Indulge for a Cause: BJ FOoDiEs at Haiku by Hatsune

While often used as the guinea pigs during the soft opening of new restaurants, the BJ FOoDiEs group is very much in the loop when it comes to new restaurant openings and all too familiar with the pros and cons of hitting up these new restaurants in big numbers. While they tend to have forgiving expectations when it comes to service speed and efficiency, they still expect to be fed well and leaving every event feeling like they got a great meal in taste, portions and value. It is a charity event after all!

Well, this month the BJ FOoDiEs team is giving their entourage an invite to a meal at a restaurant that’s been around for over 10 years and part of a very well-known restaurant group – the playful and popular Californian-Japanese Hatsune brand that was the first to make creative, non-traditional sushi rolls in China. While many foodies may frequent Hatsune, they may never have been to Haiku before.

With a handful of branches in Shanghai and a couple in Beijing, the Haiku brand was previously a sister restaurant of the original Hatsune group. But after a few facelifts and a change in the management team, Haiku is back under the Hatsune umbrella and has combined two wonderful worlds of sushi and teppanyaki under one glorious roof.

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White Tiger Village: Innovative, Quality Chuan’er by Beixinqiao

Not Your Average Beijing Chuan’er

I first reviewed White Tiger Village about 1.5 years ago and while I saw the potential, I also saw that it still had some kinks to iron out.

An innovative concept, White Tiger Village 白老虎屯 is an experimental Chuan’er 串儿 (obligatory pirate accent for proper Beijing pronunciation) and Dong Bei 东北 restaurant. The name comes from owner Nathan Zhang’s hometown and while the original concept was a selection of dishes that Nathan has recreated based on his mother recipes, he’s since started working with a new chef consultant named Starry, who was trained at Attica restaurant in Melbourne, Australia (ranked #33 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list).

When I recently went back for a re-visit, I was delighted to see that the kinks have been thoroughly ironed. When summer hits, this restaurant will be one of my go-to’s. The only thing it is lacking now is a balcony! That being said, they do have a few seats outside for those who don’t mind a bit of fuzz flying about. #BeijingSpringProblems

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Beyond Yakitori Launches Satisfying Lunch Sets

Beyond Yakitori Launches New Lunch Sets

Last year when the Topwin Center was just opening, Beyond Yakitori was one of my highlights. Catching up with the owner, Chris Niu, he said that he feels like the restaurant is finally hitting its stride and will be introducing some new dishes and offers over the coming months. Chief among them is expanding their opening hours to also include a weekday lunch service, which officially launches this Monday, April 10th (available Mondays through Fridays).

There are 6 lunch sets to choose from including two salads, two rice based dishes and two noodle dishes (one ramen soup and one stir-fried udon) that come as a bento style set. All 6 sets come paired with either a savoury and comforting side seasonal soup and/or a refreshing side salad. The soup we tasted was a miso cooked cauliflower puree, which Chris says will rotate between different seasonal vegetables. The side salad was exceptional – a delightful combination of charcoal-grilled cucumber and pineapple with chopped chili and coriander that supplied a pleasant pop of flavours.

Almost all the lunch sets are RMB 48 with the exception of the Beyond Salmon Salad, which is RMB 68.

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Migas’ La Feria Brunch: Feel the Andalusian Vibes

Although winter hit back with a vengance earlier this week, the gorgeous blue skies are back and Spring feels like it’s finally sprung!

Timing couldn’t be better as Migas is launching it’s new La Feria weekend brunch, designed to show off the colorful vivacity of the Andalucia region of Spain.

“Inspired by the raucous festivals in the south of Spain, Migas is pleased to bring you “La Feria” brunch! One of the most popular regional festivals in Spain is “La Feria de Abril” celebrated every April in Sevilla. This is the first and biggest feria to kick off spring every year, and afterwards, others cities and towns in the south of Spain then host their own ferias, with very characteristic elements in common: 1. To celebrate that the warm season has arrived 2. To enjoy yummy traditional snacks and drinks 3. Sing and dance in all the different “casetas” (striped tents), while dressed up in the bright and colourful traditional costumes. All the bright colours, flowers and music creates a one-of-a-kind magical Andalusian energy floating around.” – The Migas Team

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BJ FOoDiEs is Back with 京A’s Brewer’s Brunch

Try Out the New Brewer’s Brunch at Jing-A Taproom with the BJ FOoDiEs Clan!

As we welcome back warmer weather this Spring (it’s rainy and dreary now, but meant to warm straight back up in time for the weekend), it’s high time that we start getting out more during the day to soak up some much needed Vitamin D! Whether you’re nursing a hangover or not quite ready to wrap up the weekend, Sundays are always 100x more spectacular when you have a boozy brunch scheduled!

Who needs coffee when you’ve got Beergarita and Beer Belly-ni on the menu?!

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Stuff Your Face with Cookies for a Great Cause: 4th Annual Cookie Monster Bake-Off

The Hutong + LDS Brings You an Event that Would Make Cookie Monster Go Bonkers

For all you Cookie Monsters in Beijing, get ready to eat your heart out!

An annual event co-hosted by The Hutong and yours truly, this is the event that gets me as giddy as Christmas does each and every year. Designed for insatiable cookie addicts who have a bottomless pit for homemade, stuff-your-face-silly cookies, we’re about to make your cookie dreams come true this Sunday, March 19th from 2PM-5PM.

Our Cookie Monster Bake-Off will feature 21 different types of creative cookies, each one made from scratch by 21 brilliant bakers based in Beijing. There will be more than your fair share of cookies to munch your way through, it really doesn’t get much better than this!

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TRB Bites: Guest Chef Damiano Nigro from Piedmont, Italy

Chef Damiano Nigro (Michelin 1 Star, Villa d’Amelia) brings Progressive Italian from the Hills of Barolo to the Kitchen at TRB Bites

When foodies look at a Michelin map, it’s clear that there is a concentration of Michelin restaurants in one little area in Italy’s northwest region called Piedmont. From Langhe to Barolo to Alba, this area is a mountainous region famous for its white truffles (considered the best in the world), fondue, Barolo wines and thin breadsticks called grissini. Piedmont is also reputed to be Italy’s most culinarily progressive region, which makes sense that they are snatching up so many Michelin stars.

Beijing now has the privilege to have a taste of Piedmont as TRB Bites welcomes their first guest chef of 2017, who also happens to be the first Italian chef that they have ever hosted. Chef Damiano Nigro is introduced as an Italian culinary force with 1 Michelin star as the executive chef of the 4 star Relais “Villa d’Amelia” in Piedmont, where he still works today. While Chef Damiano has traveled all over the world and cooked in Germany, France, England, Spain, New York and Taiwan, he’s taken the inspiration he’s received in each place and applied it to his intense focus in the kitchen.

A recommendation to TRB by a foodie who was previous based in Beijing, Chef Damiano is in Beijing for just a week, presenting a lunch menu (RMB 480 per person) and a dinner menu (RMB 680 per person) between Wednesday, March 8th-Sunday, March 12th.

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Pachakutiq: Peruvian Pop-Up’s Second Iteration

Pachakutiq is a Peruvian gastronomic bar and restaurant that I previously reviewed when they first opened as a small pop-up, taking over the evening shift of Cafe Flatwhite in the CBD Dawanglu at China Central Place.

Now, they have expanded their menu offerings and moved into a new location in Sanlitun SOHO so I was keen to get down there and see what developments have been made.

I had known that they moved from their very temporary pop-up shop to a permanent space in the B1 level of Sanlitun SOHO, which is a big step for them. But I didn’t realize that the new restaurant is still in collaboration with Cafe Flatwhite, so once again the space is a Cafe Flatwhite by day and morphs into Pachakutiq by night. The main difference is that this time the space has a better (and larger) kitchen so the menu has significantly expanded.

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