Capital Bites: Beijing Michelin Guide Rumors, Create Your Own Hatsune Roll and More Burger Openings!

Is Beijing closer than we thought to having its own edition of the Michelin Guide? A bit of gossip is going around town that a Michelin inspector may soon be coming to town – if they aren’t here already. Of course, the fact that Michelin inspectors live a life of secrecy akin to that of an MI5 agent makes all this impossible to verify, but Beijing-based chefs and restaurateurs, you have been warned – be on the lookout for diners with fake moustaches and wigs. For a great glimpse into the life of a Michelin inspector, check out this fine article from the New Yorker, in which writer John Colapinto shadows a Michelin inspector visiting some of New York’s finest eateries.

Hatsune is giving sushi fans the chance to create their own sushi roll for the restaurant’s upcoming new menu. All you need to do is send your entry – complete with the roll’s name, what ingredients you’d use and any presentation suggestions – to kristen@lumdimsum.com before July 24. As well as having their roll added to the new menu, the winner will receive an RMB 1,000 voucher for Hatsune. An exciting summer for Alan Wong’s restaurant peaks on August 4, when Hatsune celebrates its tenth anniversary – if previous Hatsune anniversary parties are any barometer, that one should be something very special.

One of our favorite places right now, Moment Café, has a new set of daily promotions. These include 40 percent discounts on all chocolates, puddings, cupcakes and cakes from 6-10pm on Monday and Thursday nights, buy-one-get-one-free savory crepes from 6-9pm on Tuesdays, buy-one-get-one-free bottles of house wine from 7-10pm on Wednesdays, and 10 percent discounts on your total bill all day on Sundays. Not only that, they do a 30 percent discount on all baked goods from 8-10pm every night.

If you haven’t heard of them yet, Jinshisong is a recently launched delivery operation steadily building on a portfolio of clients that currently includes Flamme, In & Out, La Sushi, Haiku and other restaurants. The service is similar to that offered by firms like KK Rabbit – place your order with Jinshisong by phone at 4000 300 517 from their website, and wait for them to bring the goods. Jinshisong’s selection of restaurants will take time to build, but their website seems smoother than KK Rabbit’s. They’ll give you an RMB 15 discount on your first order.

Ritz-Carlton Beijing has welcomed new chef Gianluca Visani to take over the kitchen at Barolo. I attended a dinner last week to try out some of his fine offerings – his ravioli in particular was excellent, as was his tiramisu.

Bringing Beijing something of the “supper club” trend that’s taken major Western cities by storm, Mrs. Rose’s Private Kitchen is offering a six-course tasting menu in Mrs. Rose’s own home. The meal is RMB 198 per person (drinks not included in price), and features a Caribbean salad, Jamaican patties, Jamaican jerk chicken, “Spaghetti Afrique,” yam with steamed spinach, and fruit cake with rum. One of my colleagues gave it a trial run and tells me while they’re still working things up to full speed, the portions were large and they left “very, very full.” Mrs. Rose's kitchen only takes bookings for weekends - contact Mrs. Rose at rose@privatekitchen.asia to make a reservation.

The people behind Middle 8th have opened a new restaurant called Hong Lu on Sanlitun Nanlu. The restaurant is specializing in Beijing homestyle cuisine.

After a month that involved eating a bunch of Greek salads for our latest Taste Test, and stopping by Sureño for dinner in their “Sunken Garden” to try roast lamb, fantastic moussaka and a mouthwatering selection of Greek appetizers – all part of their recent “The Spartans are Coming” promotion, a few of us stopped by George's Mediterranean Cuisine recently for a dinner that included freshly sliced Iberico ham, more moussaka, more hummus, Turkish-style sea bass, and a great seafood paella. For our review of this still little-known restaurant, see here.

Finally, if you've been following our popular Burger Wars series on the blog, you'll likely be interested in a few new burger joints already open or coming to town soon. The new Fatburger has just opened in China World Mall, and you might already have seen our writeup of the new Let's Burger Plus – check it out here if you haven't. Two more to report on - Burgers and Beer has just recently opened in Shunyi, at the Scitech Premium Outlet Mall, while Hong Kong-based burger and hot dog restaurant Shake 'Em Buns will be opening in the next week to two weeks at China Central Place, beside Shin Kong Place. This is one war that won't be over anytime soon.