You queue up and get your portion of rice and a type of stew that appears to include potatoes.
Life for Beijing's migrant workers is pretty basic at the best of times and these men are willing to leave family and home villages to earn money they could never make from subsistence agriculture.
Today they've been joined by a detachment of China's army, the PLA. When we ask the guide what their role is, we're told they are helping with security plans, but they look like construction workers to me.
The men are working on the showpiece for the Olympic Games, the National Stadium, also called the Bird's Nest because of its branch and twig type design. It was meant to have a retractable roof but that was dropped when the costs overran. Designed by a Swiss architect working with a Chinese designer, it has not been without its critics, mainly on the grounds of cost, and the huge amount of steel involved.
Not far away is another daring building, the National Aquatic Centre, also called the Water Cube. Its façade is a membrane that replicates the natural formation of bubbles, and is based on research carried out by two Irish physicists. Apparently it will allow a great deal of natural light into the centre. The model for both buildings look spectacular and Dermot Henihan, Chef de Mission of the Irish Olympic team, is very impressed.
He seems less impressed with the performance of Irish athletes in the run up to the Games.
'The reality of the situation is that in 2007 only one Irish athlete stood on a podium for a medal in an Olympic sport' he says. That was a silver medal in clay pigeon shooting.
So far 25 athletes have qualified, 14 of them (12 track and field, one swimmer and one boxer) in an individual capacity. There are another 11 qualified positions which will involve selection, in canoe slalom, cycling, rowing, sailing and shooting.
Henihan expects more qualifiers as some events don't complete rankings or qualification procedures until next June.
However he says: 'The sad part of it is that we are not actually getting what we are predicting. There has been so much investment by the Sports Council, but at the end of the day the performance side needs examination. We're dependent on the Sports council and the Federations to have the teams right and ready.'
There is obviously some expectation management going on here. After previous Olympics there have been rows and reviews of Ireland's performance. This time its looks like it could be happening nine months in advance.
