Now, FOUR Years in China

Food: * * *
Decor: * * *
Price: $$$

Moving to Atlanta from Dallas six years ago was painful as our options for good tex-mex food dwindled to only a couple restaurants. Moving to Beijing made us crave the worst of Atlanta’s tex-mex as there just isn’t anything close to it here. My disappointment was reinforced today when the French chef at the school served “Mexican Fish Stick Enchiladas” complete with reheated, breaded, fishsticks wrapped in something akin to flour tortillas. As I complained to a coworker about this, he informed me that the rumored “new mexican restaurant” quietly opened this week. Come on family…let’s go.

So, we just returned from having dinner at “The Mexican Cafe” in Pinnacle Plaza (our neighborhood shopping area) in Shunyi…about 1km from our house. The Mexican Cafe was opened by Victor ???, the Indian restauranteur who also owns Little Italy, American Cafe, and Victors (Indian food with a dusting of crack…yes, it that’s good).

So far, every restaurant he has opened has been fantastic and his latest foray is no exception. Victor has an amazing business model…he recruits chefs from the US to operate his restaurants for a year or so while they train the local staff who eventually take over control while the chefs return to the states or to another one of Victor’s restaurants. Enough about his business model…let’s get back to the food.

The Mexican Cafe has been open less than a week and are still working out the menu and tweaking for a different audience. The chef and his wife who manages it came from NY which is probably why the flavor is less tex-mex and more of a contemporary Mexican-Southwest mix. It’s not the tex-mex I love but it certainly fixes the cravings and is very good. But just like every restaurant in China, they are crippled by the unavailability of ingredients that match the freshness and quality of the ingredients we get in the states. You can tell that their dishes would have a chic, gourmet flair in the US but here, it’s simply a good, flavorful mexican dish.

We started with 3 deep fried taquitos and sour cream which were decent but not outstanding..but the salsa was. Lisa sipped on a fresh sangria while having the combination fajitas. I had a trio of chicken chimichanga, enchilada, and taco with refried beans and rice. The chimi was excellent though it lacked a sour cream sauce. The enchiladas had a semi-spicy, fresh tomato-based sauce which was flavorful. The taco had a homemade hard shell and was stuffed with fresh greens and grilled chicken. Lisa’s fajitas came out sizzling but needed more onion and less green and red peppers. The meat was basically tender (by Chinese standards) and had a good flavor. I think the sour cream was a New Zealand brand which just isn’t the same as US sour cream. This probably won’t be solvable because sour cream is prohibitively expensive, and even the Chinese brands are quite expensive.

It needs to be noted that Madeline had the best hamburger in Beijing. That’s what happens when an American, fresh off the boat prepares it. It’s when you hand the keys over to the Chinese chefs that it will turn into a nasty seasoned, bread-stuffed meatloaf. Our favorite restaurant just went through this phenomena and ruined what used to be the best burger in Beijing.

As we finished our dinner with mexican ice cream sandwiched between deep-fried, cinnamon-crusted, deep-fried dough, the restaurant filled to capacity. So despite their lack of signage, the word is out. Even I SMSed 3 friends on the way home. Life is good.

In a very popular neighborhood for westerners called The Lido, there’s a cluster of shops, restaurants, apartments and hotels that cater to foreigners and xpats. In the heart of this neighborhood is Eudora Station which is a casual dining restaurant which serves typical western fare.

I had a cream of asparagus soup and Lisa had a cream of mushroom soup in a bread bowl Both were excellent. I ventured for a burger which is a really risky proposition here. Sadly, my risk didn’t pay off…I still haven’t found a good burger here in China. They make the patties similar to meatloaf…slightly dense, over-marinated, and full of little extras. For the price, the burger was disappointing..I should have ordered something else. The service was great and the ambiance made you feel like you were not in China. Sometimes you need that.

Location: Shunyi District near Capital Paradise

While I wouldn’t recommend the commute from Beijing to for this, it was a nice little surprise this evening. I had a menu and ordered take out from The Yard. The experience was surreal because on the other end of the phone was someone speaking nearly perfect american accented english! We had Kueh Paiti which are little vegetable dumpling “cup” appetizers along with Po Piah which is a akin to a springroll. Our main dish was a Nyona mild curry chicken which with potatoes along with a few portions of char grilled chiken and beef satay on skewers. The really decadent treat though is the Roti Plata which is a heavy, oily flatbread which you garnish with onion, cucumber, and some delicious sauces such as spicy peanut, and other flavors which seemed to compliment all items. Lisa and I toasted another victory with 2 16 oz beers that cost $1 at the grocery store.

Without Lisa,

I attended a dinner at Red Basil which is an excellent Thai restaurant in the eastern Chaoyang District. I can’t exactly remember what we ate except that you need to be careful of the red curry chicken hot pot which packs quite a punch. I’m sure we will be revisiting this and I will be able to write a better review.

In our first family adventure in the city alone, without an escort, we ventured to the east Chaoyang district to visit the Noodle Loft which Lisa had read about in an american gourmet magazine. Nobody spoke english but we actually did ok because the menu had english descriptions of the food there.

The ambiance and decor was incredibley hip and urban with a trendy NYC feel. The restaurant has 2 levels…the lower contains the open noodle kitchen where chefs have taken noodle making to an art form. The food centers around Shianxi regional food and I must confess that I’m too fresh off the boat to understand the subtle differences. However, we accepted some recommendations such as the single noodle which is literally a damn long green noodle. We had white noodles for Maddy which she loved. They were plump and chewy with non-uniform, hand cut width. The noodles are served with various sauces and the pork hoisan sauce was great. We also had a sirloin sauce that lacked flavor. The treat was dried stringbeans re-cooked with pork fat. Avoiding the fat, the beans were incredible. We also had a cold vegetable, vinegary appetizer and some dried beef slices.

Our meal was cut short by a phone call that informed us of the discovery of Lisa’s wallet which had been snitched from her purse at IKEA. But otherwise, this is a place we would like to return to in the evening when it’s lit…which will definitely enhance the swank factor.

Noodle Loft Review in Frommers

The second restaurant we visited after we arrived was Nuage which is a Vietnamese restaurant at Houhai Lake. The food was traditional vietamese with items such as a fried whole fish, spring rolls, and a vareiety of items I can’t even name. However, the atomosphere and location makes Nuage a very special place to visit…especially if you go up to the roof deck which overlooks Houhai to the south and the beautiful belltowers to the northeast.

After our visit, we walked around Houhai and soaked in the playful Beijing culture along the bar district known as “Lotus Lane”.

Nuage Review in Frommers

Driving down a one lane tunnel of Apple trees in the Shunyi district (the northeast suburbs and farm country), you would never think that the road was going to end at one of the nicest restaurants in the Beijing area. Owned by a westerner and her Chinese husband, they have created a cozy sancuary which not only serves some of the best food, but also showcases and sells art and hand made clothing from local artisans. The food is a combination of western mixed with some eclectic varieties and maybe one of the few places where you can get New Zealand organic beef as a New York Strip (does that make sense?).

We visited the Orchard our first night in Beijing and could barely remember it due to being awake for 45 hours. However, it left a very favorable impression. As we have lived here now for few weeks, it’s appeal only increases.

See the review in City Weekend