Hail to Halal: Khatoon Iranian Restaurant

After my sweet, sweet discovery of delicious little Dareen’s Coffee (click for LDS review), my fellow Egyptian foodie friend and I have been inspired to discover Middle Eastern restaurants beyond the Biteapitta bubble of ignorant bliss we’d been living in and see what else Beijing has to offer!

Although the experience wasn’t entirely perfect at Dareen’s Coffee (mainly because of the stale and cold pita bread), we were delighted to stumble upon this new find and learn that the hummus, babaganoush and falafel is better here than anywhere else we’ve tried!  Since this recent discovery, I’ve been putting out the word to ask fellow foodies for restaurant tips on their favorite Middle Eastern finds and that’s when a little birdie told me about Khatoon Iranian Restaurant.

Pulling up to Khatoon on our bikes was a nice first impression. A rather large establishment, Khatoon is two stories with a wide entrance made of glass. I love the thick, green vines that wrap up the walls of the building.

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Deceptively Delicious Middle Eastern at Dareen Coffee

Try the Middle Eastern Food at Dareen Coffee

As soon as I heard a friend rave about Dareen Coffee‘s Middle Eastern food, I grabbed my Egyptian foodie friend, Paul Maksy, and hauled him over to try Dareen Coffee with me.

We almost rode right past it on our bikes since the restaurant’s exterior sign is not lit up. Located on the strip of cafes and bars just north of Sanlitun Village North, Dareen Coffee is probably a great summer spot with plenty of outdoor tables and umbrellas, but it’s interior is a very small set up resembling a take-away rather than a sit-down destination with only a handful of tables inside.

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theBeijinger’s 9th Reader Restaurant Awards: Winners, Runner Ups & LDS Picks Announced!

Family Photo Op at theBeijinger’s 9th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards

On Monday, March 19, 2012, theBeijinger just celebrated its 9th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards Ceremony at the Hilton Beijing.

Taking place from 11:30AM-2PM, the restaurant awards got my week off to a great start with a nice break on my mid-day on Monday with more food, sweets and ice cream I could have hoped for.  I was most impressed with the chocolate covered strawberries, chewy cookies and desserts by Sweet Tooth. I’m just thankful I had the self-control to resist drinking from the free flowing beer, wines, cocktails sponsored by Grand Marnier, Chimay, Leffe and Hoegaarden.

Always a grand affair, this year seemed bigger than ever with a very large crowd of both F&B big-heads and die-hard foodies. And it makes sense considering the amount of restaurants that were nominated and the strong readership who submitted ballots (thanks to social media platforms like Weibo, theBeijinger was really successful in reaching a broader audience this year).

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Nathan’s New Salad Wraps & Jinshisong Delivery

Most of you who follow LumDimSum.com know that I am always looking for a healthier option (should a healthy option be available) whenever I’m eating out.

So instead of stuffing myself with Nathan’s 100% pure beef hot dogs and chili cheese fries multiple times per week, I am now stoked to be eating (and sharing with you) their newest menu items: 3 New Savory Salad Wraps!

Available in three flavors: Spicy Chicken Tender Salad Wrap, Phillycheese Steak Salad Wrap and a warm, buttery imported Lobster Sensation Wrap (my personal favorite), these are hands-down my new go-to menu items!

Aside from being a healthier choice, these wraps are so freaking good and such great value – priced at RMB 15-25 if ordered alone and if you want to be extra healthy, you can also switch out the side of Nathan’s crinkle cut fries for a bowl of steamed corn (another favorite of mine) and a drink for only RMB 27-37 for a complete combo meal.

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The Veggie Table: Beijing’s Vegan Center

The Veggie Table has been at the top of my restaurant hit list for some time now, but you’d be surprised how difficult it is to convince meat eaters to try a vegetarian restaurant!  Considering The Veggie Table is purely vegan and about as organic as you can get in Beijing, you can imagine why it took me so long to find a fellow foodie to finally dine with me at a vegan restaurant!

While some may be turned off by words like “vegan” and “organic”, I am very much curious to find out more and always eager to turn towards a more health-conscious diet. And just the name “Veggie Table” is friggin’ adorable. I love their logo and the restaurant itself is very casual and cute with a strong hippie vibe.  So I’m being very honest when I say that before even setting foot in Veggie Table, I had high hopes for this restaurant to really live up to its claim as “Your vegan center in Beijing”.

Veggie Table’s Bar and Dessert Counter by the Entrance

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theBeijinger’s 8th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards: Hatsune Wins Best Japanese 7 Years Running

On Monday, March 21, Hatsune took home Best Japanese for the 7th year running at theBeijinger’s Reader Restaurant Awards!

Considering this was theBeijinger’s 8th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards, that’s pretty much a perfect record.

Congratulations to Alan Wong, owner of the Hatsune Empire, for holding it strong and staying on top of the game 7 years straight.  That’s gotta be the longest-running record in town!

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CW Reader’s Choice Awards vs. LumDimSum

Unlike theBeijinger and Time Out magazines, CityWeekend lumps both the Dining & Nightlife Award Categories into one evening rather than split it up into two events. And for the first time this year, CityWeekend changed it up and actually kept the vote count visible to the public and made sure that every voter had a validated CW User Name Account.

If you are interested in comparing results, check out theBeijinger Restaurant Awards Breakdown posted here.  Time Out’s Restaurant Awards Breakdown is posted here.

I unfortunately was not in Beijing to attend the CityWeekend’s awards ceremony at Brasserie Flo, but word on the street was that it was packed and the turn-out was impressive.

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Have Been: Alameen

Ranked as one of Beijing’s top destinations for quality falafel, I had to check out Alameen and see for myself if the rumors rang true.

A beautiful sunny day, I opted to sit outside on their outside patio to enjoy the weather and doubled as a nice place to people watch the groups of Arabic diners coming and going throughout the lunch period. I took that as a promising sign.

To start off my meal, I ordered the Alameen fresh fruit juice combo (RMB 25), which was as refreshing to my eyes as my taste buds.

Flipping through the large menu, the appetizers ranged from various hummus & eggplant salads (RMB 20), falafel (RMB 20), soups (RMB  20), salads (RMB 20-25), sandwiches (RMB 20-25), Grilled Meat Platter (RMB 80), Seafood Platter (RMB 50), Grilled dishes (RMB 45) along with some South Asian cuisine.

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