New Summer Lunch Menu at Sanlitun's Bottega Featuring Italian Homestyle Macaroni

All this talk of afternoon tea, what if you aren't able to make it out of the office during the day? If you do work in Sanlitun, it's worth considering Bottega's lunch deal for indulgence instead.

Bottega, one of our personal favorites, and one of your favorites as evident from the 2016 Restaurant Awards results, have just launched their new summer lunch menu. As always, you get a starter and a main for RMB 88, but you can add on RMB 10-30 for desserts or drinks. While the price doesn't fall in the category of a sad 7-Eleven lunch, it's a great deal for the amount and quality of food on the menu.

In the starters arena, we chose the arancini with spinach and parmigiano, which comes doused in a rich mushroom sauce. The sauce is not so strong to overpower the dish but we found that the arancini could benefit from a little more seasoning.

As for mains, the choice was very easy for me: baked macaroni, renzini ham, mozzarella, and parmigiano-reggiano (pictured at top). We can almost hear you thinking "but that's not very summery," well, when the skies dispel as much water as they do in Beijing, you've still got to have your comfort foods no matter what the mercury reading indicates. This dish, a more Italian version of homestyle macaroni, was an absolute winner in terms of comfort, and I will be going back for more. For something a little lighter and with more summer flavors try the zucchini risotto, topped off with crispy thin flakes of crispy pork jowl on top.

My dining companion went for something a little less carb-laden: the lamb cutlet. The two cutlets are tender, and come served with some crispy baby potatoes, grilled vegetables, and with a generous scoop of rosemary sauce. When someone asks "is it acceptable to eat lamb chops with your hands?" you know you've got something good going.

To top things off, we found ourselves attracted to the 'sexy sweets' section, especially the chocolate mousse (add RMB 25 to the RMB 88 set price) and the Italian summer fruit cocktail (add RMB 20 to the RMB 88 set price). A combination of both between two was perfect: balancing the sweetness of the mousse with the slight tartness of the fruit.

All in all, we can tell that Bottega are up to their usual tricks, serving up solid fare at decent prices.

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Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Photos: Margaux Schreurs