4.5/5 Stars

Divine Food and Wine

In a city that changes as quickly as Beijing, a restaurant which garners a loyal clientele who know the owner by name is a rarity. And one that does so in just under two months of opening is akin to winning the lottery. The wine list at LMPlus is both affordable (glasses start at ¥45, and bottles at ¥188) and truly impressive. This, and a rock solid selection of dishes, has us wishing that we lived in Central Park so that we too could make this our neighborhood hangout.

The décor is simple, modest and comfortable, with a small side room available for groups. Run by Massimo Masili of L’isola fame, LMPlus already has a head start on the competition, but the main thing separating this tiny, intimate eatery from its larger cousin is the kitchen. Space considerations mean that LMPlus chefs function with electric burners and grills—no gas. But this puts nary a dent in such notoriously difficult-to-make dishes like risotto con gorgonzola e radicchio (¥98), which arrived at our table at the perfect consistency, neither too hard nor too soft. The filetto di manzo con zucchine alla griglia e speck croccante (¥178) is a thick wedge of locally-sourced beef sitting atop cooked zucchini slices. Ours was grilled perfectly, and went nicely with the salmone norvegese al rosmarino con insalata al limone (Norwegian rosemary salmon with salad, ¥180), which was graced with a very pleasing twang of lemon.

By the time our tiramisu (¥89) and panna cotta con salsa di mirtilli (panna cotta with blueberry sauce, ¥89) arrived, we had imbibed several glasses of wine perfectly paired with our meal by a very knowledgeable waiter, and were ready to start apartment-hunting in Central Park.

Laura Fitch