The Gigantic New Great Leap Brewing Brewpub

New Great Leap Brewing Brewpub Grub

Though I’m still heart-broken over the sudden close of The Taco Bar, Great Leap Brewing‘s new Brewpub on Xinzhong Street (north of Workers Stadium) has helped me ease through my withdrawal pains. It’s not the same, but it never really is.

The beginning of May 2013 saw the first soft-opening tasting-trials where the limited number of open seats were swooped up almost instantly, but I was lucky enough to snag a table of 10 at the last available time on the last Monday, May 6th at 9:30PM.

I gotta say, this new Great Leap spot totally caught me off-guard.  I was astonished when I first walked up their steps and through their front doors.  Expecting something more similar to their original space, I was almost embarrassed at how wrong I was. This new brewpub is nothing like their original space.  Not only is it gigantic (it’s more than 500 square meters), it’s kind of fancy!  Not that their original space isn’t absolutely lovely, but I always attributed that to its tucked-away space in a tree-filled hutong courtyard. This new location is actually just as down-to-earth as the original (the decor is minimal, the lighting is dim and there’s almost nothing in terms of “decor”), but there’s something about the open layout that seems to make everything a little more visible (people included). Perhaps it was the just-left-the-office-work-dress crowd that made me feel like a bum showing up straight after a sweaty, back-to-back double session of HeyRunning and Heyrobics.

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Mao Mao Chong Starts Up Sunday Pie Nights

Mao Mao Chong’s Newest Homemade Creations

From a distance, these could be confused for egg tarts (or maybe I just have a thing for egg tarts). But look a little closer and they’re actually homemade beef and veggie pies by Mao Mao Chong (MMC) 毛毛虫. 

Known for their creative house-infused cocktails and late-night pizzas that some would argue are the best in Beijing, Mao Mao Chong is as crafty with their food creations as they are with their drinks.  Most recently, they’re proud to announce the arrival of their newest homemade recipes - “homemade chunky red wine beef pie (45RMB) and Veggie Pie (40RMB)”. 

The initiation of these newest items will begin this Sunday and I have no doubt these these chunky pies will fit right in to their current menu selection of pizzas and brunch spread of homemade fruit bread and sausage rolls.

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Capital M: Spring Menu + Food Revolution Week

Taste M’s New Spring/Summer Menu 

From a vibrant green organic salad sprinkled with pretty pink petals to a “Variety of Eggplant Dishes” or as I like to call “a party of eggplants and everyone’s invited”, Capital M‘s new Spring/Summer menu is a delightful new addition of sure-to-be-new-favorites on their classic menu of modern European cuisine.

Gathering a table of foodies together, we sampled our way through a medley of M’s proud new menu additions including 4 different starters and 3 mains before  topping it all off with their marvelous Grand Dessert Platter (as if we weren’t being spoiled enough)!

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One East Hilton Goes Green: Natural & Organic Menu

The Hilton Beijing’s New Natural & Organic Menu at One East

I appreciate that the Hilton Beijing makes an effort to be different.  A lot of the major hotel chains in Beijing can be quite stiff and cookie-cutter boring, but not the Hilton Beijing.  These are the same guys known to host pole dancing competitions and bring in a mechanical bull for their annual Texan Rodeo Charity Event, which was not only hilarious, but super fun to get whipped off a spinning and jerking giant, fake bull.  As I said, not your typical hotel chain branch.  I was quite curious when I heard about their new “Natural and Organic Promotion” in their Louisiana-style American restaurant One East.

One East adapts the style of a Louisiana mansion with dark wood and louvered windows

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Off-Menu Chef’s Dinner with Alan-san at Kagen

Off-the-Menu Chef’s Dinner for serious Hatsune Addicts

It’s not every day that you will catch Hatsune Restaurant Owner Alan Wong slaving away in the kitchen (he has his team of sushi samurais to take on most of the grunt work), but when he is in the kitchen, everyone knows something special is in the making.

Always inventing and recreating new (and often one-off) dishes, it would be a shame to let these beautiful creations slip away unnoticed so I’ve taken it upon myself to organize small dinners for our die-hard Hatsune sushi addicts to present an exclusive dinner of “Off Menu Creations”.

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Get in Shape for Summer: HeyRunning Summer Camp

 Summer Tip-Top Shape

Warmer weather means a change in wardrobe (no more puffy jackets and multiple layers of pants), but in bringing back out those short shorts and fitted t-shirts, you quickly realize that things might have fit a bit better last summer. Less clothing means it’s time to get in shape for summer!

Spring was a poor show with unexpected temperature drops, strong gusty winds and fuzz balls that attack your nasal passageways, but summer looks promising and after a never-ending winter, all I want to do is spend my summer outdoors and HeyRunning is a perfect solution to get fit, spend extra hours outdoors and start “sweating like a Swede”.

The enthusiastic, energetic team led by Swedish fitness God Linus Holmsater is back in full force and sign-ups have already begun for their Summer 2013 HeyRunning Camp.

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Traitor Zhou’s Brunch Menu with Hentai Chicken Maki

Traitor Zhou’s Kaifeng Nonkosher Delicatessen has just launched a weekend brunch with some pretty intriguing, diverse dishes on their menu that range from New Orleans Style French Toast to Hentai Maki Fried Chicken and Crazy Catalan Sausage.  Drinks are equally as unique with everything from Cafe Diablo (coffee with rum) to Retired Aitor’s Sangria (aged one year in their ham room) and The Pickled Jew (their version of a Bloody Mary with pickled okra and tomato shochu).

“There won’t be any giant frozen seafood platters or waiters in not very clever t-shirts filling empty bottles of champagne with Watson’s soda water and Dragonseal White.  What you will find: REAL FOOD, REAL COCKTAILS and an IPAD FILLED WITH ALL THE GREATEST MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS OF THE EIGHTIES.

As well as all the food being made from our great selection of house cured, organic meats and our cocktails being made from all our own pickles, bitters and syrups, we have Ocean Grounds coffee on grind and the only HENTAI CHICKEN MAKI this side of Sandy Beach.” – Max Levy, Okra Works

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Learn to Bake Girl Scout Cookies at The Hutong

Learn to Make Samoas: My Absolute Favorite Girl Scout Cookies

Part of their Baking Made Easy series, The Hutong is hosting a Girl Scout Cookies Class where passionate baker Chef Ali indulges in her love for these American-treasured treats.  

More than just addictive boxes of goodness, these cookies are sold annually by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) as one of their major fundraisers for local Scout units.  And the effects are widespread.  I’m not exaggerating when I say people go bananas for these cookie boxes.  According to Wikipedia, Girl Scout Cookie Sales estimate about 200 million boxes per year. If you’ve ever had these cookies, you’d know exactly why I turn into Cookie Monster once these cookies are in my sights. 

“The epitome of American nostalgia, these cookies are sold by millions of American girls to support their girl scout troops and are a nationwide favorite. Americans look forward to the annual cookie sale – the one chance to buy a box of their favorites. Come learn more about this American tradition, or grab the chance to taste some of your favorites from home.”  - The Hutong Kitchen

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