Capital Bites: Breast to Wurst at Cabare & Hopfenstube
Beijing is fortifying itself against a culinary blitzkrieg. Hopfenstube, a HUGE new German restaurant complete with onsite beermaster and microbrewery is opening this weekend near Ritan Park. More on that in a bit. First up, Cabere at Solana. You'll see by the pics it occupies a choice perch by the lake, next to Invito and in front of new Mexican restaurant Casa Latina. It is in fact a Mediterranean restaurant, but chef and owner Michael is as German as rhubarb pudding. This is his first solo project after nearly four years at the excellent South German Bakery up the road.
The first floor shown here will be open from breakfast to late night cocktails, and house the bar and a laidback cafe / bistro. Fine dining will take place upstairs, in two large rooms and a covered VIP terrace overlooking the lake. Prices should be about RMB 200-400 per person for dinner. Expect flavors of the Med a la Sureno with an emphasis on fresh seafood.
Cabare is scheduled to open at the end of June. But this is Beijing, so take that with a pinch of salt. And as we know, SALT's new opneing has been delayed. Hah. One final thing: the patio area on the lake pictured above actually belongs to the restaurant, so this should be a pretty special al fresco dining area in the coming months.
As promised, Hopfenstube. It means hop house or hop room in English, in reference to that very special plant that gives us beer. And beer is what this 1000 square meter joint is all about. A handmade copper distillery inside churns out three types of micro-brewed beer: a lager, a wheat beer and a richly flavored dark beer. The menu, prepared by Hamburg-born chef Florian, will traverse the various foodie regions of Germany, and promises more variety than the typical Bavarian offerings Beijing has known up to now. Live music nightly will have an emphasis on rock, and big screens in the restaurant and bar area should make this a good spot to watch the World Cup, especially as the Germans tend to rather well. It opens this weekend in the You-Town mall complex opposite Party World.
