Cpeals

A Bite of Beijing, According to Your Big Red Friends …
Home Plate Bar-B-Que
Scuffed floors, stacks of applewood, a brick smoker designed by the owners, and country tunes (think Johnny Cash and honkytonk) set the stage for a meal of down-home barbecue from the American South.
The menu – continuously updated on chalkboards – features classics like pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, served on buns
topped with sauce that starts mellow and sweet and finishes with a lazy-lingering spice. But what will amaze your mouth is the
tenderness of the meat. Smoked for 10 hours, the pulled pork offers a moist, juicy bite that even the most toothless hillbilly
could chew his way through.
Location
35 Xiaoyun Lu courtyard (from Dongsanhuan Beilu, head 20m north of Xiaoyun Lu intersection and take the first right)。
Chaoyang District。Daily 11am-10pm ☏ 5128 5584
Cpeals
It used to be that fresh oysters were an indulgent and rare treat in Beijing. The capital’s landlocked state and the costs of
international shipping made for prohibitive prices on shellfish, especially for those of us used to US$1 oyster happy hours.
Happily, fans of the bivalve have Cpearl to serve them.
Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night, there’s live music, mostly jazz standards and covers, performed by singer Ellen
Cao.
Location
14-2 Shunyuanli, Xinyuan Jie
☏ 5724-5886
Geba Geba
From the owner and chef of Meishiya Hashiba comes a new restaurant serving contemporary Japanese cuisine in a simple
but elegant setting. Customers start out with an appetizer prepared exclusive for their table and they can also choose to sit at
the sushi bar to watch an authentic Japanese chef prepare their meal. The avocado tuna roll is not your standard sushi roll.
Made with fresh slices of tuna, savory unagi, and a subtle hint of mint, it is sure to invigorate the taste buds. Those who prefer
the lighter fare can try their generously portioned salmon sashimi and their zaru udon. For dessert, try their hand-made red
bean mochi and taro pudding combo. Sake, plum wine, and other traditional Japanese drinks.
Location
23 Guandongdian Beijie Chaoyang District
Daily 11.30am-2pm, 5.30-11pm
☏ 6592 4305
Yotsuba
Yotsuba is a veritable sushi heaven in Beijing, with seafood flown in daily from the Tsukiji market in Tokyo to ensure the requisite
freshness. For a full-on sushi experience, park yourself at the counter where the chef does his stuff right in front of you. You
can watch as he runs his knife through the fish of your choice. And then, almost faster than the eye can follow, the bite-size
squares of rice topped with fish are on a plate in front of you.
Location
39 Maizidian Xijie, Chaoyang district
Daily 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-10pm
☏ 6467 1837
Pyongyang Flower Restaurant
Pyongyang Flower Restaurant is one of the higher-end choices for North Korean cuisine in the city. it’s the basic staples that
really shine here. The complimentary kimchi is bursting with pickled radish and crunchy bean sprouts and the tteokbokki (spicy
rice cake) is also excellent. Try the less traditional sweet version – the cylinders are filled with a sweet, red bean paste. The ol’
faithful, bibimbap, was not too spicy and served cool rather than in a sizzling stone pot.
Location
2nd floor of Kuntai Mall, 12 Chaoyangmenwai Street, Chaoyang district Daily 10:00am-10pm ☏ 85612925
Red Rose
This is the best Xinjiang restaurant in the city. The classic repertoire includes roast leg of mutton; stewed mutton
over nang (naan) in a rich, flavourful tomato sauce; delicious mutton-on-skewers, a wonderful pilaf rice; hand-pulled noodles
and mutton-filled baked bread. The all-Xinjiang staff are charming in their embroidered outfits and headscarves and the
restaurant’s location in the heart of Beijing.
Location
7 lane, 1st Happiness Village Sanlitun chaoyang district
Daily 11:00am -0:00am ☏ 64155741
Qiye Qingtang Nan
Qiye Qingtang Nan is serving up southern flavours – clear broth and brisket – with a style befitting its chic, up-and-coming west
Sanlitun hood. In a space previously occupied by a nondescript hole-in- the-wall, Qiye has ditched the vinyl-topped card tables
and soot-caked walls in exchange for warmly varnished hardwood, whitewashed lofted beams and faux-vintage posters from
1970s Hong Kong action films. Despite the narrow dimensions, a clever array of hanging light fixtures and a huge skylight in
the rear give it the airy lightness of a much larger, more open space. The Hong Kong film posters and English-language radio
cement the impression that a slice of that far southern island has crossed the border and made it all the way to the capital. The
menu is simple and another obvious product of Hong Kong influence.
Location
7-9 Sitiao Hutong, 14-230 Xinzhong Jie, Chaoyang district Daily 11am-midnight ☏ 6416 1512
King’s Joy
For most restaurants in the city, simply providing a place to sit and something to eat is about the extent of their ambition. Not
so at King’s Joy, which provides not just excellent food, but a message of good health and environmental awareness. The food
here is not shy of flavour, and many vegetables come from nearby, cooperating organic farms – though, admittedly, some
harder-to-find ones come from faraway Yunnan.
Sit outside and breathe in the mist that rises from the ground to mix with the scent of incense floating over from the nearby
Lama Temple – you could almost be eating on a mythical mountaintop. As the PRC suffers from a decline of quality in Chinese
cuisine and a seemingly never-ending rash of food scandal headlines, the arrival of King’s Joy, arguably Beijing’s best
vegetarian restaurant, couldn’t have come at a better time.
Location
2 Wudaoying Hutong, Yonghegong Dongcheng District
Daily 10am-10pm
☏ 8404 9191
Opera Bombana
Opera Bombana tells you everything you need to know as you sink into a cream-coloured chair in his accessible new digs; a
spacious arrangement of glass, brick and dark brown wood. It’s a lot to take in, with private rooms and an original Monet
upstairs, a wine cellar and bar on the first level, and an outdoor space for pre-meal cocktails. At Bombana, the only Italian chef
to win three Michelin stars outside of Italy, surprised us all when he set up his own restaurant in town. Surprised, and delighted.
Location
LG2-21 Parkview Green Fangcaodi, 9 Dongdaqiao Lu, Chaoyang district
Daily midday-10.30pm
☏ 5690 7177