Relaxed Italian fare in bustling Wan Chai

Barbecue or bust

One can start the day there by planting some vegetables with your children, to give them some farming experience. That can be followed or replaced by vegetable picking, which right now includes lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers and beans.

You can ask to see the farm's pigs, chickens and goats - plus deer, ostriches and turkeys. Then you can cook on grass in a sheltered space. The farm has both electric and charcoal grill stands, where you can cook lamb kebabs, tendons, gristle, chicken hearts, chicken giblets, aubergine and green bell peppers.

The barbecue costs 120 yuan per head. Hot pot is available for lunch, too.

If you go:

In & Out

1/F, northeast side of Tun Sanli Yongli International Plaza, 21 Gongti Beilu (Road), Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5801-0086.

Garden Court

1/F, St. Regis Beijing, 21 Jian'guomenwai Dajie (Street), Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6460-6688 Ext 2340.

DoubleTree, Hilton Beijing

168 Guang'anmenwai Dajie (Street), Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6338-1999 Ext 1628.

Aka Farm

Nanbai Lu (Road), Baishan township, Changping district, Beijing. Contact Zhang Wanhong, 136-8114-1731.