Dining Roundup: El Nido Restaurant, Switch Retro Brunch, Mosto Summer Menu, Q Mex End of the World Party
Revelers, you've got a pocketful of options for eats these next couple days. Kick off your weekend at an opening party for a restaurant by the El Nido gang, drop in on a retro brunch at Switch! Grill, try out Mosto's new summer menu and go out with a bang at Q Mex's End of the World party.
We probably shouldn't get in the habit of having me tell you what to do on the weekends. Let's face it. You're cooler than me. Take my advice and you'll eventually find yourself passed out at home at 10pm on a Saturday night after just one glass of wine. That, or randomly mangling Shakespeare. But, I couldn't resist another roundup this week. Not with so many choices for keeping your midsummer night's dreams alive:
Xiaoshuai of El Nido is throwing an opening party tonight (Friday) from 7pm to midnight for his new restaurant in Fangjia Hutong and you're invited. We're told RMB 100 will get you dinner and drinks, including pizza, salad, steak, lasagna and "make your own ham cheese fondue." Not sure what to expect with that last one, but it sounds plenty awesome.
The El Nido restaurant is at 64 Fangjia Hutong, just a few doors down from the bar. I'll be there tonight as the official TBJ guinea pig, so keep an eye out for a write-up if you're of the wait-and-see persuasion.
There's a new brunch in town this weekend and this one's of the time traveling nostalgia type. Switch! Grill is launching a weekly Retro Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-3pm.
They're taking us back to the post-war Golden Era of the '50s and '60s with a free-flowing Bloody Mary bar (RMB 98), a three-course meal (RMB 198) and plenty of a la carte options. If you've always wanted to go all Don Draper on a row of Bloody Marys, now's your chance.
Mosto kicked off its summer menu this week and I've got my eye on some of their fresh corn soup and confit leeks risotto. They're still running their daily "Sunset Special" early dinner from 6-7pm (RMB 188 for three courses). One of the best deals in town by my estimation.
They've only just opened and they're going all doomsday on us. Q Mex is throwing an End of the World party on Saturday from 10pm til "The End." The Mayan calendar says we're out of time and luck on 12/21/2012, so Q Mex apparently wants to start going out in style early. I'm unclear as to why they decided to start tomorrow of all days, but my guess is that they've calculated it'd take five months of hardcore partying to drink through their stockpile of tequila. If you're going to come up with an excuse to party, might as well use the classic "end of the world" meme.
Ladies will get happy hour prices on drinks all night long on Saturday, and I'm told there will be "prizes or surprises" throughout the night. Let's just hope they're happy surprises and not the apocalyptic kind. The last thing we need is a black hole opening up in Sanlitun Courtyard.
If the Mayans are right, you probably don't want to miss this one. After all, as the Bard says, this could be "the true beginning of our end." And I, for one, feel fine.
Photo: Switch! Grill
