theBeijinger: International Foodie Festival Weekend

 theBeijinger Hosts Over 30 International Food Vendors

Foodies unite! theBeijinger is launching their first ever International Foodie Weekend, a F&B extravaganza taking place this weekend (May 30-31 from 11AM-8PM) at Galaxy SOHO (southwest of Chaoyangmen Subway).

They’ve signed up over 30 international food vendors – from pizza to Portuguese, American BBQ, Aussie Meat Pies, Greek, Indonesian, Mexican and plenty of decadent desserts, they’ve covered many of their favorite international eateries in Beijing. And to showcase some specialty Chinese bites, they’ll also be featuring Asiniuniu‘s Yi minority cuisine from Liangshan in Sichuan and Susongfu‘s traditional Shanghainese shengjianbao.

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Results Revealed: theBeijinger Restaurant Awards 2013

theBeijinger’s 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards

On Thursday, March 14th, theBeijinger just celebrated its 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards Ceremony over an afternoon awards ceremony at the Kerry Hotel Beijing.

Together with Beijing’s most influential players in the city’s dining scene, results were announced whilst drinks were poured and foodies mingled.

Over a couple of hours, winners and runners-up for each of the 50 different categories listed were revealed alongside enthusiastic applause mixed in with a couple of unexpected surprises.

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Simply Smart: Santoor Brings Authentic Indian to Gulou

Gulou’s Newest Addition: Santoor Indian Restaurant

The first of its kind in the area, Santoor is filling a dire need for quality Indian curries and specialties in the Gulou area.  Located on Ju’er Hutong, the little hutong just 100m south of Gulou Dongdajie, Santoor is just off the beaten path of the hectic, often chaotic Nanluoguxiang (NLGX) shopping and street snack strip.

Unlike other popular Indian restaurants in Beijing – like the Ganges dominating chain of restaurants, hotel restaurants like Tadka in Marriott Northeast or my favorite Punjabi on Lucky Street, Santoor is only a small fraction of the size of its competitors in the city giving it a much more manageable space to take-in and appreciate that this little guy is the only Indian joint in the area.

The restaurant has barely been open a month’s time, but they’re already off to a good start.  The small dining space isn’t hard to fill considering it only has 7-8 tables that could really only seat a max capacity of 30-40 people. But from what I can recall, there were about 10 others who came in and out throughout our meal and, surprise surprise, they were all from the UK.  With more and more foreigners based in Gulou, Santoor will undoubtedly fill a niche rather quickly.

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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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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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#1 Most Popular Restaurant Goes to…

LocalNoodles deduces Beijing’s top restaurants by finding out what were the hottest searches over the past twelve months.

Top 10 Searched Restaurants for 2009-2010

#1. Hatsune Congratulations to this Sushi standard for commanding top spot in our hearts, minds, and stomachs.

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Beijinger Restaurant Awards: Hatsune Wins Best Japanese 6 Years in a Row!

At theBeijinger’s Restaurant Awards on Tuesday, March 16, Hatsune took home Best Japanese for the 6th year in a row, along with Outstanding for Best Decor.

Congratulations to Alan Wong, owner of the Hatsune Empire, for holding it strong and staying at the top of the game 6 years running.

That’s gotta be a record!!

Owner of the Hatsune Empire, Alan Wong goes up on stage with baby Mason Wong to pick up his award for Best Japanese! 6 years in a row baby!

Other big winners from the awards ceremony include:

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If You Like It Hot

With Beijing’s sudden drop in temperature, what’s better than a spicy meal to warm your winter blues?

If you’re like me and you crave meals filled with flavor and spice, here’s a breakdown of some of my top picks for different styles of cuisine, known to make you sweat:

1. Best Sichuan – known for its liberal use of garlic, chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns which produces a “tingly-numbing (Ma La)” sensation, unique to Sichuan cuisine.

• Chuan Ban
• Yu Xin
• The Sichuan Restaurant in Solana by Tsingtao Brewery (forgot name)
• Black Sesame Kitchen
  

  Karaiya's Spicy Pepper Diced Rib Eye

2. Best Hunan – As spicy as Sichuan, but without the numbing sensation. Hunan’s spice is much more flavorful
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