Dining Roundup: April 2009
A rite of spring, the Restaurant Awards encourage us to reflect on the evolution of Beijing’s dining scene.
When confronted with this year's ballot, which featured 35 categories, this voter recalled his first days in Beijing a decade ago, when the city appeared to have fewer than 35 Western restaurants in total. What was striking then was less the paucity of foreign restaurants than the popularity, especially among local diners, of Brazilian churrascarias, which did a roaring trade with all-you-can-eat formulas of grilled meat and salad bars. This proved to be merely the first bloom of Beijing’s romance with samba and salsa flavors, for South American restaurants were to have a outsized influence on the city’s culinary history.
When Brazilians Vivi Goncalves and Gaby Alves opened Alameda in 2004, it became an overnight sensation that would go on to win Restaurant of the Year for three consecutive years. Then the partners sold their stakes, and Gaby Alves launched SALT, which won the Best Western Restaurant award in 2008. SALT has had two Venezuelan head chefs, one of whom, Daniel Urdaneta, now heads up Mosto, another highly rated restaurant.
What gives? Do Beijingers have a natural affinity for Latin American cuisine? Probably. But one could also attribute these restaurants’ success to a winning formula: toothsome, contemporary cuisine at affordable prix-fixe prices, with evolving daily menus featuring the best ingredients available at the market, prepared by recognizable chefs working in open kitchens, which foster a warm, unpretentious ambiance. Customers have come to expect constant innovation at these restaurants, whether it’s a monthly culinary highlight, a degustation menu, a wine flight or even a cooking class.
Since these restaurants have been rewarded with patronage and votes, others have followed in their creative steps. And this is good news, because it translates into more exciting and affordable culinary choices. The phenomenon is reinforced by financial uncertainty, and restaurants are finding ever more creative ways of attracting clientele.
Today, prix-fixe deals are commonplace (e.g. Palette Vino @ The Hutong, Vasco’s), new menus are being unveiled (All-Star, Domus, Maison Boulud, Mosto, SALT, etc.), and more wine events than ever are being staged (Agua, Black Sesame Kitchen, Blu Lobster, Elements, Super Ganbei). Other lures proffered by restaurants include visits by star chefs (Maison Boulud, Jaan), music (Gingko, Purple Haze, The Vineyard), kids and family events (Aroma, Za’atar), customer loyalty cards (Comptoirs de France, Holiday Inn Lido restaurants) and even hikes near the Great Wall (Xiaolumian).
In the past decade, there has never been a better time to dine in Beijing. For this, we owe a heartfelt obrigado/gracias to Beijing’s pioneering South Americans – and to the customers who supported them.
