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.

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:

Hatsune Contest Winners Announced!

Out of the 15 entries I received, Alan and I decided there were too many good creations to choose from so we selected our top 5 favorite.

Officially introduced at Hatsune’s EPIC 9 Year Anniversary Party last night, let me announce the winning sushi rolls from Hatsune’s sushi roll contest.

A BIG thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their genius creations, and for anyone who has always wanted to make their dream roll a reality, feel free to submit me more suggestions as we will continue to add to Hatsune’s ever-growing list of delicious sushi rolls. (contact me directly: kristen@lumdimsum.com).  Winning roll creations will be rewarded with a complimentary dinner for two including your new creation, RMB 1,000 Hatsune gift card and a lifetime of bragging rights.

Without further ado, let me present these incredible new additions to Hatsune’s new menu (in no particular order as each of these creations are all winners!):

1.  Flory Hand Roll by Charles Chan

Shiso mint leaf, scorched salmon and raw quail egg with black tobiko

Flory Hand Roll is made for an adventurous palate

2. Megatron Roll by Lisa Qin

Tempura jalapeno, spicy tuna, masago topped with avocado, chopped spicy unagi and shichimi chili powder

Megatron guarantees to knock your senses out with some serious spice!

3.   candy&caviar Roll by Candy Lin

A creation by candy&caviar fashion label: deep fried sweet potato, crab salad, avocado and cucumber topped with yellowtail, wasabi mayo and caviar

candy&caviar roll is the perfect balance of playful purity and dark sophistication

4. Maximus Prime Roll by Maxime Pourrat

Prime Rib Steak Tartare and avocado rolled with sweet amaebi shrimp sashimi

Upgraded Deluxe Version: Kobe beef steak tartare and avocado rolled with live lobster sashimi

Maximus Prime is the ultimate roll that will take you to the max!

5. Lollipop Handroll Trio by Lexie Morris

#1: Filled with sweet coconut rice and slices of mango and papaya, garnished with twists of lime and grated coconut

#2: Filled with black sesame ice cream, garnished with toasted black sesame seeds and sliced kiwi

#3: 2 blended mini vanilla cupcakes with lollipop garnish

Hatsune Winners from L to R: Lexie, Charles, Max, Candy & Lisa

Cheers with Cava: Spanish Wine Tasting

Hosted by MPC Wines and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, enjoy 4 pours of selected Spanish wines paired with Spanish tapas from 7:30PM-9:30PM on Thursday, Aug.26 at the Westin Chaoyang.

Learn about the exotic wines from Tierra de Granada, the sweet crispiness of our cavas, or the mineral and peach notes of Spain’s most representative white: albariño. A unique opportunity to explore and compare the top Spanish wine regions.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday, 26th August, 2010
• Time: 19:30-21:30PM
• Wines: Cava Oriol Rosell Rosé (90 pts RP), Cava 1+1:3 (87 pts RP), Lagar de Bouza (Albariño), Almaraes (Tierra del Norte de Granada)
• Price: 100 RMB net. Includes 4 pours of selected wines from Spain plus Tapas to pair the wines.

• Location: MIX @ The Westin Chaoyang (7 North Dongsanhuan Road Tel: 5922-8880)

LumDimSummary: Indulged for a Cause @ ROOM

Beijing Foodies 2 Year Birthday Bash was my very first time dining at ROOMbeijing and needless to say, I was absolutely blown away!

When I signed up for this event, I was stoked to see such a good valued meal – a 3-course menu + 2 glasses of wine for only RMB 150 per person. With 3 dishes listed under starters, mains and 2 desserts, I was expecting everyone to pick and choose their selections out of the set menu but then every single item on the menu came out family-style so we got to try everything!

For starters, we were served a 42-ingredient salad, tuna tartar with avocado and Italian ham with arugula salad.  While I was most intrigued to try the 42-ingredient salad, the tuna tartar won me over with the giant chunks of avocado and marinade for the tuna.

For mains, the rack of lamb and BBQ pork noodles were both tasty, but the star dish of the night was by far the Whole Roasted Baby Chicken.  Slow-cooked and soaked in whiskey for 24 hours, the chicken was incredibly tender and juicy and I was also a big fan of the sticky rice.

Ending on a sweet note, the ti-ROOM-isu was a giant block of goodness and the Milk Chocolate Mousse Bars were attached to a pile of POP Rocks!  Been ages since I’ve had pop rocks crackling in my mouth; it was such an unexpected treat!

LumDimSum Snapshots of the 8-dish Meal by ROOM:

OVERALL:

Serving 8 amazing dishes all family style, I applaud ROOM for offering this incredibly generous menu selection, for their very professional and efficient service for a packed house of 152 hungry diners, and hats off to owner Brian McKenna for doubling the total funds raised (RMB 12,759.70 + $50CND) with proceeds all donated to the featured charity group of this event: Compassion for Migrant Children (CMC).

This dinner was such a treat, I’d like to give a shout out and say thank you to Xixi Cheng & the BJ Foodies Group for organizing such a spectacular dinner event!

Review of ROOMbeijing: 301-302, 3/F, PARK LIFE, Beijing Yintai Center, 2 Jianguomenwai Street, 建国门外大街2号, 银泰中心3层 , Tel: 8517-2033

Best Part:

• Chef Brian McKenna’s innovative food creations and playful dishes. This is definitely a place for major foodies who appreciate creativity.
• You can count on quality ingredients and beautiful presentation.
• Very professional waitstaff and service was surprisingly efficient for a relatively new restaurant.
• Table set-up is as innovative as their cuisine – they have submerged lazy susan’s!  Each setting also has a unique utensil holder that fits everything from your chopsticks, fork, knife and spoon to your dessert utensils when you flip it over!  Love little details like that.  Very creative.
• The bathrooms are AWESOME.  My favorite part was the illusion mirrors ie. the “skinny” lengthening mirror.

Comments:

• This BJ Foodies 2 Year Birthday Bash was my first dining experience at ROOM, so my impressions of the food, decor and service may be unique to the average dining experience.  And while the 8 dish set menu + 2 glasses of wine was a steal at RMB 150, I have no idea what that price would have been normally.  But overall, in terms of food, ROOM delivered beyond expectations, the staff was very professional and everyone seemed to have a great night!
• While I liked the sofas and was a BIG fan of the table set-up (lazy susan & utensil holder), I was not a fan of the colorful chairs, the colorful walls and the giant, vibrant posters that look like movie advertisements.  I felt like I was sitting in a kindergarten classroom.

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

• Food: 9
• Atmosphere: 6
• Service: 9
• Overall Experience: 8

LumDimSum Snapshots of this BJ Foodies event:

Countdown: 3 Days Until Hatsune’s 9 Year Celebration!

Hatsune Friends & Fans:

Don’t forget it’s Hatsune’s 9 year anniversary party on Aug. 25 from 9PM-onwards.

The more the merrier, so please feel free to help me spread the word and invite all your friends to join the fun!!

If you can make it, please RSVP with me directly: kristen@lumdimsum.com.

Event details here:

Hatsune’s 9 Year Anniversary will be held on Wednesday, August 25 at Hatsune Sanlitun Village.

Party will take place at Hatsune Sanlitun Village and we will be celebrating with anyone and everyone who loves Hatsune.

A Ticket to enter a wonderful world of free flow sake, dangerously good cocktails and Hatsune’s legendary sushi rolls is RMB 150 at the door.

Expect nothing less of Epic.

    * Date: Wednesday, August 25
    * Time: From 9PM-1AM
    * Location: Hatsune Sanlitun Village
    * Tickets: RMB 150 per person
    * Reservations: kristen@lumdimsum.com

LumDimSummary: Migas Soft & Grand Openings

A newly opened Spanish restaurant on the 6th floor of Nali Patio, Migas celebrates their restaurant opening with both a private soft opening party on Wednesday, August 18 and a grand opening launch party on Friday, August 20th.

Despite the pouring rain on Wednesday night, Migas still managed to pack the house serving everyone Spanish wines and cava (sparkling Spanish wine) together with a wide selection of giant Spanish and Mediterranean tapas.

While the rooftop lounge opened this weekend, the restaurant will officially be opening on Tuesday, August 24, 2010.

• Address: 6/F, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun North Road, 三里屯北街81号那里花园6层
• Tel: 5208-6061

Snapshots of Migas’ Invite-Only Soft Opening Party on Wednesday, Aug. 18:

Rooftop Lounge Opening Party on Friday, August 20: