Capital Bites: More Hatsune Sushi, Tapas and Stellar Wine-paired Sichuan

There was a certain poetic quality to the weekend for Beijing's dining scene. This past Sunday afternoon saw the final brunch at Maison Boulud before Brian Reimer and the team move on to new things. That evening ushered in the soft opening of Home Plate's new warehouse space in Sanlitun. It's never a bad time for self-reinvention and evolution.

Our Reader Restaurant Awards favorite for Japanese (ten years running), Hatsune has opened their third branch in the basement of the Kerry Center on Guanghua Lu. While the new spot is only a few blocks away from the original location, word is that it has a different atmosphere so there should be ample reason to keep both locations on your radar. We'll be by soon to snack on some fresh fish and check the scene.

Last week, I mentioned the two-day event "Food with Friends" which Agua and Mosto will be hosting tonight (at Agua) and tomorrow (at Mosto). The RMB 398 menu is formidible; they've been publicizing it as a 15-course extravaganza, but ultimately Chefs Daniel Urdaneta and Jordi Valles settled on 16 different dishes. Why choose when you can have it all?

I had a chance to stop by Mosto and try a few of the menu items for the event as well as a selection from Mosto's new lunch menu. What I came away with is this: if you are free, book a table. Get a first look at tonight and tomorrow's menu here.

Migas is also reimagining their menu with a new tapas section for more casual bites at the bar. They are in the process of finalizing the details, but expect the new options to be available starting next week.

While there's a long history in Western cuisine of wine pairing (now branching out to beer pairings), pairing wines with Chinese food is far less explored territory. Wine expert Krishna Hathaway (formerly of Bar Veloce) has been working with Transit to develop a series of wine pairings with the restaurant's Sichuan cuisine.

As dishes are typically served family-style, he works with a staggered approach so you can try a couple of wines with dishes which have been grouped by flavor profile. While there are no set dates for wine-paired Sichuan dinners, plans are in the works – and Transit is happy to work with individuals on private events.

I had the chance to tour the menu yesterday and was quite pleased with their refined take on Sichuan cuisine, including standards like koushuiji (RMB 98) and shuizhuyu (RMB 258) in which they use sea bass rather than the typical grass carp. The mala heat of the Sichuan peppercorns is well-balanced and doesn't overwhelm the palate or overall flavor.

Other dishes were all quite impressive ranging from a crispy eel toasted in Sichuan chilies (RMB 168), dragon beans with smoked ham (RMB 70), a very interesting smoked free-range duck with preserved bamboo shoots and cured Chinese mustard leaves (RMB 288), cognac and pu'er tea hongshaorou. A phenomenal, provoking eggplant with minced pork had the scent of lemongrass, but in fact, was perfumed with 木姜油 (mujiangyou), an oil from the south that doesn't have a common English name yet.

Transit may seem like a bit of a spend for Sichuan, but my skepticism was pleasantly dissolved.

Photos: Cat Nelson

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