Ology is Set to Rock Beijing's Fine Dining Scene

What could be more Chinese than the yin-yang symbol? How about eating said symbol made from the breakfast staple mantou at a newly opened restaurant in the heart of Sanlitun. That's exactly how our meal at Ology begins, with one half oven-baked to a tantalizing crispiness and topped with salty black sesame sauce (as is common in the north) as well as a dollop of squid ink which gives it a darker presentation and added flavor. The other half is deep-fried, fluffy, and coated with condensed milk in keeping with methods of the south.

That deftly balanced fusion dish and its overall ambition and creativity all echoed the restaurant’s strongest attributes.

Those strengths were apparent from the moment we arrived at the recently opened eatery, housed next to two-year-old cocktail lounge Long Jing and owned and operated by the same team. Smack in the middle of the intimate space, above the central counter, stretch the beams of a 300-year-old Qing dynasty pagoda from Anhui, acquired by the owners from an antique collecting friend. The blooming overhead wood grain, along with the 60-year-old hutong bricks lining the walls, give the softly lit and otherwise modern restaurant a strong modernized East-meets-West feel.

READ: Wutong Plus Joins Gongti's Fine Dining Ranks With a Contemporary Take on Beijing Cuisine

The menu is equally distinctive, creative and, yes, fancy. If you haven’t already guessed, Ology is a fine dining establishment, and its RMB 399 per person set menu will really only lure you in for a special occasion. But you’ll be hardpressed to find a better place for such splurging. That’s because the atmosphere forgoes white linen and other stuffy upscale trappings in favor of innovative and intimate elements, and the fusion dishes they serve follow suit. Indeed, a glance at the set menu will have you doing a double take at the whopping 10 courses on offer, each a mini three-act culinary journey. Case in point: one early course consisted of a bite-sized wafer dotted with pumpkin seeds, a second seed encased in a blooming puff of deep-fried batter, and then a hollowed out tomato with distinctive balsamic vinegar with brown sugar pooled at the bottom. The cycle of life: from birth to bloom to ripening.

That course was followed by another three-act play of bite-sized items on a plate: a slice of salty Yunnan ham sprinkled with cheese and tucked in a wedge of a fig, making for a savory-sweet combination unlike anything we’ve tried before. Next to it was a sour ceviche scallop (not unlike kimchi), and to the right of that, a sweet mini crepe.

Those tapas-style appetizers were followed by other memorable courses like the avocado and coconut milk mixture that evoked congee rice soup in terms of texture, its fruity sweetness balanced with a chunk of fried prawns at its center for a stark contrast.

Another highlight was the squid. Stuffed to the point of busting with ground pork, it was diced in chunks and served atop a bed of Vietnamese-style rice noodles, all in a small wooden box that had a sprinkling of peppers and anise along its edge, for decorative flair. Yet another winner was the succulent morsel of Australian Angus filet mignon, served with a side of eggplant, spring onion, plum, calendula flower sauce, all splashed together like a Jackson Pollock on the plate, the combination of ingredients balanced so as to trickle across your tastebuds in waves, making each bite unpredictable and engrossing. Speaking of art: cap off the proceedings with a “dessert painting” for which raspberry and a foamy mousse are smeared across the plate, reminiscent of an enthused painter’s palatte.

The mind behind these boundary-pushing eats is Huixi "Chasel" Huang. Huang's mother was an immigrant from northern China who moved the family to New York City to work as a doctor, leading Chasel to spend many hours of her latchkey childhood cooking for herself in order to satisfy her cravings for Chinese food. Her flair in the kitchen earned her acceptance at San Francisco's Cordon Blue Campus, and from there she worked stints at the Michelin one-star SPQR and Mourad restaurants in San Francisco, before landing an internship at the Jean Georges high-end eatery in Shanghai.

So yes, the experience at Ology is a lot, in every sense of the phrase. But curious foodies eager to have their palates dazzled will be pleased by the subtle flavors and bold combinations to be found on the restaurant's one-of-a-kind set menu.

Ology
Tue-Sun 1.30pm-2am. Rm 111, Bldg 22, Courtyard 4, Gongti North Road (6592 9880)
工体北路4号院22号楼111室

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Photos courtesy of Ology