Meet Cuju’s Baby Brother: Caravan Soft Opening

Posted: February 18th, 2015 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: Foodies & Dining Scene | Tags: B. Ooger, Badr Benjalloun, Brazilian Embassy, Caravan, Casa Brasil, Cuju, Cuju Beijing, Guanghua Lu, Guest Contributor, Guest Post, Moroccan Rum Bar, Soft Opening | No Comments »

Caravan is the Baby Brother of Cuju Rum Bar (By Badr Benjalloun)

Caravan shows a lot of promise but as yet it is a little raw.

Taking over the space previously occupied by Casa Brasil next to the Brazilian Embassy on Guanghua Lu, Caravan is Badr Benjelloun’s latest venture. You can see the LDS review of his established Moroccan rum bar Cuju, here.

Just opened and still in the soft opening stage, Caravan is bigger, but younger brother to the Beixinqiao original.

Simply decorated, and with a limited menu at the moment it nonetheless shows promise. I ate there a couple of times in the past 2 weeks. Once for a friend’s birthday dinner (with a fixed menu) and again later in the week for lunch.

For the fixed menu, we had the spiced olives as finger food, the Sharmula, a Chicken tagine and then the Caravan Flambe.

The olives were lovely and juicy, succulent but not overpowering. It was however a small portion that was devoured quickly by those in the group who had arrived only 20 minutes to half an hour late, only to find that they were in fact the first to arrive.

The Sharmula to follow was ok but served cold. This was understandable as we were a large group and they are obviously still ironing out service, but the flavours were definitely muted and the dish would have been much better hot.

Carrots Sharmula

The Tagine too came out cold which was a shame as the dish tasted pretty good despite this. The chicken was tender and hadn’t dried up, and the accompanying cous cous had a nice flavour.

Saucy Tagine

Veggie Option for the Main (Part of the Set Dinner Menu)

Finally, the Caravan Flambe. Didn’t know what to make of this one, the taste of rum was pretty overpowering in the dish which suggests to me that they forgot to flambe it. Presentation could also be improved with this one.

Onto lunch.

A much more simple affair costing 68RMB for 2 courses or 98 for 3, I had the Oasis salad and the Beef Saloui.

The Oasis salad was a pretty standard salad, not much else to say on that front.

The beef Saloui was the dish which disappointed me the most because it is really close to being an excellent dish. The Beef itself was fine but didn’t strike me as having been marinated long enough, I would also have liked a little more meat for the price. The rest of the dish was excellent. The rice was very moreish and the zucchini had a nice charred flavour although once again I would have liked a little more than the 5 slices placed daintily on top of the dish.

All in all, my recommendation would be to let them iron out the kinks and visit after Spring Festival when hopefully they will have gotten everything up and running at full speed.

Content and Photos by Guest Contributor B. Ooger:  He once ate everything you could eat at an all-you-can-eat-buffet.

Caravan’s Contact Details:

• Address: 44 Guanghua Lu, 光华路44号

• Tel: +86 10 8563 0801

• Soft Opening, Hours May Vary

• Website: Click here.

Read More About Caravan:

• theBeijinger

• CityWeekend

• SmartBeijing

Other Suggested LDS Articles:

• Cuju: Miracle Rummery, Sports Bar + Moroccan Bistrot

• LumDimSum Discovery: Schindler’s Pork Knuckle

• Farm to Neighbors: Hutong Organic Farmers Market

• Nanjing Impressions: Taste of China’s Ancient Capital

• Zui Yakitori Bar on Xingfucun Zhonglu

---