Shanghai’s Best French Restaurant Coming to Beijing?

For some time, rumours have been floated from ear to bejewelled ear amongst Beijing’s fine diners that Mr And Mrs Bund, an innovative French restaurant helmed by chef Paul Pairet will be making its way north to our humble city. The Shanghai restaurant at Bund 18 was voted “Best French” by ‘That’s Shanghai’ and placed in the Top 3 in the Miele Guide. Celebrating its second birthday next month, its Chinese-inspired menu of over 300 dishes is backed up by 50 chefs and one of the biggest western kitchens in Asia.

According to a PR spokesperson, Beijing is their “next target” but one major factor stands in the way: finding the right location. Most promising is Sanlitun Village North, but there remains a perception that the area has some way to go to match the foot traffic and general atmosphere of the original Village.

The PR rep also stated that “some good central locations are difficult to access on a daily or regular basis because of the traffic.” No doubt she’s referring to Tiananmen Square, home to Beijing’s award winners Maison Boulud and Shanghai import Capital M. She goes on: “we visited one day and the traffic was unbearable.”

It seems Beijing’s disparate neighbourhoods, traffic problems and lack of a single zone as unified, central and upscale as The Bund is proving a bit of a barrier to high-end restaurants looking to enter our market. Whether this is merely down to perception, the current economic climate or the preferences and prejudices of Beijing diners (or most likely a combination of loads of factors) is up for debate. Beijing has a history of grand dining projects that have fallen by the wayside, so its little wonder newcomers are a bit twitchy. Still, recent arrivals include Nobu and last year's ROOMbeijing, suggesting that the CBD has some decent growth potential. And at least we'll never be short of Sichuan xiao chi. Or chaun'r.