What's New Restaurants: Tribe in Sanlitun

Jessica Rapp | Sep 8, 2014 3:00 pm | Add a comment | 5934 reads

It is an unfortunate truth that Beijing is synonymous with greasy late night hot pot adventures and stomachsearing Sichuan. It takes hefty willpower to eat healthy. Vegetables can barely make it to the plate without getting doused in oil.

Enter Tribe, whose owners work with local organic farmers like Tootoo to lay the groundwork for fresh, healthy eating. The interior reminds us of MOKA Bros, thanks to designers who also like to use that trendy bold typography in their windows. But we’re more interested in the food: Tribe’s team is clearly concerned with providing variety and creativity alongside those B vitamins.

Start off your Tribe experience with Greek yogurt. We hear that Greek yogurt has a godly status among foodies, and you can spoon in that goodness with small piles of muesli and fruit for a reasonable RMB 38. For greens, the Tribe salad with kale and pistachio is nearly there, save for its salty chilli citrus vinaigrette, but the grilled salmon sandwich with asparagus, egg and olives (RMB 78) majorly makes up for it.

When we saw mushroom and kale grilled cheese (RMB 45) on the menu, we were ecstatic. Finally, a “healthy” grilled cheese! It turned out that healthy grilled cheese is a mouthful of sprouted seven grain bread that has smothered the cheese into oblivion. Disappointing. Those sprouted grains do debut on all the sandwiches, though, and are said to be the way to go if you’re sensitive to gluten. In fact, Tribe’s entire menu is coded to help you make informed eating choices – GF for “gluten free” and VV for “very vegan” among them.