La Platea is Beijing's New Place to be for Mediterranean Dining

Beijing has seen a spate of European restaurant openings recently, including creperie Panorama and Spanish restaurant Bobomia, and now La Platea. Located on the eastern side of The Place, La Platea brings together the best of the Mediterranean, created by a French chef, a Spanish designer, and an Italian manager. 

The restaurant design is inspired by Europe's many food halls and markets – think La Boqueria in Barcelona or the Great Market Hall in Budapest. In fact, these markets are more than just a design feature. Customers can buy cold cuts and cheeses, antipasti, and desserts from the counter and bottles of wine from the wall-sized fridge to take home. Both take-away and dine-in pricing is approachable; for example, wine by the bottle starts from around RMB 200, with few bottles going north of RMB 300-400.

Just like the restaurant team, La Platea's food fuses dishes and influences from France, Spain, Italy, and beyond. The menu is simple, just one page with starters, mains, pasta, and cold cuts platters. They also serve a small tapas menu from 5-11pm, featuring dishes like arancini and fried camembert – perfect with a glass of wine (RMB 48) or a beer from Spanish brand Mahou (rarely seen in Beijing).

The must-try menu item is, without a doubt, the pizza pockets (RMB 48 each or RMB 118 for a combo of three). An Italian street food snack, these beauties are self-explanatory: pockets of bread stuffed with fillings like mozzarella, pesto, and tomato or eggplant parmigiana. Our favorite is the tomato meatball pocket, as the rich sauce soaks satisfyingly into the bread. For something a little more substantial (although we would be no means want to go for a run after eating one of those pizza pockets single-handedly), the veal Milanese offers fantastic value at RMB 88 and with extra-tender meat to boot.

With its prime location in The Place – and newly-arrived outside seating – we can see La Platea becoming one of the CBD's most popular spots for business lunches and after-work drinks. 

La Platea
Daily 10am-midnight. 1/F, Trends Tower, The Place (northeast side), Jintong Xilu, Chaoyang District (130 5139 7386)
朝阳区金桐西路世贸天阶时尚大厦一层

READ: New in the neighborhood: Beijing's latest Euro grub

Images: Robynne Tindall, courtesy of La Platea