EAT: BMK Pulls Out of New Gastropub, Fideuà Back at Migas

Robynne Tindall, Contributing Editor | Oct 6, 2015 9:02 am | 2 comments | 2666 reads

In a post on WeChat last week, Brian McKenna announced that he and his team will no longer be operating and managing new Dengshikou gastropub Molly Malone's Gastropub & Grill, after receiving "an offer [he] simply could not refuse." Molly Malone's will now be operated by a different company, while McKenna "will be fulfilling a number of consulting projects ... before starting a great new concept BMK Kitchen & Deli in November 2015."

McKenna declined to provide further details on his plans but later posted a picture of himself with Dong Zhenxiang of Dadong Roast Duck fame, alluding to a future cooperation between the two culinary bigwigs.

In more upbeat news, Migas is celebrating one of Spain's lesser known dishes, fideuà -- a dish similar to paella made with short noodles called fideos instead of rice that hails from the city of Gandía - for the second year in a row. They have invited chef Jaume Fuster, winner of the 41st International Fideuà de Gandía Competition to Beijing to see if Beijing's best chefs can hold their own in an authentic fideuà cook off. The cooking competition, which will be held on Saturday, October 17, noon-3pm, will see chefs including EAST's Robert Cunningham, Bistrot B's Jarrod Verbiak, and Niajo's Alejandro Sanchez, submit their version of fideuà to a blind test by judges flown in from Gandía.

If you'd rather cook yourself, Chef Jaume Fuster will also be hosting a masterclass on Wednesday, October 14, 11.30am-1.30pm, where he will teach you how to cook fideuà and two other Spanish dishes. Entry to the class is free.

More dining events and promotions this week:

  • Sweet Tooth have a bunch of new weekday deals for October, including buy one panini and get the second half price, and buy any salad and get a homemade lemonade for RMB 15.
  • Look out for Paulaner Brauhaus' 23rd annual Oktoberfest celebration, starting October 8 and running until October 25. Sure to give you all the sausages you can handle.

More stories by this author here.

Email: robynnetindall@thebeijinger.com
Instagram: @gongbaobeijing
Twitter: @gongbaobeijing
Weibo: @宫保北京

Photos courtesy of Migas

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ellaowai's picture ellaowai Submitted by Guest on Wed, 10/07/2015 - 15:57

Hooray for mr Mc.Kenna again!

In an interview with some other expat magazine he said that for some time, he hadn't wanted to be at the Courtyard (indeed, the only time I went there, surprise, he was nowhere to be seen). It's a good thing to know for all of us who went there to fork a substantial amount of money for an extremely "meh" experience: the chef of the restaurant, the one whom the restaurant is actually named after, doesn't want to be there. I'd have been grateful to have this piece of information when making the reservation: our head chef doesn't want to be there. I would have gone to TRB instead, or to get a burger at Great Leap: somewhere else.

Now he delivers some bullsxxt about how he doesn't feel like doing haute cuisine anymore (I suspect because he didn't get the accolades he wanted and The Courtyard didn't become the fine dining powerhouse it was conceived to be) and, not even a month after opening this new gastropub, he doesn't want to be there, either. So yeah great, as somebody else pointed out in the comments, with these credentials I really can't wait to check this new fancypants concept he's working on (or Molly Malone's for that matter, I feel pity for the poor suckers who've decided to run it now)

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