High Steaks: Switch! Opens on Gongti

While hungry art connoisseurs mourn the loss of Culinary Capers’ Switch! diner from the 798 art district, meat lovers can themselves caper at the arrival of the catering crew’s new steakhouse and grill venture. Switch! Grill preserves its predecessor’s signature modern American dishes alongside a made-to-order grill menu (available after 5pm) that lets diners choose from various meats and seafoods, marinades, sauces and flavored butters.

The entry-level oyster blade steak (RMB 120) had a rich flavor to its chewy heft that was brought out by the house rub and a confident sauce béarnaise. Tender BBQ pork ribs (RMB 140) from Spain come swathed in a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and are a high point of the all-day menu. Switch! Grill also offers a range of salads, pastas and flatbread pizzas for the less carnivorously minded. Seasoning was inconsistent at times, but the flavors were bold enough to compensate for the occasional misstep.

During the day, Switch! Grill hopes to court nearby office workers with an affordable, rotating “Lunch Express” menu (two courses RMB 68, three courses RMB 78) that runs from 11am to 1.30pm Monday through Friday. A takeaway cookie bag dessert option should easily elicit envy from that annoying cubicle mate who works through lunch.

Switch! is quirkily eclectic in its influences, drawing from Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese cuisines in its appetizer menu alone. At heart, though, its style is guided by expert hands that understand how to make soul-satisfying food.

Standout dishes: BBQ Pork Ribs, Switch! Grilled Hamburger, Slow Cooked Salmon

Also try: Flamme, The Cut

Switch! Grill Daily 11am-10pm. 1/F, Regent Land, 66 Gongti Beilu (east of the Swissotel), Chaoyang District (6553 5691) 朝阳区工体北路66号瑞士公寓西侧1层

Click here to see the April issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo courtesy of Switch! Grill