Capital Bites Agua Returns, and Other New Eats

Agua, the award-winning Spanish favorite once located in the stately Legation Quarter, is supposed to reopen this Friday at its new home at Nali Patio. Executive chef Jordi Valles is still running the show, and will offer a reasonably-priced business lunch (RMB 88 or 98), and a chef’s tasting menu for RMB 358. Another new Spanish-influenced restaurant in Sanlitun is Ole Spanish Restaurant. This three-story restaurant's first floor bar and second floor tapas lounge is already open, with a top floor offering fine dining set to open in a week.

Yan Can Cook Beijing is a new contemporary Chinese restaurant opened up by one of America’s earlier celebrity chefs, Martin Yan. This Asian-fusion restaurant is already making a celebrity splash (diners include famous athletes and actress Zhang Ziyi). Inventive new dishes include dim sum with wasabi, and special dishes such as duck skin on marshmallows. Martin Yan was known more for his boisterous style and simplifying Chinese cooking on TV than fancy culinary creations, so stay tuned for our review of his new endeavor. 


The Sanlitun SOHO complex is finally beginning to fill up, and slated to open there soon are Royal Boat, a traditional Indian restaurant with many types of tea, lassi, and fresh fruit drinks on offer. Opening at the end of the month is Ssam, a contemporary Korean restaurant. Another new Korean option is SG Song at the Vantone Center – the Korean owner is focusing on healthy and fresh fare and will not use MSG.

For specialists in cheese and crab, check out these two new restaurants. The newly-opened Cheese & Wine Made in Heaven near Chaoyang Park offers a large selection of wines, but they also specialize in farm and rare cheeses that are hard to come by in Beijing – they even have a temperature-controlled “cheese room.” It’s still crab season, so if you feel like crabs, and are already sick of hairy crabs, the new Cage’s Crab House is offering a plethora of imported crabs. From Alaskan king crab to crabs from Australia and the UK, all served with Western-style sides such as crab cakes, fried fish, and salads.