Los Angeles, 1952: Johnnie Ray is storming the Billboard charts with a new sound that will eventually become rock & roll. And the superbly named Lovie Yancy opens the world’s first Fatburger.

Nearly 60 years on, I’m in the capital of the PRC, sitting with a Fatburger, Fat Fries, and a Coke, looking out through windows damp with spring drizzle at embassy concrete and razor wire. The burger (RMB 60, meal deal) does a good job of looking like its photo: aesthetically charred patty, neat shreds of iceberg, and cheese overhanging the bun at just the right angle. But this is fast food, inasmuch as I wouldn’t bet on it in a blind taste test against a McWhopper.

Fatburger has opened up a new front in Beijing's burger wars with their first Mainland China branch in The Grand Summit complex just north of the Kempinski Hotel. We dropped in for lunch today (hat tip to Beijing Boyce for his timely twitter post) and found the place hopping on this, its first official day of business after a slight delay due to some issues with sourcing their beef.  Business was so brisk, in fact, it was hard not to feel a bit sorry for the forlorn O'Brien's counter (owned by the same management) in the corner.

Beijing isn’t lacking for hot pot spots, so when a new one appears, even enthusiasts might ask “Why bother?” Gao Gao answers that question with high-quality ingredients and a commitment to recreating the freshest Taipei hot pot.

The first thing that strikes you about Feast is that it’s a fine-looking restaurant. Of course, nobody really comes to a place like this to enjoy the design, so it’s just as well that the all-you-can-eat offerings deliver. Mix up your own salad to ease yourself in, and try not to overindulge in the bread and cheese selection – you’re going to need every inch your stomach allows.

Since the term nyonya refers to the women of Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore, pretend with me for a second that Little Nyonya, the restaurant, is an actual woman. She’d be the kind of gal you could take home to meet your mom: reliable and demure, not the most glamorous, but someone you can settle down with. She does, after all, know how to cook.