To Try List: New Lebanese, Indonesian Fest, Haitian Food & More

Our To Try List covers new restaurants, dining deals, drinks discounts, guest shifts, pop-ups, and more happenings in Beijing.

We’ve got a new Lebanese restaurant, an Indonesian food and culture festival, Haitian food at The Factory, a new cocktail bar, guest chefs and more in this week’s To Try List. 

Sumac Brings Authentic Lebanese Flavors to the Liangma River

The Liangma River has gained a new resident in the form of Lebanese restaurant Sumac. An offshoot of the Hong Kong based restaurant of the same name, Sumac opened their Beijing branch at the end of June. They pride themselves on serving modern interpretations of traditional Lebanese dishes with the finest ingredients. On the menu they’ve got a range of hot and cold mezze dishes like Stuffed Vine Leaves (RMB 78); Moutabbal (RMB 68), a grilled eggplant dip; and Fatteh Kafta (RMB 158, pictured above), beef and lamb meatballs in an eggplant and yogurt sauce to name just a few. 

They also have classic dishes such as Kebbeh bel Laban (RMB 158) – Lebanese meatballs and Kharouf Mehsi (RMB 168) – lamb leg with Lebanese rice as well as salads, soups, fish, grill dishes and oven dishes. The restaurant space itself is beautifully designed, making full use of the arched ceilings paired with a muted blue and white color scheme and a chic Middle Eastern vibe. They also have a lovely outdoor terrace area directly on the Liangma River. 

Sumac 苏马克黎巴嫩餐厅
8, 1F South Tower, Liangma Harbour Building, 53 Maizidian Jie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区麦子店街53号亮马港湾大厦南楼1层8号
Hours: 11am-midnight
Phone: 132 6426 2888

An Indonesian Food and Culture Festival Comes to Langyuan Station

This Saturday (Jul 20), Indonesian restaurant Warisan will collaborate with OurTimesHere and Action Bar to host an Indonesian food and culture festival. There will be dance performances by professionals in authentic Indonesian attire, traditional music including Gamelan and Angklung and a whole range of authentic Indonesian dishes and drinks to try. 

The event will be taking place on Action Bar’s terrace in Langyuan Station from 6pm until 9pm and tickets are RMB 65 and includes a glass of En Cendol. You can purchase tickets by scanning the QR code in the poster above. 

Action Bar Terrace
09-5 Langyuan Station, 53 Banjjieta Lu, Chaoyang District
朝阳区半截塔路53号郎园Station 09-5

Haitian Food and New Cask Ale at The Factory

The Factory is back with a new twist on their Reggae Factory series, this time featuring Haitian food. Courtesy of Saso’s Kitchen they’ve got two set meals up for grabs: Haitian Pork Griot & Pikliz (RMB 88) and the Vegan Meal (RMB 88) – beyond meat stuffed bell pepper with vegan cheese and jerk spices, brown rice and peas, plantain and pikliz. Both meals feature pikliz a Haitian condiment made from pickled cabbage, carrots, bell peppers and Scotch bonnet peppers. The pikliz has been specially made with scotch bonnet peppers grown in Ningbo by American of Haitian descent Branden Paillant who’s sent some fresh ones over just for the event. 

Along with the food they’ll also be serving Haitian Cremas. The national drink of Haitii, it's a sweet and creamy alcoholic beverage usually made with coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, spices, lemon or lime juice and Haitian rum. For the cocktails they will be using cremas from Beijing based LR's KREMAS. As always, while enjoying your food and drink you can take in the rhythmic beats from their great DJ lineup. Reggae Factory will be taking place from 3pm, Sunday, Jul 21, you can book your meal by scanning the QR code in the poster above. 

Reggae Factory isn’t the only thing they’ve got going this weekend though, on Friday and Saturday (Jul 19 and 20) they’ll have two new cask beers on tap too: Casked Scottish Ale 7 percent ABV and Wee Bit Bourbon  7.1 percent ABV. If you fancy a pint of either of those you’ll need to reserve in advance by scanning the QR code below. 

The Factory
135 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District
东城区鼓楼工厂鼓楼东大街135号
Hours: 11am-2am
Phone: 185 1461 8664

New Cocktail Bar Stray Alley Opens in Chaowai SOHO

Cocktail bars have been on our minds a lot recently since Asia's 50 Best Bars 2024 failed to place a single Beijing bar in their Top 100. However, we know that Beijing has plenty to offer when it comes to cocktail bars including the newly opened Stray Alley. The new home of Stray Dogs, which was previously located in Guanzhuang, they are having their official opening party this Saturday (Jul 20). 

On the menu, they’ve got an extensive range of classic cocktails with everything from an Old Fashioned (RMB 78) to Tom Collins (RMB 68) or Pisco Sour (RMB 78). As well as some interesting signature cocktails like the Rusty Lake (RMB 78) that combines vodka, lemongrass, turmeric, chili, kaffir lime leaf, tomato juice and shrimp or the Coriander Rule (RMB 88) a mix of coriander gin, elderberry liqueur celery bitter, pineapple, Tabasco and lime. 

Stray Alley 野犬集
0229, 2F, Bld A Chaowai SOHO, Chaoyang
朝阳区朝外SOHO A座2F 0229号
Hours: Tue-Thu, 7pm-1am; Fri-Sun, 7pm-2am (closed Mon)
Phone: 132 4021 8864

Indian Guest Chef From Shanghai Coming to San Wu Tang Soon

Indian chef Anil K Naudiyal, who currently works at the Pudong Shangri-la, will be making a guest appearance at JEN Beijing’s San Wu Tang restaurant. Chef Naudiyal has over 20 years experience specializing in the regional cuisines of Northern India, Awadh, Mughlai and the South and has worked at some of the best hotel chains across the world. At the pop-up Indian buffet you can enjoy some of his signature dishes like Lamb Nihari, Roasted Tandori Crab, Chicken Tika and Indian Lamb Raan. The pop-up buffet will be taking place from Jul 25 to Jul 30, for more information and to book you can follow this link.

San Wu Tang
2F JEN Beijing, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区建国门外大街1号新国贸饭店2层
Hours: 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30pm-9pm
Reserve: 010 8647 1035

Catch the Last Weekend of The 33rd Yanjing International Beer Festival 

Beer lovers rejoice! There is still time to hit up the Yanjing Beer Festival which kicked off on Jul 12 and will be running until this Sunday (Jul 21). Taking place up in Shunyi at a massive venue that can accommodate up to 15,000 guests it’s jam-packed with live music, food vendors, a water park and beer, beer and more beer! The fest is running from 4.30pm until 10pm each day and tickets are only RMB 9.9 and can be bought either by scanning the QR code below or at the door. 

China International Exhibition Center (Shunyi Hall), 中国国际展览中心(顺义馆)
88 Yuxiang Lu, Shunyi District
顺义区裕翔路88号

Indian Food Comes to Hyatt Regency Courtesy of Chef Rabiul

Not only is there one but two special Indian food experiences happening in Beijing! This one sees Chef Rabiul, of Dastaan and Bollywood Tales fame, making a guest appearance at Hyatt Regency until Jul 28. This pop-up Indian buffet will include dishes like Chef Aziz's Signature Goan Peri Peri Pomfret, Rabiul's Signature Chettinadu Kozhi Tikka (old Delhi style butter chicken), Kerala Meen Mappas (Coconut Fish Curry) and Boti shimla Mirch (tandoori roasted lamb with fresh bell peppers). You can see more details in the poster above and can scan the QR code in the poster to book. 

Hyatt Regency Beijing Wangjing 北京望京凯悦酒店
Lei Shing Hong Center, 8 Guangshunnan Dajie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区广顺南大街8号院利星行中心
Reservations: Scan the QR code in the poster

Join Shanghai Foodie Rachel Gouk for Brunch This Weekend at the Waldorf

Shanghai food writer Rachel Gouk will be doing a pop-up of Malaysian classics and twists this weekend at the Waldorf Astoria Beijing's Brasserie 1893. For more details read this post.

Brasserie 1893
1F, Waldorf Astoria Beijing, 5-15 Jinyu Hutong Wangfujing Dongcheng District
东城区金鱼胡同5-15号华尔道夫酒店1层
Reservations: Scan the QR code in the poster

READ: To Try List: New Healthy Mediterranean, Brunch Specials and More

Images: courtesy of the venues, Dianping