is not enough. It doesn't feel like a chain in the same way US restaurants do. At least to the foreign eye.

We never made it past the first dining area, where high rosewood tables invite you to sit and indulge in a little bit of gluttony. While it doesn’t have the carts, you can order from the menu and waiters bring the food to you.

All the standards were there but better. We started out with delicious chuk (rice porridge with preserved duck eggs) that was so good it didn't need soy sauce. It was more sublty flavorful that rice porridge has any right to be. The Haggao (shrimp dumplings) were one and a half times as big as those in the US. The siu mai were topped with lobster. The Chinese brocoli was delightfully bitter and crisp. But best of all, the baos (pork buns) were delicious and missing that slight aftertaste I’ve come to accept elsewhere.

We spent well below $10 a person, even after you account for extreme gluttony. A deal so good for such great food we went there once more. If I had had my way we would have also gone before heading out to the airport. But that probably would not have gone over well with my overly-anxious-about-getting-to-the-airport father.

Overall a great restaurant with a wide variety of food, cheaply priced, and with hours agreeable to jet lagged tourists trying to make it to the sights at opening.