The New Vegan Restaurant in Lido Taking Cues From China's Song Dynasty Playbook
With a large dining room decorated in calming blues and greens, with a water fountain and zen pebble garden, surrounded by a ring of private dining rooms, at first glance Go Vegan Go Green in Metropark Lido Hotel resembles a luxury day-spa as much as a restaurant.
The aesthetic is no accident. From the color scheme to the menu, everything here is inspired by the Song dynasty (960-1279). Eating locally, and seasonally was highly prized during this period, and the completely vegan menu is guided by China's 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese agricultural calendar. In fact, it is was during this period that the phrase "not seasonal, not good to eat" (不时不食 bùshí bù shí) originated. The Song dynasty was also known to be one of the greatest periods for Chinese gastronomy, and far from being considered secondary ingredients, vegetables and plants took a huge role on the table and in the kitchen.
But Be Vegan Go Green is not the work of some a couple of historians noodling over plates of beancurd. The owners have already opened eight other fast-casual restaurants in China, and owns over 400 acres of organic farmland in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province, from which about 70 percent of all the ingredients that end up on the table originate.
Our visit coincided with the ten-course autumn menu: a combination of hot and cold dishes, soups and noodles as well as a dessert course that inexplicably appeared before the final savory noodle dish.
Right off the bat, the slightly sweet, cold yam starter did away with any notions of humble, down-home cooking, arriving served on a white ceramic altar in a cloud of nitrous oxygen smoke like the fabulous little entree it was. Rich, savory XO vegetable sauce radish cake came next, but was followed by interminably bland matsutake mushroom soup.
Thankfully, the menu returned to form with the simply named 'bean curd' topped with slivers of dried seaweed, which punched far above its weight class in terms of flavor. Meanwhile, the yellow vegetable curry served with a slice of baguette, was hearty and delicious, perfect for wintry weather.
Song dynasty kitchens established a tradition of mock meat, and the two patties of Hericium Erinacius – Lion's mane mushroom in English – were so dense and meaty you could actually mistake them for being chicken breast. The two highly polished stones served alongside are not, however, edible.
After a brief detour down Sweet Tooth Lane with just-ok papaya sweet pudding, and crumbly durian mooncake, we inexplicably swing back to Savory Town with an absolute knockout dish of noodles served in a rich pesto sauce.
Overall, there are many more hits than misses on this menu, but the variance makes it hard to anticipate which dishes you should gorge on, and when you should hold back to save space for the rest. Another notable exception: no alcohol is served at Be Vegan Go Green, although they do offer two very good organic grape juices served in wine bottles so you can feel like a grown-up anyway.
The restaurant also displays a wide range of food products that can also be purchased via their online outlet, including preserved tofu, canned fruit juices, spicy sauces, sesame oil, and a range of fresh noodles and flour, which is stone-milled on their farm. The business is also behind the charity Fenggui Nest Fund (凤归巢基金), which employs around 300 disabled people and low-income earning women in seven provinces, who sew their organic cotton produce bags.
But back to the food. As their first foray into the world of fine-dining, the owners of Be Vegan Go Green hope to change the prevailing attitude towards vegan dining and open people's minds up to the range of flavors and combinations that are possible when eschewing animal products entirely. On one hand, they handily achieve that, presenting creative, unusual dishes with flair. The local, organic, seasonal concept is laudable and despite the showy presentation, it's clear that they do really care about what's on the plate. However, while some of the dishes are an absolute triumph, others are not, and despite the concept, the presentation and service do not quite reach the heights that one expects from an RMB 400-per-head set menu, especially as one cannot order à la carte, although that may change in the future.
Altogether, with the rapidly-changing menu, creative menu options, and high-quality ingredients make Be Vegan Go Green an intriguing concept worth re-visiting.
Be Vegan Go Green
Daily, 11:30am-2pm; 6.30-9.30pm. 3/F, Metropark Lido Hotel, 6 Jiangtai Road, International Avenue, Chaoyang District (6431 4345, 133 9185 2870)
奉善斋：朝阳区国际大道将台路6号丽都维景酒店三层
READ: Vege Wonder Takes Vegetarian Fine Dining to the Next Level
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Email: annahartley@thebeijinger.com
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Images courtesy of Be Vegan Go Green, Anna Pellegrin Hartley
