New in the Neighborhood: Beijing’s Latest Euro Grub

El Rojo

Spanish Fine Dining in Beijing has another friend in town with the opening of El Roji – perhaps so-named for the copious amounts of red meat on the menu. Among the protein-rich recommendations are the plate of Spanish ham, the (full) roast pig, and the Madrid-style beef stomach.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Spanish restaurant in this city that doesn’t carry a shrimp paella, and El Rojo is no exception – it’s their most popular dish. But there other seafood options, including an olive oil and garlic shrimp pot, squid rings served on a little metal tree, and Galicia octopus. A couple of other notable mentions: the Spanish potato and egg pancake is a crowd-pleaser, and the mushroom soup comes served in a bowl topped with a lovely bread cap.

It’s not the cheapest place to eat of course, and a couple could easily spend upward of RMB 600 on a meal. But one advantage of finding a place early is that you can get in on the opening deals, like the lunch special deal for two that can be found now on the Dazhong Dianping app, which comes with a salad starter plus Spanish snacks and a sopa fria de tomate, a main of either the seafood paella or squid ink black rice, and a chocolate brownie and walnut pie for dessert, all for RMB 328.

El Rojo
8 Jinhui Li, Chaoyang district
朝阳区金汇路8号

Bobomia

The other new Spanish resto in town is Bobomia, but you’re likely to have something of a different experience at this tapas bar compared with El Rojo.

The tapas menu is full of creativity, with the most popular dish so far being Callos Madrilena with pork and tofu, one of several dishes that appear to appeal to local tastebuds while maintaining authenticity. There are also pork head tacos, a truffle croqueta, Sherry lamb kidney, and foie gras terrine – try to see how many animal organs you can stuff down in one sitting!

For the paellas, they’ve gone all out on presentation, topping the rice with showy portions – a whole pork foot, an entire crab, etc.

Bobomia
4 Gonti Beilu, Building 10, Room 108
北京市朝阳区工人体育场北路4号10幢一层108室

9 Restaurant and Bar

9 Restaurant and Bar appears to be a mix-match of Western foods (and a few Chinese options like spring rolls), but the highlight is the German cuisine. Namely, the German-style pork elbow, a huge lump of fried tastiness. There’s also the German-style baked chicken, served whole, and of course, the sausage platter. Not enough meat for you? The plate of ribs may take you our of Deutschland but will satisfy your craving nonetheless.

9 Restaurant and Bar 甲九号
9 Guanghua Lu, The Place, north area
光华路9号世贸天阶北区中庭

READ: New in the Neighborhood: Latest Lunches in and Around the CBD

Images: Dianping