Over the past decade, Beijing has undergone an amazing culinary revolution. During this period, restaurants representing every regional cuisine have opened in the city, offering dishes ranging from the exotic minority specialties of Yunnan and Guizhou, the spicy foods of Sichuan, the little known, but refined Tan Family-style of cooking to the new and popular contemporary Chinese cuisine.

Venues run from chic up-market eateries to courtyard houses with al fresco dining to hole-in-the-wall little eateries which lurk inside the few remaining hutongs. And the best part is that you can sample all of China's rich culinary heritage without ever having to leave the capital.

Here are 10 of my favourite places to dine in Beijing.

1. Dali

There are three reasons to dine at Dali. First, the fantastic food of Yunnan is served here with a bit of a south-east Asian twist. Second, the restaurant is located in a laid-back courtyard house. Third, a set menu of delightful dishes can be had for just RMB100 (£7) per person. Cold appetisers may include exotic flavoured ox liver mushrooms or pan-fried goat's cheese. Hot dishes are deep-fried crispy prawns and butterflied tilapia fish in lemon grass grilled to perfection and served with a savoury dipping sauce. Flowers are common Yunnan cuisine, and one example at Dali is jasmine flowers stir-fried with scrambled eggs. The set menu changes frequently and more expensive options are available.

· 67 Xiaojingchang Hutong, Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District; +86 10 8404 1430

2. Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung's xiao longbao have long been praised by food fanatics as the best steamed buns in the world. They are packed with minced pork and a stock jelly that makes the filling juicy, wrapped in a light wheat-flour skin, then cooked in a bamboo steamer. Cairou zhengjiao, steamed dumplings filled with baby bok choy, minced pork and a small amount of lard, is another favourite. Leave some room for melt-in-the-mouth dousha bao, or sweet red bean paste stuffed in tiny and almost transparent buns.

· 6/F, Shin Kong Place, 87 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District; +86 10 6533 1536. 24 Xinyuan Xili Zhongjie, Chaoyang District; +86 10 6462 4502

3. Duck de Chine (Peking Duck)

There are so many duck restaurants in town that choosing one can be tricky. The answer is the newly opened Duck de Chine. The father-and-son chef team, who actually hail from Hong Kong, decided that their air-blown Peking duck would be roasted in a fruit-tree open fire for 30 minutes longer than usual to finish off the excess duck fat. The flavourful roasted duck is then sliced to precisely fill two plates. It comes served with wrapping pancakes and baked hollowed sesame bread for stuffing with duck, and slivered scallions, cucumber strips and sweet wheaten paste sauce - the restaurant's own recipe. It's reasonably priced at RMB188 (£14) for a whole duck, including pancakes and bread.

· Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District; +86 10 6501 8881

4. Jun Qin Hua

Jun Qin Hua, a crammed hole-in-the-wall with plastic tablecloths and haphazard decorations, may be the city's best bet for the sour and spicy fish soup (suantang yu) of the Miao people. This dish includes a whole fish, either catfish or grass carp, cooked in a fermented tomato-based broth along with pickled cabbage, bean curd, and soybean sprouts. Another spectacular dish is chili potato (zaola tudou pian), thinly sliced potatoes with crispy edges covered with fiery-red fermented chillies and scallions.

· 88 Meishuguan Houjie, Dongcheng District; +86 10 6404 7600

5. Guo Yao Xiao Ju

One of the most reputable - albeit least known - restaurants in Beijing, Guo Yao Xiao Ju specialises in nearly extinct Tan cuisine, a style of cooking developed by a scholar-official in the Tang dynasty. It's said to have been saved from a premature death by the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Fit for an emperor fish maw soup (nongtang yudu), prepared with pure chicken-duck-ham stock, is rich but delicate, made with strips of maw, the fish swim bladder, which has a wonderful texture that absorbs the soup. You can order a la carte meals at very reasonable prices, while set Tanjia banquets can run to hundreds of renminbi per person. It's rare to find such high quality dining at such inexpensive prices.

· 58 Jiaodaokou Bei Santiao, Andingmennei, Dongcheng District; +86 10 6403 1940

6. Long Yuan Tang

Set in a lovely old house, the rooms are decorated with ethnic costumes and the ornate silver worn by the Zhuang minority of the Guangxi Autonomous Region. The restaurant serves Zhuang specialties, such as sour pickled bamboo shoots, suansun chao roupian, pickled bamboo shoots stir-fried with pork fillet, and suanjiang chao ziya, sauteed pickled ginger with duck meat. Some of these may be acquired tastes, but they are worth trying.

· 6 Xiang'er Hutong, Dongsi Bei Dajie, Dongcheng District; +86 108404 9502

7. My Humble House

My Humble House has three basic criteria that set it apart from other dining venues in the city: innovative neo-classic Chinese dishes, artful ambience, and elegant dining amenities. The passion can be seen in the beautiful presentation of every dish. The beef salad (rulao niuliu xiancai shala) is made with tender pan-seared beef fillet accompanied with fresh green salad placed in a thin cheese basket and xueyu shao, cujiao sai pangxie is baked cod fish served with caramelised dark vinegar. The coconut ice cream - with whole almonds served on squares of almond tofu, kiwis, mangoes, and peaches - is just one example of the creative desserts on the menu. Expect to pay around RMB500 (£37) dinner for two, but totally worth it.

· 2/F Club House, 19 Central China, 89 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District; +86 10 6530 7770. W307 Oriental Plaza, 1 Dong Changan Jie, Dongcheng District; +86 10 8518 8811

8. Shin Yeh

Since opening its first Beijing branch in 2005, Shin Yeh has grown into a large empire focusing on refined Taiwanese cuisine. The Japanese influenced menu offers many seafood dishes, including deep-fried cuttlefish balls; tianbula, fish-cake cut into strips stir-fried with celery; and five-flavoured squid (wuxiang youyu), blanched squid served with five-flavoured dipping sauce. Popular non-seafood dishes include the three-cup bullfrog or chicken and scrambled eggs with salted turnip, a simple but excellent dish that Shin Yeh's kitchen does well. A meal for two is between RMB250 and RMB350 (£18.50-£26).

· 6 Gongti Xilu, Chaoyang District; +86 10 6552 5066

9. Wuyutai Neifu Cai

This is the latest addition to the lantern-lined street of restaurants known as Ghost Street. Wuyutai Neifu Cai offers 26 dishes that use tea or tea leaves in the process of cooking - some dishes are even paired with different types of tea, much as wines are paired with different foods. Sweet and sour spareribs (mizhi liangzhai pai) are paired with a glass of liu'an guapian, or Anhui green tea, to maximise the taste of the meat. Jinzhong cha jiuxiang furou, one square piece of braised belly pork, is a variation of the popular dongpo rou dish that was invented in Hangzhou. The meat is simmered in vintage rice wine, soy sauce and crystal sugar till it reaches a melt-in-your-mouth consistency, and it is then served in a steamed petit golden pumpkin. Don't forget to order Family Wu buckwheat noodles (wuji kuqiao mian), reminiscent of dandan noodles, but better tasting than what you'll find in many Sichuan restaurants. Average price per dish is less than RMB50 (£3.70).

· 144 Dongzhimennei Dajie, Dongcheng District; +86 10 6401 2238

10. Yuxiang Renjia

Tasty, old-fashioned Sichuan fare in a somewhat rustic environment and at very reasonable prices. Some of the "must try" classic dishes are pock-marked Chen bean curd spiced with Sichuan numbing peppercorn (mapo doufu); Kong Pao chicken (gongbao ji), a sweet-and-sour flavour with a chilli kick and the tingle of peppercorn; and fish-fragrant eggplant (yuiang qieqi), which actually contains no fish, but just a subtle mix of sweet, pungent and spicy flavours from a combination of famed chilli bean paste, garlic and ginger.

· 5/F Union Plaza, 20 Chaowai Dajie; +86 10 6588 3841

· Beijing Eats by Eileen Wen Mooney, which includes more than 100 of the best Chinese restaurants in the capital, will be published by Immersion Guides in August