BEIJING - Boiled cabbage with mustard sauce gave Stephen Harper a genuine taste of Beijing on Thursday.

Harper dropped in for lunch to One Bowl Home, a famous restaurant in southern Beijing's Fengtai district. It is renowned for traditional noodles and snacks. In culinary terms it could even be described as super bowl.

Harper sat with his wife, Laureen, and Mark Rowswell, a Canadian entertainer who speaks fluent Mandarin and is the Canada-China Goodwill Ambassador.

Signature dishes were comprehensively explained by waitress Jiang Lanying who has worked at the Bowl for six years.

Initial concerns that the mustard sauce might be a tad overpowering were soon allayed, Rowswell said.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen arrive for lunch at a Beijing restaurant on Thursday. Chris Wattie / Reuters