FOoDiEs Crawl: A Charity Collaboration by 4 Fantastic Restaurants

November 11 & 12th: Crawl Your Way Through China World Shopping Mall

A collaborative event between four big names in Beijing’s F&B world and with the purpose of supporting a worthwhile and relevant cause, the BJ FOoDiEs team is responsible for creating the upcoming FOoDiEs Crawl. Here’s your chance to round up all the foodies you know so you can literally eat and drink your way through the new China World Shopping Mall.

For those who aren’t familiar with BJ FOoDiEs, they are a group that rounds up Beijing’s die-hard foodies who like to eat while supporting a worthwhile cause with monthly charity dinners. But instead of just hosting a dinner at one restaurant, they’re changing things up this November with an event that spreads across 4 restaurants and an entire weekend. While their events are known for hosting charity dinners at different restaurants around Beijing for an amazing price of RMB 100-150 per person, this month is a twist on their standard format. And FOoDiEs can all expect the same steal-of-a-deal they love about this group.

Selecting the new China World Shopping Mall as a prime spot filled with practically more restaurants than there are retail shops, BJ FOoDiEs has rounded up some of their favorite spots – 小Susu, Migas Mercado, HANA by Hatsune and F Bistronome – to offer an opportunity for foodies to eat your way through four restaurants who happen to all be conveniently located in one place. So foodies can “crawl” their way to each stop for a tasty bite and beverage.

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Bao House: Intimate Omakase

Introducing BAO HOUSE – no, not the German architectural movement (Bauhaus, same pronunciation but different spelling) and no, not the Opposite House’s gourmet food truck serving fusion baozi and mantou sandwiches (which was turned this past June into a dog-friendly pop-up called Summer Howl), the Bao House I’m talking about is the new little Japanese restaurant serving omakase-style sushi in an intimate, personable space.

Opened in the Topwin Centre next to Beyond Yakitori on the 3rd floor, Bao House is an unassuming looking place from the outside. Don’t let that fool you though, as what happens inside is pretty special!

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From Cali to China: Hatsune Hosts Ono ‘Aloha ‘Āina’ Pop-Up Dinners

‘Āina is a True Taste of Hawaii (Photo Credit: @BayAreaFoodCritics)

Hawaii is the dream. A tropical paradise drawing images from sleepy palm trees, pristine blue waves, and active volcanos to hip-swinging hula dancers in grass skirts and flower leis to sun-tanned surfers, ukuleles and tall tikis. If you ask me, I basically think about Moana.

With such rich diversity in the natural landscape, Hawaiian cuisine is a colorful tapestry of flavors and traditions that have been influenced by the settlement and immigration of indigenous Polynesians, European, Japanese, Chinese, and Americans. Before I continue describing how complex and unique Hawaiian cuisine is, let’s first get something straight – please delete Hawaiian pizza from any association with Hawaiian cuisine. Hawaiian pizza was, in fact, created by Greek-Canadian named Sam Panopoulos who originally came up with the controversial combination of canned pineapple on a pizza with ham.

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HANA by Hatsune: Innovative Japanese with Artful Presentation

Guomao’s China World Shopping Mall is still opening and the end doesn’t appear to be in sight! Next up on the list is HANA by Hatsune.

Hatsune is one of the OGs of the Beijing food scene and has been constantly pushing to provide the best food and service since then. Now, with more than a decade of experience, founder Alan Wong wanted to show off what they have learned with a new concept called HANA.

Meaning “flower” in Japanese and “family” in Hawaiian, HANA is focused on family-style sharing in an ambiance that’s inspired by Kyoto’s bamboo forests, which is a striking contrast to the full floor-to-ceiling window views of Beijing’s growing CBD skyline.

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Locavore (Ubud, Bali): World Class Dining for Brilliant Balinese

Locavore in Ubud, Bali: A Spectacular Introduction to Indonesian Ingredients & Flavors

I went to Bali. There, I said it. I don’t want this post to be me boasting about how good my life is, I really want to highlight how damn good this meal was. I want everyone to go out of their way to go to this restaurant because this was a real highlight of our trip. While it may not be worth purchasing a flight to Bali, it’s absolutely worth the effort once you find yourself on this incredible island!

With Bali in my calendar for our dear friends’ wedding, I had been given the inside scoop about a restaurant in Ubud called Locavore. What started out as a trusted foodie recommendation, I quickly realized that Locavore is pretty much at the top of every foodie article related to Bali and rated not only on “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list (2017) but also Indonesia’s #1 restaurant (2016).  Months in advance of our trip, I booked a table for lunch the day we were scheduled to arrive, which also happens to be the only slot available for the entire length of my stay! As luck would have it, I had a horrific flight over full of delays, extensions, all the fun that comes with flying anywhere when you live in China. Thanks to our 28 hour flight delay, we consequentially missed our booking. #sadface

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Village Café: From Smoothie Bowls to Poké Bowls

When it first opened, The Opposite House was the talk of the town. It changed the perception of the entire Sanlitun street which was previously notorious for tourist-trap bars with bad KTV, pole dancers and fake booze. Classy and modern in design, The Opposite House was opened alongside Sanlitun Taikoo Li South (previously known as Sanlitun Village), all run and managed by Swire Properties. Not only a smart and cool boutique hotel, The Opposite House was a dining and party destination itself with restaurants producing some of the best food in the city and Punk was one of the go-to places for hipsters to get drunk and dance to sick beats every night of the week.

Somewhere in the last few years it lost some of that sparkle. Punk was replaced by Jing Yaa Tang, a duck restaurant where everyone goes for the all-you-can-eat dim sum deal, Bei closed and Sureño has seen a few turn-overs in head chefs.

Fortunately, in the past year or so, there has been somewhat of a renaissance and the Opposite House has upped it’s game once more.

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Hatchery Hosts Bird On A Wire: Socially Responsible Rotisserie Chicken

The Hatchery are back at it, this time bringing in Bird on a Wire from New Zealand. A restaurant that is passionate about spreading the word regarding sustainable farming practices, especially those towards poultry, the focus here is on rotisserie chicken and the Hatchery have been excited about hosting their Beijing incubator for a while!

A successful brand with three restaurants in New Zealand, Bird On a Wire has developed a strong local following by making delicious handmade takeaways and meals with free-range chicken, that are nutritionally and ethically guilt-free. Bird on a Wire “believes in delicious food that nourishes our bodies” and their mission is to “feed the world better food”.

Whilst free-range chicken has not yet become mainstream in China, BOAW and Hatchery are passionate about the potential education and leadership opportunities to promote more ethically-sourced chicken. “Ultimately it’s about giving our customer the confidence they are eating the safest, tastiest and best cared for chicken in town,” remarked BOAW’s Ben Grant. “If we can help China progress in their ethically-sourced food journey and share some of our knowledge from New Zealand, that’s a big tick in our books for our international strategy.”

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Q Mex’s Taqueria: Go for 1/2 Price Taco Tuesdays!

Q Mex was, in my mind, the classic business in China story where investors open a restaurant, bring in a good foreign chef to consult and after great first impressions, the foreign chef departs and then begins its slow descent into oblivion, only drawing crowds for their 1/2 off food specials and extended happy hour drink deals.

Q Mex seemingly has defied this trend and resurrected itself and in the process, opened up a new branch: Q Mex Taqueria: Taco & Tequila Bar.

Focused on tacos and tequila (as their signage says), it is located just north of International S.O.S. aka Raffles Medical Center, next to Bottega’s massive new relocation.

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