LumDimSum Discovery: Make a Splash in Chaoyang Park

As awesome as the Tuanjiehu Pool is with its fake beach and giant wave machine, it really does not offer me much other than visual amusement and a very mesmerizing picture of local Chinese culture (a very, very different scene than I would see at an outdoor pool party filled with Westerners ie the Riviera Pool Party).

In seeking out a nice outdoor pool, I much prefer to avoid the crowds and proper lanes so that I can actually swim laps. As you can see from the photo attached, Chaoyang Park now offers multiple pools including a massive Olympic sized pool with swimming lanes!

Although the open space pool is pretty packed in with people flapping around, the Olympic sized pool just behind was surprisingly relatively empty. Even more surprising, not only were the swimmers in this pool relatively serious, the poolside tanners were hardcore about their sun exposure. Men in tiny speedos were spread out like I’ve never seen.

Only RMB 18 to enter with lounge chairs available to rent (an additional RMB 15), the pools at Chaoyang Park gives Beijingers a much needed, easily accessible outdoor pool for some fun in the sun.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Chaoyang Park’s Pools:

Note: Most of these photos were taken at sunset (close to closing time), hence the lack of flappers in the water.

DreamWorlds: Australian Art Exhibition

Witness the Official Opening of DreamWorlds, an exhibition of Australian moving image in public space on Saturday, September 4th at 6:30PM in Sanlitun Village. RSVP required (details below).

“Dream Worlds” is a public exhibition of eight leading Australian video artists. The exhibition celebrates the diversity of Australian art. “Dream Worlds” is part of the 2010
 Australia China Cultural Year

 exhibition curated
 by
 former director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology Melinda Rackham.

Event Details: DreamWorlds: Australian Moving Image 2010

• Date: 4 September 2010
• Time: 6.30-9.00pm
• Location: Sanlitun Village, Floor 4, Building 8, Courtyard 19, Sanlitun Road. (Access next to Element Fresh. Call 1581 1173 284 for directions.)
• RSVP: rsvp@dreamworlds.com.au
• Info: www.dreamworlds.com.au
• Curator: Melinda Rackham

Slow Food Saturday @ The Schoolhouse

With an organic bread station, homemade cheese station, homemade ice cream and sorghum dumpling stations, Slow Food Saturday will be showcasing culinary traditions and delicious foods while having fun in the countryside with family and friends.

Hosted by 组织者 The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu & Slow Food Beijing, visitors can take this opportunity to get outside of Beijing and enjoy walking, biking and hiking around the Schoolhouse’s four villages – Mutianyu, Beigou, Xinying and Tianxianyu. It’s also a great chance to check out local restaurants’ special dishes, local villagers’ locally grown foods, along with culinary demonstrations.

For more information, please visit: http://www.slowfoodsaturday.org

Event Details:

• Date: Saturday, September 4
• Time: 10:30am-onwards
• Location: Mutianyu, Beigou, Xinying and Tianxianyu Villages
• Transport: We encourage guests to come up by bus. Our leaving point will be the Trek Store just south of Chaoyang Park. Buses will be leaving at 09:00 sharp! Click here for map location and directions. Round-Trip bus tickets to and from Mutianyu cost RMB 80. To reserve your seat please email: bus@slowfoodsaturday.org When you reserve please leave your name, phone number and number of people.
• Contact Tel: 13810521254

*Thank you to Greening the Beige for sharing this event with LumDimSum.

Flamme will Spread like Wildfire

If you have not already heard about Flamme, the new steakhouse in Sanlitun Village, then I have no doubt you will soon.  Especially in Beijing, I find that good (and bad) word travels like wildfire. In this particular case, it’s been all good feedback and I must say, it’s lived up to its positive reputation.

Having just opened this week, Flamme has replaced the old Pepe’s Pizza location on the third floor of Sanlitun Village with the same chef who opened Element Fresh.  As a meat lover, I have been eager to find a new steakhouse and with luck in my favor, I happened to stop in on a Tuesday night, the only night of the week they offer 2-for-1 steaks! Already a reasonable price – RMB 98 for a 150g steak, 2 steaks at this price was a steal.

Greeted by a friendly hostess, we found seating outside and were then given a tour of the interior restaurant space.  Displaying a show kitchen by the entrance, customers can actually witness their steaks being grilled over an impressive giant flame (photo above).  Unfortunately the upstairs space was occupied, so I was unable to take a look (or any photos for that matter).

Interior space:

Outdoor Seating:

Once we all had a look through the menu, our adorable waiter came over and offered his well-versed menu recommendations, explaining each of his favorite dishes, their ingredients and service presentation.  Very impressive for a newly opened restaurant!

Here were the List of Menu Recommendations:

• Appetizers: Seared-Crusted Ahi Tuna (RMB 48) & Steak Sliders (RMB 48)
• Soup: Summer Vegetable Minestrone (RMB 28)
• Salads: Steak Salad (RMB 55) & other salads are served tableside
• Flamme House Steak 150g or 260g (RMB 98/138)
• T-bone steak for 2 – 540g (RMB 398)
• Rosemary Lemon Chicken (RMB 68)
• Sides (all RMB 18): Cloud Potatoes with Crème Fraîche, Grilled Asparagus, Baby carrots, North African style cucumber, Barley Pilaf, Sticky Rice Cake

Upon ordering, we were served Yorkshire Pudding as their house complimentary bread which I found quite unusual for a steak house’s choice bread.  Tasty as it was, it was quite sweet and more of a dessert than a appetizer.

For starters, we shared an order of Steak Sliders (RMB 48): ground steak, grilled onions, tomato relish which were tasty, but very crumbly. We then ordered the 2-for-1 house steaks special which came with a side salad and a choice of the following sauces: Habanero Hollandaise, Korean BBQ sauce, Wild Mushroom Sauce, Red Eye Gravy and Demi Glace (I recommend the thick, creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce).  To compliment our steaks, we also inclined to order the Cloud Potatoes with Crème Fraîche (RMB 18). Thick and creamy, the mashed potatoes were delicious and not too heavy. And for dessert, we ordered two orders of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Lava Cake (RMB 32): Manjari Chocolate (Valrhona) & Madagascar beans with white chocolate and peanut butter molten center with vanilla ice cream on the side – how amazing does that sound??  While it was gooey and rich, the dark chocolate cake was a bit bitter for my taste and I wished the teeny, tiny scoop of ice cream was a bit more.  Overall, I highly recommend the salads, steaks and the wine list is also very reasonably priced.

Review of Flamme: S4-33, Sanlitun Village, 19 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区三里屯路19号三里屯Village3楼S4室, Tel: 6417-8608

Best Part:

• Every Tuesday, House Steak is 2-for-1!
• Menu & Drink Prices are all incredibly good value
• Staff are not only exceptionally friendly, they are also very knowledgeable of the restaurant menu and trained to recite well-versed recommendations along with dish ingredients and means of preparation.
• By the same chef who opened Element Fresh, you can count on quality ingredients and taste.
• They have Philippe Starck lights.

Comments:

• I definitely had luck on my side to pop in on a Tuesday for their 2-for-1 steak special, and even though this is by far their best weekday special, Flamme offers different drink/food specials every night of the week (Mon-Friday).
• The weather was perfect to dine outside, but the interior was also quite nice and the show kitchen is a nice touch.
• We ordered a carafe of their house wine, but I hear their cocktails are also worth trying.

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 8
• Atmosphere: 7
• Service: 8
• Overall Experience: 8

Learn the Secret Behind Healthy Chocolate Truffles

For anyone with a serious sweet tooth with a chocolate addiction, Jennifer McClelland may be your savior.

A raw foods chef and expert, Jennifer will be sharing her secret to making Chocolate Truffles in the Raw – meaning they will be vegetarian friendly, lactose and gluten free.

The secret ingredient to healthy chocolate is to just consume it in its purest form: raw cacao aka raw chocolate. (available for purchase at the World Health Store)

Did you know raw cacao is one of the highest sources of Vitamin C (and antioxidants, iron and magnesium)?  But that the heating process destroys much of the nutrients and all of the Vitamin C and enzymes in chocolate?  This class we will learn how to have our cake and eat it too!

- Jennifer McClelland on raw cacao.

Event Details:

• Date: Saturday, September 4
• Time: 2:00PM-3:30PM
• Location: World Health Store in CBD (Shangdu Soho)
• Price: Regular RMB 150; Walk-in RMB 180
• Contact: 5900-2209, www.worldhealthstore.com.cn

TERRA launches Lunch Rapido

Pause during your frantic work week and make time for a lovely lunch break with TERRA’s newly launched Lunch Rapido menu where you can enjoy 2 courses + drink for RMB 98.  Available Tuesdays-Fridays from 11-2PM.

See the menu selection here:

For a full review of TERRA, click here.

Meet Holistic Practitionner: Marianne Niederer

A featured guest of Kocoon Spa Lounge, Holistic Practitionner and Founder of Shanghai-based holistic center In-Touch, Marianne Niederer will be hosting a free talk and interactive demonstration on Wednesday, September 1 from 7:00-8:30PM at Kocoon Spa Lounge.

RSVP: kocooninfo@kocoonspalounge.com

From September 1st-19th, 2010, you can also sign up for private sessions and the following workshops:

• Private Session: Energy therapy, Tarot cards reading, pendulum consultation
• Tarot Cards Workshop
• Pendulum Workshop
• Spiritual Development Workshop
• Meditation Class to train your 6th Sense

LumDimSaying: Happiness

“Happiness is not a destination, it’s a journey.

Happiness is not tomorrow, it is now.

Happiness is not a dependency, it is a decision.

Happiness is what you are, not what you have.”

- Author Unknown

May we all be choose happiness in every waking moment of our lives.

Thank you to Asupa Motuapuaka for introducing me to these words of wisdom.

*What is a LumDimSaying? A quote I find worth noting. And sharing.

Sundays on Top with Syndicate’s Dan Stephenson

Sunshine – check.

Music – check.

Drinks – check.

BBQ – check.

If that’s not enough reasons for you to come out, Syndicate’s Dan ‘the man’ Stephenson will be on the DJ decks with his “super eclectic music selection”! Expect live musical surprises from some old and new friends, and of course, the one and only, DJ Patrick Yu, will be playing some Sunday Soundtracks.

What more could you want on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

• Date: Sunday, August 29
  
• Time: 4PM-late
• Location: Kokomo
  

LumDimSummary: Hatsune’s 9 Year Birthday Bash

After a month of rallying and putting the word out calling anyone and everyone who loves Hatsune to come out and show their love and support for this beloved restaurant group, we were joined by over 450 friends and fans in celebrating our 9 year anniversary party.

Gathering over free-flow sake, cocktails, legendary sushi rolls, brilliant sumo wrestling entertainment and Japanese drumming shows along with old school tracks courtesy of DJ Patrick Yu, Hatsune’s 9 year party exceeded not only our max capacity but our expectations.

On behalf of Alan Wong and the entire Hatsune Team, I want to give a giant bear hug and sincerely thank everyone for their continued support and for making Hatsune a Beijing legend.  It was an overwhelming turn-out, thank you to everyone for making this party such a memorable event!

What’s next for Hatsune?

Get ready for an awesome new Hatsune menu coming soon featuring new salads, new steak and seafood dishes along with over a dozen new sushi rolls including the five winners of the Hatsune sushi contest (click here to view winners).

LumDimSum Snapshots of Hatsune’s 9 Year Anniversary Party:

Hatsune Sushi Winners Pose with their winning rolls:

Hatsune sushi winners pose with Alan (L to R: Lexie, Charles, Max, Lisa, Alan & Candy)

Japanese Drum Show:

Some Serious Sumo Wrestling Action:

Hatsune Friends & Family: