LumDimSum: CityWeekend’s Gourmet Guru

Interview: Kristen Lum Tells Us Why She LOVES Gourmet Month

CW Spotlights HAITI RISE

HAITI RISE Campaign Finale Party @ Hatsune Sanlitun Village Spotlighted on the Home Page of CityWeekend:

Date: Thursday, February 4

Location: Hatsune Sanlitun Village

Photos courtesy of EventPod.

RMB 72,200 was raised within three hours of the Haiti Rise Campaign Finale Party.

GRAND TOTAL RAISED FROM THE HAITI RISE CAMPAIGN: RMB 430,935

For a full gallery of photos from HAITI RISE Finale Campaign: http://eventpod.smugmug.com/Charity/HAITI-RISE-Campaign-Finale/11168584_ytPp7#782898775_8nTA9

Creole Comfort: Nola

Recently opened beside Pauls’ Steak & Eggs is Nola, a New Orleans cajun restaurant with a menu full of gumbo, jambalaya, grits, beignets and po’boys. After reading Erica Chen’s (CW) raving review of the their fresh baked cookies kicking Betty Crocker‘s ass, I made sure to mark Nola as my next spot to review.

I was pleasantly surprised to walk into a cozy restaurant full of tables with big groups of people dining with bottles of wine and enjoying plenty of good Southern food. I went up to check out the seats on the second floor, but as it was completely empty, I grabbed the last remaining table for two on the first floor.  The atmosphere on the first floor was warm and wonderful with a nice bar behind us and a welcoming energy all around. Nola’s menu is one of those that sounds so good you want to order and sample everything, it was impossible to decide what to order.  As my friend Cody and I were trying to figure out what to share, our eyes widened (and there may have possibly been drool) when we saw our neighboring table’s orders of Parmesan fries (RMB 23), Cornbread muffins (RMB 15), Mushroom and White Bean Salad (RMB 27), 225 g. Australian Strip-loin steak (RMB 130) and Pork tenderloin bordered with layers of bacon (RMB 115). 

We ended up ordering the Salad with a bacon and poached egg (RMB 35) and Seafood -Shrimp, Seabass and sausage Jambalaya (RMB 95), topped off with their batch of fresh baked cookies (RMB 20) and thick, rich apple cider (RMB 30). For all the orders of food we saw come out of the kitchen, everything looked mouth-watering and massive, which is why we didn’t want to over-order. But the one main entree we did order, the seafood jambalaya was pretty skimpy with two small shrimps, two small pieces of sea bass and a side of jambalaya rice.  I hate it when you are drooling over everyone else’s dishes and see that the one you chose to order was a bad decision. Don’t get me wrong, the dish was alright, but it pales in comparison to the other entrees I saw come out of the kitchen.

With a continuously updated seasonal menus, I will definitely be returning to try new creations, if not just for their cornbread muffins and ooey-gooey cookies.

Review of Nola: A-11 Xiushui Street South, Ritan 建国门外秀水南街11号  Tel: 8563-6215

Best Part:

• Serving hearty, satisfying New Orleans-style cuisine – lots of bacon, gumbo, jambalaya, grits, beignets and po’boys
• Complimentary hot, freshly baked bread is always a nice bonus
• A cup of steaming Apple Cider is perfect to wash away your winter blues
• Seasonally updated menu
• Nola’s chef: Brandon Trowbridge is a Louisiana native and former chef of Hilton Beijing
• Over 1/2 the menu has bacon, which is an ingredient I swear makes everything yummier
• Balanced range of wines, beer and cocktails on their drink list
• Atmosphere suitable for a cozy evening with friends and wine

Comments:

• Word is to avoid their po’boy sandwiches and burgers, but they excel in their appetizers, entrees and desserts.
• Creole Comfort food is satisfying, hearty but a bit heavy
• Good thing they had one table left on the first floor b/c the second floor was completely empty and that would have been awkward.

Hotel Outlets: Another Beijing Paradox

Tamarind Indian Restaurant, Marriott Northeast

I had made an exception for Tamarind.

In my list of top destinations for CW Gourmet Month (the two best months of the year for dining in Beijing), I made Tamarind a priority even though it is a hotel restaurant.

I have nothing against hotels restaurants, I just think that for the most part, they don’t work in Beijing.

I’ll break it down for you:

With the exception of very few, hotels have one sole purpose – to provide a nice bed for incoming travelers. Now that the Beijing Olympics is history, we are left with how many ridiculously massive, not mention EMPTY hotels scattered throughout Beijing?  Regardless of the number, it’s too many.  And too many have tried to make up for their lack of occupancy with restaurants and bars targeting the masses…and still remain empty.

I know this concept works in places like Dubai, where the best venues are often in hotels, but Beijing is another animal.  With the exception of Weekend Champagne Brunches, Centro in the Kerry Center, Touch at the Westin Chaoyang and of course boutique hotels like The Opposite House & Hotel G, hotel F&B venues in Beijing are pretty weak.

Just Imagine an Irish Pub in this Hotel

Perfect example: Molly Malones in the Legendale Hotel.  It’s a newly opened, gigantic space with beautiful interior design in a ’5-star hotel’ and it just won’t work. Why? Because it’s an Irish Pub opening in a 19th Century Parisan Hotel serving Japanese sushi.  Confused much?

And from my experiences last Gourmet Month in April, I found that each and every time I dined in a hotel restaurant, it was very, very empty.  It’s just creepy to be the only customers in a restaurant.

And I feel bad because all hotels try really hard – lots of marketing, lots of advertisements, lots of promotions, and often times, they have an amazing product, and yet they still seem to fall short.  Something is missing.  That something is more of than not: People.

Having read so many good reviews about Tamarind (Marriott Northeast), I made it a point to go during Gourmet Month. I read that Tamarind’s Chef Kurly is from Mumbai (interview here), that he is Bollywood’s finest, and that this is Beijing’s best Indian restaurant.

For Gourmet Month, it was a fantastic deal: for only RMB 150 per person, you were served 9 dishes plus nan bread plus rice PLUS dessert. The food quality and quantity was great value, the open kitchen was impressive and service was attentive. But at the end of the day, it was very much a ‘hotel restaurant’ with hotel service and a hotel vibe for a typical, overall unsatisfying hotel experience.

Review of Tamarind: 2nd floor of Marriott Northeast, 26A Xiaoyun Lu,Sanyuanqiao 海航大厦万豪酒店, 霄云路甲26号, Tel: 5927-8888

Best Part:

Tamarind's Open Kitchen

• Fresh Quality & Generous Quantity of the dishes: I recommend their Mushroom Kurkure (Spring roll stuffed with finely chopped and sautéed mushroom, served with spicy tomato chutney) and Butter Chicken (Juliennes of Tandoori chicken, finished in creamy tomato gravy, flavored with dried fenugreek leaves)
• Massive Open Kitchen (pretty unique to an Indian restaurant)
• They have hired a chef from Mumbai and this is the first Marriott Indian restaurant outside of India
• They cater to vegetarians with half of their menu meat-free
• Prices are reasonable with a kebab bar special (all-you-can-eat kebabs for RMB 140, RMB 100 for vegetarian kebabs)

Comments:

• Even if the food was excellent, it was pretty empty on a Sunday night, which I guess is expected considering the Marriott Northeast is out in the boonies (North of Nuren Jie)
• I really think that if Tamarind was in Sanlitun and not in a hotel, it would do really well.

The service was attentive, but similar to most hotel service, its quite overdone and forced rather than comforting. Also, at the end of the meal, the restaurant manager Sudeep Menon was about to only give my friend his business card until I shot him a glare and even after that, he proceeded to only ask for my friend’s business card upon leaving. Not Cool.

Worst Pick-Up Line EVER

Working in such popular venues like Hatsune, Karaiya and Bling, I meet a lot of people ALL the time.

And I don’t mean for this to sound pretentious at all, but it’s quite common for people to come up to me and remember me either from frequenting the venues I represent or maybe having seen my Fashionista feature in CW a year back or who knows where.

But yesterday was the first time someone shocked me speechless.

I got a random message from a stranger on weliveinbeijing.com who sent me a message that read:

“you didn’t by chance used to sing at Banana Leaf because you look like a girl there”.

WOW. Obviously this girl made such an impression on the guy that he thought to ask a stranger on the internet if she was that same girl in Banana Leaf. My immediate reaction was speechlessness followed by fury followed by irritation that someone would be so bold and mindless to even make such an assumption.

He obviously has not read LumDimSum’s review of Banana Leaf.

I probably would have taken it as a compliment if it were ANY restaurant other than the cheesy, wanna-be-Thai-food Banana Leaf who’s musicians and entertainment are the only thing worse than the food.

LumDimSum’s Words of Wisdom:

Good Sense: “You look familiar, have we met before?”

Bad Sense: Assuming someone is a singer at Banana Leaf, which is never a good thing…or in this case, flat out offensive.

First of all, if you do want to make contact with someone you find on an online networking site, then at least take ONE minute to look at their profile for background info, work info, whatever.  99% of the time, this one minute will save you a lot of time and embarrassment.

All About Rah Zel

Bling’s brought some pretty sick DJ’s over the past year from DJ Spider, DJ Dopey, DJ Shortkut to DJ Mixwell, but this Friday, Bling’s about to bring its most highly-anticipated guest yet: RAH ZEL, known as the “Godfather of Noyze” aka The Human Beatbox.

With such a superstar coming to the Jing, Rah Zel’s been bringing the heat to Bling with publicity and extra coverage left and right:

Xiao Bizzle gave Rah Zel multiple shout outs on his new blog, YouCallThatHipHop.com

You can check out Xiao Bizzle’s Interview with Rah Zel here:  http://www.youcallthathiphop.com/2009/11/18/interview-rahzel-da-godfather-of-noyze/

Plus another shout out: http://www.youcallthathiphop.com/2009/11/18/rahzel-bling-friday-nov-20th/

CityWeekend‘s interview with Rah Zel: Beatbox Mastermind Rahzel Tells Us How to Master Our Anatomy http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/articles/blogs-beijing/the-beat/interview-beatbox-mastermind-rahzel-tells-us-how-to-master-our-anatomy/

Time Out’s Interview with Rah Zel: http://www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/aroundtown/feature/9058/boxing-clever-rahzel-at-bling-nov-20.html

WeliveinBeijing’s Interview with Rah Zel: http://www.weliveinbeijing.com/groupnews/news2.rails?Nid=1000001107

Rah Zel on CityWeekend: http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/events/53704/

Event Breakdown:

As this event is bound to be a quickly booked out show, I HIGHLY recommend to all Rah Zel fanatics to haul ass to Bling before 11pm.

Get on it.

Black Sesame Kitchen: The Not-So-Secret Hidden Gem

A lot of people have heard of Black Sesame Kitchen’s fun and interactive cooking classes or wine ‘n dine dinner parties, but not so many people know that once a month, Black Sesame Kitchen will host a special 10-course traditional Chinese meal + all-you-can-drink quality wine for RMB 150 per person. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Black Sesame Kitchen may not be listed among CityWeekend’s Gourmet Month Restaurants, but it may as well be, considering how incredibly awesome this steal of a bargain is!

Hosted by my very favorite event manager, Candice Lee aka C-dice, she really does wonders for this little hutong kitchen. Considering she knows EVERYONE in Beijing, there is always a fully-booked table with all the cool kids in town (foodies who know where it’s at).

This special deal only occurs once a month (typically the first Wednesday of every month), but the cooking classes are a ton of fun and Black Sesame Kitchen is the perfect destination to impress out-of-towners and host private dinner parties whether its a birthday, corporate event or wine tasting.

Black Sesame Kitchen Review: Off of Nanluoguxiang (turn when you see Log-in Bar), 黑芝麻胡同3号  Tel: 136-9147-4408

Best Part:

• You can indulge in an amazing 10-course meal PLUS all-you-can-drink QUALITY wine for only RMB 150 (special price available once a month)
• Best dessert EVER: Candied Apples Chilled in Vanilla Ice Cream
• Everything is cooked right in front of you, making for a really interactive dining experience – Chairman Wang is a culinary genius
• The wine selection is always superb in taste and quality
• The service is the best (C-dice is the perfect host, always on top of her game)
• A great option to host private dinner parties for a group of friends and the cooking classes are really great (*think birthday present for someone who loves cooking and good food).
• It’s a great place to bring friends or to meet new friends (always a great dining crowd of foodies who share the love for good food and wine)

Comments:

• Incredibly tricky to find if it’s your first time (but I promise you it’s worth the extra effort – just carefully follow the directions they send to you)
• You need to learn to pace yourself and prepare for heaps of food that seems to never stop coming (my first time, I made the terrible mistake of overloading on the first dishes and was stuffed by the 5th course – reminder: there are 10! And trust me, you’ll want to save room for their dessert)

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

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

Fashionista: Project Runway

What’s on the catwalk?  CityWeekend’s very own Fashionistas taking their turn to strut their stuff on the runway.

Hosted by the beautiful and talented Meili Autumn @ Scarlett Wine Bar + Restaurant in Hotel G, this was such a fun event! For the first time, all the fashionistas got the opportunity to get together, get dressed to the nines, and have a ball.

As one of the previously featured Fashionistas, it was such a privilege to be among Beijing’s Fashion Superstars and see first-hand each Fashionista’s unique style and ingenious creativity in putting together every last detail and touch of fashion flair and finesse. From Allie Weisberg‘s high-waisted skirt, mini crop top and layers of jewelry to Candy Lin wearing her very own Candy&Caviar Fall Fashion Line’s Madison Hooded Tuxedo Vest and LinLin‘s denim work-of-art gown, it’s not hard to see how each fashionista earned their title to be on that runway.

Congratulations to Mo & Linlin!  (Mr. & Ms. Beijing Fashionista!)

Some Hot Shots of Beijing’s Fashionistas:

**Thank you to Meili, everyone at CW, & Hotel G for putting together such a fun and successful event!  And Happy Early Birthday to Meili!!

25 and None the Wiser

25 is a pretty intimidating number. As a kid, I always associated the number 25 with being an adult – someone with a career, who is financially independent, at a prime age to get married and start a family.  Ok, I’m 2 for 3.  As a kid, I also wanted to be a Disney fairy-tale princess and meet Prince Charming at the age of 16.

I realize age is just a number and age is absolutely relative. But just I don’t feel 25; I feel like I’m still 16.  Maybe that’s because the last time I had a birthday party was when I turned 16.  Due to the awkward timing of having a birthday in early September, my birthday always coincided with the start of a new school year, when everyone is still sorting out their new class schedule and their new circle of friends or in most recent years, my birthdays have coincided with vacation time – which was nice to be celebrating in an entirely new, exotic setting, but also away from my friends, my family, my home.

So for the first time in almost a decade, I have reached the quarter century mark and I was ready to go BIG.

My Birthday Week Break-down:

Monday: Pre-Birthday Home-made Dinner & Movie

Tuesday: Birthday lunch & Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant Kagen Teppanyaki followed by birthday drinks @ d. lounge

Wednesday: Post Birthday Dinner and Pre-Birthday Party @ GOSSIP Pour Femme at [Touch] The Westin Beijing Chaoyang

Friday: Post-Birthday dinner & drinks @ none other than Hatsune @ the Village

Saturday: Birthday Champagne @ Riviera’s Pool Party

Birthday Make-Over courtesy of the beautiful & talented Meili Autumn (CW’s Fashionista Editor)

Birthday Dinner Party & Drinks @ Karaiya Spice House

‘Bling-isine’ Champagne Limo Ride courtesy of BLING (Can be booked regularly through BLING)

After-Party @ BLING

Sunday: Birthday Recovery @ Capital M’s Opening

By the same people behind M on the Bund in Shanghai and M on the Fringe in HK, Capital M launched its official opening this Sunday, September 13.

Best Part:

• The bright & colorful painted artwork that runs along the walls of the venue
• The pointed roof-top lounge area
• The spectacular view from the spacious rooftop terrace of the Tian An Men Area
• The boxed fireplaces throughout the space really warms and illuminates the venue for a very romantic and intimate lighting in the evening
• Fabian, the restaurant manager, was very welcoming, attentive and a perfect host
• The food was fantastic – I particularly was pleased to be served fresh oysters, and some top picks included the beef bearnaise and smoked salmon with poached egg and spinach. WOW, gave a really great first impression
• Capital M will bring more attention to the Qianmen area
• The location is a great destination for afternoon tea or dinner after a day of sightseeing around heart of Beijing’s history and culture
• They are bringing Danish Smørrebrød to Beijing!!  (world-famous piled-high, open-faced sandwiches from Denmark!)

Comments:

• WARNING for girls with high heels: Taxis can not reach the venue and you must walk quite far to catch one home.
• With a massive space that fills over 400 seats both indoor and the outside terrace, it will be interesting to see who their regular clientele are and their incoming business post-launch period
• It will also be interesting to see how Capital M will compare and compete with the Legation Quarter’s supreme dining outlets.

This past week I have been living in a cloud of BIRTHDAY BLISS – birthday lunches, birthday dinners, birthday e-mails, birthday text messages, birthday FB wall posts…I’ve been down-right spoiled with love, it makes me wish every day was my birthday!  I truly feel blessed to have had such a happy and loving birthday week – Thank you to everyone for making me feel so special, this birthday exceeded all my expectations. It was better than I ever could have imagined or asked for.

Here are some of my favorite birthday shots:

My 15 Minutes of Fame Just Got Extended

Not everyone gets the rare opportunity to relive their 15 minutes of fame. Hence, the reason why it’s only 15 minutes.

But tonight I was called upon to come back into the limelight.

Let me rewind:

Back in December 2008, I was featured as one of City Weekend’s Fashionistas.  This was by far one of the coolest things I’ve been lucky enough to partake in.  Not only was I featured in a full double-page spread in the magazine, I got a full make-over courtesy of the beautiful and talented Meili Autumn, who has a gift of making you look and feel stunning.

You can check out the final product here (City Weekend, Issue December 4-17):

FASHIONISTA: Beauty and the Bling

Kristen Lum lights up any room she occupies with her electric personality and 1000-watt smile. I just can never feel down or bluesy around her. She makes me want to giggle like a sixth grader during a sex-ed talk. Another thing Kristen has got going for her is a super cute figure, which often sports the shortest, brightest dresses I’ve seen in Beijing: trés sexy. As the PR girl for hot spots like Bling, All Star and newbie to the scene Domus, Kristen has her plate full of venues she has to look stunning in on a nightly basis. How does she do it night after flawless night? “The trick is to have a ‘go-to dress,’ something you can slip on and look great in no matter what the occasion,” she confides in me. Kristen finds these little numbers at Zara, in the Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park or American Apparel. For mini dresses and high heels, her secret place is LingLing’s shop in Jiayi Vogue Square stall #712. As a born and bred Cali girl, Kristen loves the summertime look: “beach wear, bright colors, being tan, sundresses and flip-flops.” Since coming to Beijing, she has had to learn to adapt to the cold, and while you’ll still find her at Bling on the weekends wearing tiny skirts and dresses, she’ll compensate for the length with thigh-high boots. “China’s really given me an opportunity to express myself through fashion. I love knowing that I can go out and never feel over-dressed.” Kristen leaves me with some parting words: “Now that I work at Bling, I’m all about the bling.” With that bright smile, and glittering jewelery, I consider Kristen one of Beijing’s fashion diamonds.

MeiLi Autumn

Name: Kristen Lum

Nationality: Californian

Occupation: Marketing and Media Director for Alchemy

Fashionista by MeiLi Autumn For more style analysis or fashion insight, visit MeiLi’s website,

www.MeiLiAutumn.com

Photographer: Tao Zi Hair and Makeup: MeiLi Autumn

About a year since I did the photoshoot for my Fashionista feature, I received an e-mail invitation tonight to participate in the upcoming FASHIONISTA Party, featuring a fashion show with all previous CW Fashionistas, for a chance to win the title Mr. or Ms. Beijing Fashionista and a VIP card to Hotel G for a night’s stay in this fabulous boutique hotel.

Save the date- Saturday, September 19, 2009 because I have a feeling that with all the Fashionistas together in one show, this event is bound to go down in the books…or at least go down in the next issue of CityWeekend.

See?  The fame is already getting to my head. And I can’t wait.

Come out and show your support and vote for your favorite fashionista.  Or just come out to Hotel G and take advantage of their 25rmb drinks and awesome tapas/cheese platters.

We Are One

“We Are One” was our slogan for Bling’s 1 year anniversary party.  This was quite fitting as we wanted this event to make a statement that represented more than just Bling’s 1st Birthday.  Beyond reaching our 1 year mark, Bling is #1 (Club of the Year!), and ‘We Are One’ Team.

"WE ARE ONE" - Bling's 1 Year Anniversary Party

I was a part of the original All-Star/Bling team- I launched Bling’s audacious advertising campaign, wrote both menus, sourced suppliers for everything from our coat check tags to drink stirs and napkins, and I was on my hands and knees cleaning up the last bits of construction in the club before we opened our doors to the public last year on August 7th, 2008.

One year ago, just before the highly-anticipated 2008 Olympics, Bling became more than an idea, it became tangible, it became a destination for the rich, the beautiful, and the party animals.  In Bling’s first month, we drew in celebrities from Evander Holyfield, Chris Tucker, the German National Basketball Team (who were GIANTS), and since then, we have won the title “Club of the Year” and featured big DJ names from 50 Cent’s Official DJ – DJ Whoo Kid, DJ Spider, and most recently DJ Dopey, the official DJ for Eminem.

All-Star Sports Bar & Grill has been quite a different story.  Unlike Bling, All-Star didn’t take-off straight away.  We had a massive opening on the day of the Olympics Ceremony on 8.8.08, but All-Star’s true success came when one of our owners, Richard Wang, who took it upon himself and his natural culinary skills (no professional experience) to recreate all the recipes for All-Star. Since then, All-Star has made its way to the top winning “Best American Restaurant”, “Best Burger”, “Best Sports Bar”, and “Best Pub Grub”!

All-Star's One Year Anniversary

Here’s a shot of our gigantic birthday cake.  :)

All-Star's 1 Year Birthday Cake

What a year!  And it is just the beginning.

I was there before construction even started, I was there to see it open, I watched both venues develop and become what they are today.  And I can’t wait to see what’s next in store for my babies.

*Stay Tuned:  Hatsune’s about to reach it’s 8 year with a celebration that is bound to be epic.

Date: Saturday, August 15

Time: 10pm

Where: Hatsune @ the Village

Here are some of my favorite photos from Bling’s 1 Year Weekend Celebration:

Thanks to everyone for a great 1 year birthday bash!!!  Together, WE ARE ONE.

Cheers to many more years of great music, great drinks, and great times.

BLING

K. Lum in Da House

Written Courtesy of Blake Stone-Banks, my dear friend who was kind enough to take the time to help me set up LumDimSum Blog:
My name is Kri$’n Lum
And I’m a$ $ick a$ a fuckin’ bum
$ittin’ at home on my bum
$pittin’ rhymes and $ippin ‘Cardi rum

my homie Blake
baked me up dis blog cake
$o I can make da house $hake
with the$e mad rhyme$ about my bellyache

i think i got food poi$on
tryin’ to get my noise on
next weekend I’ll deploy $um
of my mad $kills with the boys on

the mic over at da Bling
when i $tep into da ring
with dj Keza da hip-hop king
y’all mutha$ best git down with da LUM DIM SUM thing!

y’all, peace