Beijing’s Soup Nazi – Herbal Café

“No soup for you” seems to be the running theme at Herbal Cafe.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone to try their herbal, medicinal brewing soups and they are consistently “sold out,” every single time. But it’s not just the soups, at my most recent visit, they were out of half their menu.  And I’m not exaggerating.

I’m starting to think they don’t even make the soups anymore or that it’s all one big conspiracy against LumDimSum.

Ok, seriously, here’s my Review of Herbal Cafe:  Located across from Hatsune and Union Bar & Grill on the 3rd floor of Sanlitun Village. Address: S6-33, 3/F, The Village at Sanlitun, 19 Sanlitun Lu, 朝阳区三里屯路19号三里屯Village3层s6-33  Tel: 6416-0618

Best Part:

• Their menu offers a wide range of herbal teas and soups (so good, they are sold out permanently)
• Range of Cantonese staple dishes and dim sum
• Comfortable booth seating and casual atmosphere makes for a nice, quick meal
• Despite their lack of availability, the restaurant remains consistently full of customers
• Cantonese cuisine is meant to be healthier & MSG free, but seems pretty standard to me

Comments:

• Beijing’s Soup Nazis. The few times I have gone, I am told each and every time that they are literally sold out of every soup. I wouldn’t care so much if I didn’t want their soup as bad as I do.  I guess you always want what you can’t have.
• One time they also said they were sold out of egg tarts, but when I went to pay the bill, they had 3 more egg tarts sitting under a heat lamp next to the cashier.  True fact. And yes, I called them out on it.
• DimSum isn’t the best, but it’s better than Chao Dian (located just behind Herbal Cafe). See review of Chao Dian here.
• For good, healthy soups to cure your winter blues, I recommend Oden & All-Star’s Southwest Tortilla Soup (just added to their new winter menu).

Chains with Confusing Consistency

If you choose to franchise your business, whether you own a grocery chain, laundry chain or a restaurant chain, its safe to say that a certain level of consistency should be expected – consistency in the product sold, service, quality, quantity and selection.

Example of Consistent Chain:

When the second Hatsune opened in Sanlitun Village in April 2009 as a new location with a new design and makeover with the menu, Alan Wong was meticulous in ensuring that the service and product would equal that of the original Guanghua Lu branch that opened in 2001.  Customers like the option of a second location, but they still want to satisfy their sushi samurai cravings – they still expect the usual Moto-Roll-Ah among other favorite rolls.

Example of a Confused Chain:

I remember the first time I moved apartments and went to the neighboring Fornet Dry Cleaning Store to find that my Fornet card with pre-paid credit did not apply to this new Fornet or the gazillion other Fornets in Beijing.  What is that about?

New Example:

After hearing about my terribly disappointing experience at Chao Dian this past week, my good friend Dan Goodman FINALLY took me to the 24-hour dimsum spot near my apartment in the Tuanjiehu hood.  People always tell me about this mysteriously good dimsum spot near me, and I never knew what they were talking about…until today.

Surprise to me, this ‘mysterious dim sum restaurant’ turned out to be none other than the very well-known restaurant chain – Jin Ding Xuan金鼎轩. I have been to the branch next to Tango at least half a dozen times, whether for dinner or late-night grub and always took it as it is – a relatively cheap and massively ginormous Chinese restaurant with quick service, awful entertainment and half-decent food. I never even thought of it necessarily as a dimsum restaurant since their menu also features a lot of Sichuan dishes and standard “Chinese restaurant” dishes.

So naturally, I quite expected my brunch experience today to be similar to my previous experiences and was pleasantly surprised to find a winner!  Again, massive restaurant with 4 levels, it was packed (and luckily no wait upon arrival), quick service, big menu with lots of pictures, and a very satisfying dimsum brunch!

As it was a great experience, I’ll be a returning customer for certain, but knowing the way “chain venues” go in China, I think I’ll still be avoiding the branch by Yonghegong.

Review of Jin Ding Xuan 金鼎轩: 15 Tuanjiehu Nanlu, Chaoyang Park 团结湖南路15号 Tel: 8596-8881

Best Part:

• A good selection of dimsum staples – overall good taste and good prices (ordered about 8 dishes and total bill was RMB 86 (bill at Chao Dian for same amount of food was RMB 174)
• The place was packed, lively atmosphere
• Open 24 hours
• It’s in MY hood!

Comments:

• Normally in the “Best Part” section, I would highlight the fact that there are 4 branches of Jin Ding Xuan (Yonghegong, Tuanjiehu, Olympic Area, and Fengtai), but I would say my experience eating dimsum today was much better than my previously dimsum meals at the Yonghegong branch (which I thought was not fresh and very mediocre).

Highlights were BBQ Pork Buns, Shaomai, and LuoBuoGao, with other dishes being satisfactory.  Everything was good overall but nothing exemplary or mind-blowing in terms of taste and quantity. But for the price, it’s great value.

I’m just waiting for the day when someone opens a Hatsune equivalent to DimSum in Beijing (casual, fun vibe, smart design, high quality raw materials, great service, all for a fair price).