Caribeño: A Festive, Flavorful Cuban Restaurant

 Vibrant, Authentic Cuban Food in Beijing’s CBD

*I’m going to preface this post by disclosing that I went for dinner at Caribeño mid-December 2013, but I wanted to wait for my trusted foodie friend to return for a second try and I’m pleased to report that after a month after our first visit together, he’s confirmed that the quality and taste of the set lunch meal yesterday was up to par with expectations.

After hearing (and reading) pretty praise-worthy reviews of Caribeño Cuban restaurant, I knew it would be worth the effort to find it.  I didn’t know where the China Overseas Plaza building was, but I figured it couldn’t be too hard to find as it’s on Guanghua Lu. I assumed it would be just one of the tall buildings between Guanghua Lu SOHO and China World Summit Wing…and it is…kinda. After cycling our bikes between the few buildings (it was dark = more difficult to navigate), turns out it’s down some small alleyways that loop around the west side of China World Summit Wing.

Once we did find the building, I admit I was baffled that I had never noticed this building before (it’s huge!), never knew it even existed. It’s so centrally located in the CBD, and yet, it’s still such a random location for this newly opened Cuban restaurant.  Placed in the corner of your average office building, you see two heavy doors propped open for all to see inside along with its menu translated into Chinese on a standing pull-up poster (I’m assuming this is for many of the building’s office workers passing by the restaurant doors daily).

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