Finding the equipment top chefs depend on

If you've tried to buy a soufflé bowl, cheese grater or measuring spoons recently, you know how frustrating home-cooking can be in Beijing. Thankfully, life has just gotten easier, thanks to newly-opened Pantry Magic. "There is a market need for high-quality kitchenware ... Read more »

Path to perfection or marketing nightmare?

My recent experience at an eatery in the new 1949 complex wasn't great-and I said so in my review. Some thought we were harsh, especially since 1949 was in its "soft opening,” which got me to thinking about the entire process of giving ... Read more »

Fine dining straight from the vine

Cepe's Executive Chef Eugenio Iraci's claim that "We don't need to worry about year-round mushrooms" may sound a little outrageous. But Iraci always has Shimeji, Matsuki and Chanterelles on hand, as well as Oyster spores sprouting on shelf after shelf of ... Read more »

A fresh batch of restaurants arrives from Shanghai

After attaining success in two Shanghai outposts, wine bar and cafe Enoteca owners Youngju Lee and Pierre Monie have set their sights on an outlet at The Place in Beijing's CBD. They're convinced demand exists in our city for "a ... Read more »

The end of dining’s industrial revolution

A recent weekend jaunt through Shanghai's best restaurants impressed on me the importance of intimacy and warmth in dining. "Restaurants...have to feel authentic, organic and, above all, comfortable," stressed Michelle Garnaut, of M on the Bund, who expects to open Capital ... Read more »

And one step back: the perils of menu redesign

"Every season you have to change the card" is the no-nonsense approach of Brasserie Flo's newest chef, Bertrand Combe. And he's not alone in his preparations to forego winter's culinary seasonal affective disorder: La Fattoria, Garden of Delights ... Read more »

Smoking the competition at Beijing's smoke-free eateries

Though there were "empty tables at the city's first no-smoking restaurant," Meizhou Dongpo, as reported by China Daily, three of Beijing's prominent smoke-free canteens have had exactly the opposite experience. "Every night we take two rounds of seating, and all ... Read more »

School's in Session with the City's Best Chefs

While we plebians are righteously picking apart the city's dining industry, the real culinary kings of Beijing are busy sizing up our ability to appreciate truly innovative cuisine. "We have to educate the palette" Blu Lobster's Brian McKenna ... Read more »

Vegan Social Club heralds meat-less Beijing eating

Whoever said being a vegan in Beijing is nuts, watch out: Chris Barden, Co-Founder of the Vegan Social Club of Beijing (VSC), might have a bone to pick with you. "The myths and misconceptions of non-vegans who sometimes dismiss us flippantly as 'extreme ... Read more »

SE Asian cuisine: unintentionally and unabashedly healthy

While on vacation in Southeast Asia over the (Western) New Year, I ate the healthiest Asian meals of my life. Simply cross the border into Vietnam and oily, non-descript mountains of fatty meat heaped indiscriminately on the plate give way to crunchy, fresh ... Read more »

The Boardroom scales the heights of Beijing dining

Sometimes street meat really is as good as it gets. But whereas low-end small eats may have reached their most "democratic" pricings, with the opening of Alan Wang's new restaurant, The Boardroom, just around the corner, it looks like sophistication is ... Read more »

The trials and tribulations of ingredients hunting in Beijing

You pay for what you get–and Guillaume Galliot, Chef de Cuisine at JAAN of Raffles renown, knows that better than anyone. We started talking about the necessity of importing ingredients in order to fulfill a foreign recipe when living in ... Read more »