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:

• SALT – Winner for Best Chef & Runner up for Best Business Lunch, Best Steak, Best Service, Restaurant of the Year
• Mosto – Runner Up for Best Chef, Best Business Lunch, Best Wine List, Best for a Romantic Meal, Restaurant of the Year
• Haidilao – Winner for Best HotPot, and Runner up for Best Service, Chinese Restaurant of the Year
• Da Dong – Winner for Best Contemporary Chinese, Best Duck, Best for Impressing Visitors, Best Chinese Restaurant of the Year
• Maison Boulud - Winner for Best French, Best for a Romantic Meal, Best Wine List, Best Service,  Best Western Restaurant of the Year

Complete list of all Beijinger Dining Awards Categories and Winners, click here.

Collecting Hatsune's Award for Best Japanese

LumDimSummary of Beijinger Restaurant Awards:

Best Part:

• iF Juice was a sponsor!  The most thirst-quenching, delicious fresh juice available in Beijing! I’m kind of obsessed.
• Alan Wong brought up baby Mason to collect his award for Best Japanese (6 years in a row!)
• Cheese by Yellow Valley Cheese is delicious
• Cherry flavored Beer
• Foodie Crowd Galore…or just PR people representing restaurants

Comments:

• Hosts were painfully bad.  Dominic Johnson-Hill of Plastered 8 T-shirts could not pronounce any names if his life depended on it and Ai Wan actually said, and I quote, “Wow! This is extraordinary a woman won Best Chef! Normally chefs are men.  Now, tell me Ana, how old are you?” Someone should censor that woman.
• Joy Luck provided no food for the event and it was just a very random location for a restaurant awards ceremony.

While many of the winners are very deserving of their awards, I was a disappointed to see Annie’s won Best Italian (come on people, it’s not best delivery service), Ganges for Best Indian (they just happen to have the best locations and marketing), and Element Fresh for Best American, Best Sandwiches, and Best Non-Hotel Brunch? I only approve of their smoothies and boycott the rest.

Beijinger’s Restaurant Award Winners vs. LumDimSum’s Votes:

• Best Contemporary Chinese – Beijinger Winner: Da Dong, LumDimSum Vote: Bei (Opposite House)
• Best Duck -Beijinger Winner: Da Dong, LumDimSum Vote: Made in China
• Best Sichuan – Beijinger Winner: South Beauty, LumDimSum Vote: Chuan Ban
• Best Dim Sum – Beijinger Winner: Jin Ding Xuan, LumDimSum Vote: Jin Ding Xuan (Tuanjiehu)
  
• Best Hot Pot – Beijinger Winner: Haidilao, LumDimSum Vote: Haidilao
• Best Kung Pao Chicken – Beijinger Winner: South Beauty, LumDimSum Vote: Black Sesame Kitchen
• Best Xinjiang – Beijinger Winner: Red Rose, LumDimSum Vote: Crescent Moon
• Best Yunan – Beijinger Winner: Middle 8th Restaurant, LumDimSum Vote: Middle 8th Restaurant
• Best French- Beijinger Winner: Maison Boulud, LumDimSum Vote: Maison Boulud
• Best Indian / Pakistani – Beijinger Winner: Ganges, LumDimSum Vote: Punjabi
• Best Italian -Beijinger Winner: Annie’s, LumDimSum Vote: Sadler Ristorante & Metro
  
• Best Japanese – Beijinger Winner: Hatsune, LumDimSum Vote: Hatsune & Kagen Teppanyaki
• Best Mediterranean – Beijinger Winner: Sureno, LumDimSum Vote: Sureno
• Best Mexican – Beijinger Winner: Saddle Cantina, LumDimSum Vote: Pete’s Tex Mex
• Best Middle Eastern – Beijinger Winner: 1001 Nights, LumDimSum Vote: Biteapitta
• Best Thai – Beijinger Winner: Purple Haze, LumDimSum Vote: Aroy-D (by Fulicheng)
• Best Vietnamese – Beijinger Winner: Muse, LumDimSum Vote: Luga’s Pho-Pho
• Best American – Beijinger Winner: Element Fresh, LumDimSum Vote: All-Star Sports Bar & Grill
• Best Business Lunch – Beijinger Winner: Alameda, LumDimSum Vote: Hatsune
• Family-Friendly Restaurant – Beijinger Winner: Annie’s, LumDimSum Vote: Orchard
• Impressing Visitors – Beijinger Winner: Da Dong, LumDimSum Vote: Duck de Chine
• Best Brunch (Non-Hotel) – Beijinger Winner: Element Fresh, LumDimSum Vote: Orchard
• Best Hotel Brunch – Beijinger Winner: Westin Financial Street & Westin Chaoyang, LumDimSum Vote: Westin Chaoyang
• Best Pizza – Beijinger Winner: The Tree, LumDimSum Vote: The Tree
• Best Sandwiches – Beijinger Winner: Element Fresh, LumDimSum Vote: Sequoia Cafe
  
• Best Steak – Beijinger Winner: Meat & Wine Co., LumDimSum Vote: Meat & Wine Co.
• Best Tapas – Beijinger Winner: Olas Tapas Cafe, LumDimSum Vote: Mosaico
• Wine List – Beijinger Winner: Maison Boulud, LumDimSum Vote: Enoteca
• Best Burger – Beijinger Winner: Let’s Burger, LumDimSum Vote: All-Star Sports Bar & Grill
• Best For a Romantic Meal – Beijinger Winner: Maison Boulud, LumDimSum Vote: Capital M
• Best Chef – Beijinger Winner: Ana Esteves – SALT, LumDimSum Vote: Max Levy – Bei/Apothecary
• Best Décor – Beijinger Winner: LAN, LumDimSum Vote: Hatsune & Capital M
• Best Service – Beijinger Winner: Maison Boulud, LumDimSum Vote: Maison Boulud
• Restaurant of the Year (Chinese) – Beijinger Winner: Da Dong, LumDimSum Vote: Made in China
• Restaurant of the Year (Non-Chinese) – Beijinger Winner: Maison Boulud, LumDimSum Vote: Hatsune

Final ‘Eat 4 Haiti’ Hurrah Dinner @ Punjabi

Punjabi should get a lot more credit.

I admit I am not an expert on Indian cuisine and I have never been to India , but I’ve tried pretty much every Indian restaurant in Beijing from Tamarind @ the Marriott Northeast to the Ganges & Taj Pavilion chain, Indian Kitchen, and Mughal’s, and there is for sure a reason why Punjabi’s got such a loyal following (my friends aside, Punjabi is the designated destination for Indian tour groups visiting China AND they cater to the Saudi Arabian Embassy). Not too shabby.

At first glance, there are a few reasons why Punjabi may not stand out:

1. Punjabi’s location is far from central, tucked away on Lucky Street – a street with the most diversely random combination of venues from a giant Nashville Bar to Japanese teppanyaki, a German bakery and a newly opened Chinese restaurant called the Lobster House.
2. Punjabi does not advertise and they are not always listed in magazines, which can make them seem overshadowed by the extensive list of other Indian restaurants in the city.

However, when you do actually step inside, you will find only Indian chefs serving up authentic North Indian cuisine. The dishes are flavorful and satisfying rather than heavy and artificial and the products they use are high-quality and fresh. The meat is tender, the recipes traditional.

The owner, Gireesh is very professional and a super nice, down-to-earth guy.  He reached out to me initially to join the ‘Eat for Haiti’ campaign and when my friends all chose to have our final get-together dinner at Punjabi, Gireesh booked out the entire second floor for our dinner party, helped us take care of the ordering, and even surprised us with a dance show! The service was great, the food was beyond our expectations and everyone left happy and full.

Review of Punjabi: On Lucky Street, Chaoyang Gongyuan Xilu 朝阳公园路C-8号二层 21世纪饭店西门对面好运街   Tel:  5867-0221/23

Best Part:

• Authentic Indian cuisine that will get you coming back again and again…and again
• Great service and a nice touch to have the owner, Gireesh, attending to customers on a daily basis
• Greats deals include a lunch buffet for RMB 48, dinner buffet on Tuesdays for RMB 68 and Weekend buffets for RMB 88 per person which includes 21 items plus unlimited beer & soft drinks.  Amazing deal.

Comments:

• Don’t judge a restaurant by its cover – location may be a little out of the way, but a worthy destination for quality Indian food.
• They are currently working on finalizing a new menu that will feature photos of all their dishes, a big help to those who may not be as familiar with Indian cuisine. But rest assured, regardless of their menu, they are great at recommending dishes – my personal favorites include the combination tandoori meat platter, butter chicken, prawn curry, and mushroom masala.

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

• Food: 9
• Atmosphere: 7
• Service: 7
• Overall Experience: 8

3 More Days to ‘Eat for Haiti’

As Posted on theBeijinger:

For All You Foodies:

Join us at Punjabi Indian Restaurant at Lucky Street on Wednesday, February 3rd for a last hurrah to the ‘Eat for Haiti’ Initiative and some BOMB Indian grub.

We have booked out the second floor of the restaurant, so there is plenty of room and as always, the more the merrier!

**Complete List of participating restaurants:

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

• Karaiya Spice House

4. Best Hot Pot – An interactive, dining experience- you get to cook raw food in a boiling stew (opt for the spicy one)

• Hai Di Lao
• Hot Pot on Gui Jie
• Xiabu Xiabu – a reliable chain of hot pot restaurants

5. Best Yunan – Spices are not as dominant or as intense as Sichuan or Hunan, but many dishes are quite spicy and diverse.

• Middle 8th 中8楼 – nice decor and good food with low prices.  I’m quite addicted to their rice wine, and I love that it comes in a big bamboo container.   Always a good option for guests or a casual lunch with friends.

6. Best Indian – One of the most popular cuisines around the globe, known for its abundance use of spices and herbs, with signature curry dishes.

• Mughal’s (Indian/Pakistani)
• Ganges
• Punjabi
• Hazara (in Face Bar)

7. Best Thai – Known for being spicy and hot, the heat is also combined with flavors that are sour, sweet or bitter.  I particularly like the combination of coconut milk in Thai soups and curries.

• Aroy-D (Shuangjing/Fulicheng Area) – where I was first introduced to Thai cuisine
• Purple Haze
• Lantung Thai Bar & Bistro
• Very Siam