When it comes to meat, the folks at the Westin Chaoyang’s Grange do not mess around. Despite eye-popping prices, the restaurant has managed to build a loyal following. The reason is simple: you really do get what you pay for. One City Weekend web user called it “one of the best meals I’ve had in my life.”

So how do you go about making one of the best even better? If you’re Grange chef de cuisine David Mitford and his team, the answer is straightforward: just add cow. The new “tomahawk” steak (¥988), presumably so-named for its ability to smash your GI tract to smithereens, weighs in at 1.2 kilograms. And this steak is actually the baby of the newcomers. The “tomahawk cowboy” (¥1,288) tips the scales at 1.8 kilos.

Pushing aside thoughts of starving orphans, we dug in. The verdict? It’s the most tender, gastronomically pleasing two and a half pounds of meat you’ll find anywhere in Beijing. Pair one steak with a few smaller dishes and it’s easily enough for you and an ample-stomached friend. Nor have those smaller dishes been neglected in the menu revamp. Oysters have been bumped from promotion to permanent menu item (we tried the ninigret, loch fyne and fine de claire; ¥45, ¥65, and ¥75 per oyster, respectively). A friend from Hiroshima—Japan’s oyster capital—called them “oyster all-stars,” and said they “couldn’t get any better.” A new beef spring roll dish (¥85) deftly fuses East and West, with a light, crispy outer shell, and a touch of maple on the inside for sweetness. The steak, however, remains the star. Caveat dieters.

DETAILS

What: Grange

Where: 2/F, The Westin Beijing Chaoyang, 7 North Dongsanhuan Road, 东三环北路7号, 金茂北京威斯汀大饭店

Tel: 5922-8880