Blue Rice and Modern Peranakan Classics? They're Only Teasing
Beijing has witnessed a spate of Southeast Asian restaurant openings in recent months and we are totally here for it. Kup Kup Kup in Taikooli brought us affordable street food, Mulu in WF Central brought us a panoply of dishes from across the ASEAN countries, and now Tease by CreatureS has brought us fun-yet-upscale Singaporean dining.
Located on the ground floor of new co-living space Stey, just northwest of Dengshikou station, Tease by CreatureS is an offshoot of popular Singapore restaurant CreatureS, staying true to the original’s Straits Chinese roots (a style of cuisine also known as Nyonya or Peranakan) but also incorporating nods to Beijing cuisine, which meshes well with its location in one of the city's many historic hutongs. Overall, the concept has a clear focus on comforting, traditional dishes with a modern, Instagrammable twist to the presentation, whether that is rice dyed blue with butterfly pea flowers or a scattering of petals on the plate.
Nyonya cuisine is recognizable for its diverse influences, complex spicing, and, above all, the time that goes into many of the dishes. Take, for example, the beef rendang, which, with its tender meat and clinging sauce, smacks of long cooking over low heat. Even the Vietnamese-Hainanese chicken rolls, a fusion of Hainanese chicken rice and Vietnamese spring rolls, have clearly undergone a complex preparation process, from the tender chicken to the paper thin strips of cucumber that form part of the wrapping.
Dishes like the rendang are intended to be ordered as individual main courses (although they can of course still be shared) – depending on how hungry you are, we recommend ordering a selection of appetizers to share and then ordering a main course each (prices range from around RMB 100-200). However, you choose to dine, be sure to order the babi pongteh, Peranakan-style pork belly braised in tamarind and soybean paste served with fried mantou buns. Our only gripe with this dish was that the fried mantou didn’t soak up the sauce (and trust us, you’ll want to soak up this sauce).
A final element that differentiates Tease from other Southeast Asian restaurants in Beijing is a stellar dessert menu that wouldn’t feel out of place in an international fine dining restaurant, created by pastry chef Jacob Justus. The standout is a conceptual dessert dubbed POP!corn made out of an entire ear of corn, right down to the husks. To be honest, we wouldn’t usually order dessert after a meal of such strong flavors but there is no denying the skill on show here.
If dessert really isn’t your thing, pop by La-Bar-Atory at the other end of the restaurant for a creative cocktail instead (from RMB 98). The bar focuses on the use of scientific techniques such as distillation, fermentation, clarification, and aging to extract flavors from a range of spices and unusual ingredients such as black garlic, bacon or sweet peppers, then use these to build cocktails with surprising flavor profiles. For example, the cocktail we tried, aptly dubbed “Cookie Jar,” somehow tasted exactly like a sweet wafer biscuit.
Tease is an interesting and unexpected addition to the Beijing dining scene, particularly given its location near Wangfujing. Food photographers will love the restaurant thanks to a clear focus on presentation although some adept cooking, particularly when it comes to the main courses, keeps the dishes from sinking into the realm of Instagram fodder.
Tease by CreatureS
Tue-Sun 6-10pm. 1/F, Stey, 15 Baishu Hutong, Dongcheng District (8635 5376)
东城区柏树胡同15号Stey王府井1层
READ: To Borneo and Far Beyond at New Southeast Asian Restaurant Mulu
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Photos: Robynne Tindall, courtesy of Tease by CreatureS
