Capital Bites: Feast at East Beijing, Starfish Back in Full Swing, Sausages at Cu Ju and Closures

It's a bit of a tumultuous week for certain establishments around town today. For now, just know that all 7-11s are closed today. We'll have a a separate post with a full list of other restaurants that are shut today. Meanwhile, Purple Haze Courtyard at Dongsi Liutiao has closed, Starfish is serving food again, and new weirdly upscale bagel and hot dog outlet Must Guette has popped up in Sanlitun Village. We've also got the update on sausages at Cu Ju and a new location for Scott's Family Restaurant.

We gave Feast (Food by EAST Beijing) a try yesterday and had a great meal. A fuller review is coming soon, but the pavlova was a highlight (not a surprise, as Chef Rob Cunningham was previously the executive chef at Capital M), as was the foie gras starter.

Purple Haze Courtyard at Dongsi Liutiao has closed, but their Gongti location is still open for business.

Da Dong at Tuanjiehu is currently closed for renovations.

Starfish have figured out their licensing issues and are back to serving up their selection of raw oysters, Alaskan king crab (they recommend booking for one of these because they only import a few a week and they go fast), shrimp cocktail and more. It's still a smaller menu than before, but they're working their way up, and are also planning to double their wine list in the coming weeks.

Must Guette is about to open at Sanlitun Village South. We'll check it out for you soon, but we're not sure our budget can handle the gourmet bagels. Anyone in the market for a RMB 315 breakfast?

Scott's Family Restaurant, the notoriously hard-to-find homey Italian joint in Sanlitun, has just opened its second location near Jianguomen. It's one of the better values in town. Hopefully this second location means more people will actually be able to find it.

We all know Cu Ju's stocking tons of rum, but Badr continues to develop a food menu of down-home Moroccan favorites. He's been working with a Tunisian butcher in town to make a merguez sausage (lamb and beef in a lamb casing), which he'll be serving alongside salad, eggplant dip, spinach or whatever else he's rotating through that day. He's also got an artisanal rum-raisin ice cream made with Sailor Jerry Rum. Along with his tagine stews, this is shaping up to be quite the stop for Moroccan food. We'll drop by and give the full menu a spin for you once it's ready.*

The food court at Gemdale Plaza near Dawanglu has reopened after months of renovation and it looks like the eateries (including the new Fatburger) are nearly open. We'll be reporting our weight gain here at the office weekly. (Not really, but it'd probably be a shocker if we did.)

Happy eating.

*Full disclosure: Badr Benjelloun has just joined our company as Chief Technology Officer.

Photos: Marilyn Mai