We missed a new post last week, but we’re back this week to get the tomatoes flying with a new Food Fight. First up though, our Yunnan Food Fight winner.

Lost Heaven's high-end Yunnanese folk cuisine has been attracting crowds down in Shanghai for a few years now, so it's about time that we got one up here in the north. We've been giddily waiting for Beijing's first Lost Heaven to open at Ch'ien Men 23 in June. Read on for our sneak peek.

By bringing together multiple minority group cuisines, traditional Yunnan flavors, and Burmese and Thai influences, the Lost Heaven Group has created a unique menu out of familiar flavors. What's more, the group works to craft a unified unique restaurant-going experience with its custom-designed decor.

We dropped by Lost Heaven, which is currently in private soft open mode, to see how things are running so far. In a word? Prettyfreakingawesome.

It doesn’t seem that long ago I was making wildly enthusiastic faces about Dali Renjia (my mouth was really full). But in the breakneck world of Beijing chow, chefs move on, places are sold, prices and salt levels rise. Soon enough, your order of tudou wan comes daubed in ketchup.

Thankfully, you can’t keep a good idea down. Wen Juan, one of the former Dali Renjia owners, has opened Haney right across the street.

If your appetite’s been languishing, wake it up at Mitao – a peach of a restaurant. Guizhou and Yunnan dishes dominate the menu, with specialties that might surprise even fans of southwest Chinese cuisine.

It can happen to any restaurant reviewer. One mediocre meal too many and you’re ready to hand in your chopsticks, buy a blender and have a gastric band fitted. Goodbye to ordering, chewing, disappointment, payment, resentment. Hello to liquid nourishment via drip. Then along comes a place like Dali Renjia.