Pear soup may sound odd to Western ears, but the hot sweet nectar, served from a huge urn, offers rejuvenating warmth as the evenings get cooler. Pears also appear elsewhere on the menu of this small but charming restaurant named after their signature soup. Try the sweet combo of breaded shrimp served with battered and deep-fried pear balls, a pear salad with cucumber, red cabbage and peanuts, and a weirdly addictive "cheese fish" (a soft cheese mold) that may or may not be pear-infused - by dessert-time we could happily taste pear in everything. - Mike Peters

Hepingli Branch, 20 meters south from the Coal Plaza, Building 18, Block 14, Hepingli Dongjie, Chaoyang district,Beijing. 010-5109-9868