Fusion - Olio

Olio’s clean lines and open, inviting seating arrangement advertise a streamlined, relaxed dining experience. This design ethic extends even to the attractive appearance of the menu, whose contents skip nimbly across countries and regions. Upon first glance such a dizzyingly diverse variety of dishes and flavors looks ... Read more »

Fusion - Amigo

Bottom line: Amigo is a relaxing comfortable environment with good, fresh food, but it’s the wines that will keep us coming back. Inside, its soothing colors and soft chairs provide an ideal venue to sample a bottle or two. The wine list is overwhelming, with a huge ... Read more »

Fashionable, Wallet-Friendly Pho

Pho Lemon’s first foray into Beijing embodies the brand’s Hong Kong upbringing, capably meeting the upscale design, ambiance and service expectations of any China Central Place shopper. Bebel Gilberto’s smooth bossa accompanies attentive–but not pushy–servers in the Alice in Wonderland-esque setting of ... Read more »

The Apple Falls

Nearby the Tree is a two-storey complex with a Tree-like bar on the first floor and an un-Tree-like bistro on the second with stylish decor, alluring couches and a whole new menu. This newbie strikes a different chord, serving up pasta instead of The Tree’s ... Read more »

Worth Its Salt

Combining the talents of Gaby Alves (ex-owner/manager of Alameda) with Chef Daniel Urdaneta (formerly of Garden of Delights), makes SALT one of this year’s most anticipated restaurants. The modern, bright dining area houses an open kitchen with a row of stools for those who like ... Read more »

Lounging Towards Perfection

When a restaurant lists the calorie content of its food on the menu, provides hairstyling products in its bathroom, and asks how “vogue” it is on its customer survey, it’s a sure bet that there’s now yet another restaurant stalking Beijing’s moneyed swish set ... Read more »

Hawking Dragon Ale

The Drunken Master’s mantra in his move from global megastar to pushing joe is “Chinese coffee for Chinese people.” Best we can tell, this means aping Starbucks, but with more photos of Jackie Chan. As far as imitations go though, this isn’t too bad a ... Read more »

Olek Borelli, Italy: Marketing Manager, FoneVillage

I like Apertivo in Sanlitun. I’m Italian. All my friends are there eventually. It's a meeting point for us. The environment there is great too. It’s casual. You know, there are all kinds of crowds there. Professionals, regulars, everything. The best ... Read more »

Food courts have come a long way, and actress Gao Yuanyuan has taken the concept to the next level with her new Guizhou restaurant, Honey Honey. Sure it’s in a mall and decorated with stuff from Ikea, but the place is cozy, sporting silver drapes and purple velvet chairs ... Read more »

Awana, with a sister restaurant in London, adds a bit of Malaysian charm to the massive neon placards that have come to define Nuren Jie. In a city where well-made drinks are hard to come by, their Dato’s special (¥40), a frothy blend of fruit juices (and a splash ... Read more »

Foodies, rejoice! Beijing now has a Chinese restaurant that is emphatically “destination dining.” Shanghai’s Whampoa Club has long had critics salivating and now the chef has come north, setting up shop in one of the few siheyuans left on Financial Street. Restaurateur Jereme Leung is intent on reinventing local ... Read more »

It seems Americans always like to have more: more fun, more excitement, more food and more atmosphere. So it makes perfect sense that Tim Hilbert of Tim's Texas BBQ fame should open another venue to keep expat Yanks entertained. Décor wise there are more stirrups, saddles and cowboy hats ... Read more »

That restaurateur Cho is good at what he does is irrefutable. His new restaurant, Sambal Urban, features the same dishes as Café Sambal, like the Vietnamese roll (¥25) paired with an authentic and delectable peanut sauce, the subtle yet impressive rojak (¥40), the succulent and perfectly marinated satay chicken (¥50 ... Read more »

“It’s the best Italian food I have had in Beijing” we were told by one Italian who was willing to put his honor on the line for this restaurant, and on our first visit to La Fattoria we were pleasantly surprised that we agreed.

La Fattoria is the second ... Read more »

The highly-anticipated reincarnation of the old Sanlitun favorite is immediately inviting, with its great view, crème-colored stucco walls, burnt red accents and massive candelabras. The curved, floor to ceiling glass wine case is stunning, and overall it seemed as though Med had successfully made the transition from cozy restaurant to ... Read more »

This cozy little coffee shop serves up a small selection of espresso drinks, basic cocktails, homemade pastries and gelato from Gustomenta and despite Ikea furnishings, it feels mom'n'pop. There's no air conditioning, but the place is comfortable, the perfect respite from the two hot spots it sits ... Read more »

Anyone who has held a copy of the Makan Sutra in their hands knows that if Singaporeans like it, it must be good. With this in mind, we were curious to see if Crystal Jade, a chain restaurant with outlets scattered throughout Asia, could bring its health conscious modern cuisine ... Read more »

“This place must have multiple

menu disorder,” mumbled my

dining companion as we clumsily

leafed through a profusion

of paper. For the indecisive,

Wasabi Ya is your dream come

true－or your worst nightmare.

Euphemistically calling itself

a “fusion” restaurant, it serves

up German, Italian and Japanese

fare. That’s ... Read more »

Good things are hard to find and

Haiqing Heyan, tucked away in a small

hutong, is worth the effort. There are

only four rooms－themed flower, bird,

fish and insect－and the chef steps up

to the Teppanyaki plate dressed to a

tee. Although they recommend the set

meals (RMB388-2088 ... Read more »

High-ceilings, leather chairs and

high prices characterize this extravagant

experience in European

dining. Dazzling white floors lead

into a sleek, well-stocked bar

and an expansive indoor dining

area, all arranged around a small

stage that features Tahitian dancing

(complete with grass skirts

and coconut bras) on weekends,

When there’s ... Read more »

Anticipations have been high for restaurateur Alan Wong’s latest creation, Haiku, and it was clear from the start that we were in not just for dinner, but for an experience. Waitresses wrapped in white glide through the five dining areas decorated in light oak and white, while black-clad sushi ... Read more »

Offering family dining in a formal setting, Euro Diner is a welcome addition to Shunyi. Part of a chain of restaurants running from New York to Beijing, Euro Diner offers a menu sampling the best of European cuisine. A non-smoking environment and playhouse on the first floor keep the kiddies ... Read more »

Located in the Songlei Hotel on the south Third Ring Road, Butterflies offers up an ornately themed dining experience, based on the musical “Butterflies” coming soon to China.

A plethora of purple attacks the eyes as you’re seated in wing-shaped seats among enlarged butterflies. Yet amidst the purple haze ... Read more »