Chinese – Whampoa Club

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 cai, and while his restaurant in Shanghai is all glitz and glam, the one in Beijing is more quietly classy.

On entering the traditional courtyard with skyscrapers towering above, you’re led through a stunning entrance filled with candle-lit birdcages. The dining room is a large open space decked sleekly in black and white with latticed walls and twinkling decorations. Up above, goldfish swim in the transparent ceiling. It’s obvious this place is under Shanghainese management; the service is attentive and without any of the kinks of a newly-opened restaurant.

Leung himself is currently manning the stoves, so expect dish after pitch-perfect dish, from the sticky, soy-braised pomfret (¥88) to the mouth-wateringly tender beef tenderloin with pistachio nuts (¥168). Leung adamantly opposes the fusion label, instead insisting he wants to “break down traditional dishes and reconstruct them,” like the Dongbei classic chicken and mushroom soup which Leung coverts into haute cuisine.“I think the chicken is too floury, and the soybean paste makes it too salty, so I change that,” Leung says. He adds two tiny but intensely flavored truffle jiaozi and viola: a staple dish transformed into perfection. The minced pigeon with crispy rice (¥68) wasn’t a must-order, perhaps because I waited too long after the consommé was poured to tuck into it. Rare for Chinese restaurants, the dessert menu spans several pages and features twists on favorites like caramel covered fruit (bing tang hulu) and a cheesecake made from wan dou huang, a pea-flavoured snack.

The prices would make Beijing’s laobaixing choke, but where else can you go for Chinese food with unfawning yet impeccable service, breathtakingly stylish design and food which will have you surreptitiously licking your plate? It’s taken some time for a restaurant of this caliber to appear in the capital, but make no mistake, this is local food. As Leung says, “I don’t want anyone to leave feeling they haven’t been to a Chinese restaurant.”

THE DETAILS

Perfect for:

breath-taking, beautiful and delish Chinese classics

Address:

Jia 23 Financial Street 金融大街甲23号

Tel:

8808-8828

The Verdict: 5/5