Savvy SWITCH! Grill at New Dongsishitiao Location
Posted: April 11th, 2012 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: Foodies & Dining Scene | Tags: 798 Art District, Billy Kawaja, Culinary Capers, Hatsune, Kagen, Karaiya Spice House, Little Gold Book, Steak, SWITCH!, SWITCH! Grill | No Comments »
After the move from 798 Art District, the new SWITCH! Grill had their opening party a couple weeks back to celebrate both their new location and also Chef Billy Kawaja‘s birthday. The place was packed for their grand opening party and tasty canapes pouring out of their kitchen kept me staying much longer than I had originally planned to.
This Canadian catering and special events team (the creators of both Culinary Capers and SWITCH! Grill) ceases to amaze me with their creative culinary talents and professional service. Click to see LDS’s review of their Grand Opening Party – SWITCH! Grill Switches Back On in New Location
One of the participating restaurants in my Little Gold Book, I was happy to learn that the coupon for “Buy 1-Get 1 FREE Mains” at the original SWITCH! in 798 would also apply to the new, savvy and stylish SWITCH! Grill in Regent Land Apartment (across from Swissotel at southeast corner of Dongsishitiao). *If you don’t already have a Little Gold Book, get on it! It’s only RMB 240 for the whole book of coupons from Beijing’s top restaurants including 50% off Hatsune, Kagen and Karaiya Spice House, it will last you all of 2012 and 30% of proceeds will benefit local community charities. What’s not to love about all that? This book is worth every last fen.
Grabbing a foodie on the way to the restaurant, we made our first foodie-venture at the new SWITCH! Grill on a Monday night. As expected, the place was pretty desolate with only two other tables of two in the whole restaurant, but this was literally the week after they had just opened and the new space was still very much unannounced to the general Beijing foodie community.
I won’t fault SWITCH! Grill at all for the lack of customers, and if anything, I was ecstatic when the gentleman at one of the other tables came over to say that he and his wife had come to SWITCH! for her birthday dinner based on my LDS post about the opening party!
I admit the dining experience would have been enhanced with more people in the restaurant, but this did not detract from the quality of food and, if anything, we felt like we had the whole restaurant to ourselves! (Fellow photographers will understand this was a rare window of opportunity for me to snap as many photos as I pleased without the chance of anyone asking my paparazzi parade to cease fire.)
LumDimSum Snapshots of the new SWITCH! Grill:
Overall, our dining experience at SWITCH! was very satisfying. It speaks volumes about our meal when I say that I was too stuffed to even sample their dessert selection.
Here’s a breakdown of our meal starting with our starter salad and ending with our mains. Chopped Lettuce and Avocado Salad with watermelon bits, pecans and spicy corn vinaigrette (RMB 65) came out too salty or not mixed thoroughly as our first bites were mouthfuls of salt, but they immediately offered to replace our salad with a second one, which was much better.
While the BBQ Pork Ribs (RMB 160) were massive, the Lamb Rack (RMB 130) was on the opposite end of the size spectrum. It wasn’t too small considering how much food we had ordered, but it was quite the contrast to the size of the BBQ Pork Ribs. The Glazed Baby Carrots (RMB 35) were another stand-out dish. Delicious and a perfect compliment to the hunks of meat. I’ve been binging on sweet potato and I am hoping SWITCH! Grill might consider also adding a sweet potato side dish onto their menu. Sweet potato fries, mash, chunks…anything sweet potato would be a real bonus in my book!
Overall, highlights of the meal were the ginormous rack of BBQ Pork Ribs and their Signature Strawberry Chili Martini, which still stands as my favorite cocktail in the city. It’s phenomenal and you’ve got to order it the next time you dine at SWITCH! Grill.
LumDimSum Snapshots of Dinner at SWITCH! Grill:
SWITCH!’s Signature Strawberry Chili Martini (RMB 65)
SWITCH!’s Chopped Lettuce with Avocado Salad, Watermelon, Pecan & Spicy Corn Vinaigrette (RMB 65)
SWITCH!’s BBQ Pork Ribs with Steak Frites and Charred Broccolini (RMB 160)
SWITCH!’s Lamb Rack with Herb & Garlic Marinade (RMB 130)
SWITCH!’s Side of Glazed Baby Carrots (RMB 35)
Review of SWITCH! Grill: Regent Land Apartment (across from Swissotel) No. 66 Gongti Beilu, Dong Cheng District 东城区工体北路66号瑞士公寓, Tel: 6553 5691. Open Daily, 11AM-10PM.
Best Part:
- Try their Strawberry Chili Martini, one of my favorite cocktails in the city
- A destination for carnivores to get their meat fix. They have a strong meat & seafood grill menu and their BBQ Pork Ribs were massive (enough for two to share!)
- Portions were large, good for sharing
- Menu has a wide range of items including soups and salads (RMB 45-65), appetizers (RMB 75-85), flatbread pizza (RMB 55-65), pastas and burgers (RMB 55-88), mains and grill menu (RMB 125-210) and plenty of veggie sides (RMB 25-40) to counter the heavy-meat menu and of course desserts! (RMB 35-55)
- Simple, quality, straight-forward North American-style steakhouse with cool decor and great food.
- They also have a very extensive wine list at great prices with glasses starting at RMB 25. Perfect to pick and choose to pair with your meal.
Comments:
- Although I don’t fault SWITCH! Grill for it’s lack of customers when I visited on a Monday evening just after their launch party, I also can’t imagine seeing this space packed with customers on any given night considering it’s still a point of destination with few pedestrians wandering in off the street (unlike all those venues located in Sanlitun). This is still a place you decide to dine in for a good meal with friends (also not a place for a quick bite on your own).
- Not sure what was going on, but sitting on the mezzanine level of the restaurant, we kept feeling the ground quiver beneath our feet. I don’t mean to imply that the second floor is unstable, but there was definitely a noticeable movement throughout our meal.
- Prices are reasonable considering quality of imported meat and big portions, but be prepared to come with a full wallet as it does add up!
- Service was very professional. When our first mouthfuls of the salad were overwhelmed with salt, the chef kindly offered to take it back and replace it for a new one without question.
Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)
- Food: 8
- Atmosphere: 6
- Service: 8
- Overall Experience: 7
About Karaiya Spice House:
Best Part: 
Bei Wins Best Restaurant of the Year
Michael & Joanna Crain for Culinary Event of the Year: Chi Fan for Charity 2010!
Cheers to another brilliant wine event!
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.
I will need to find a new favorite steakhouse…
