White Tiger Village Owner Opens New Restaurant Cravings Near Chaoyang Park

A little over two years after opening his White Tiger Village restaurant at Xiang’er Hutong, Nathan Zhang has opened a new eatery called Cravings in a far different locale near Chaoyang Park. Like fellow hutong-rooted restaurateur Paca Lee of Ramo, Zhang has left those volatile alleyways, closing that restaurant to run a new place in a sleepier, more family-friendly east-end neighborhood, and like Ramo his new place has a kids' play area that'd likely surprise the more bohemian set who frequented his older digs. 

Ramo pulled that transition off by expanding its menu with flavorful new options and dressing its new Lido digs to the nines with snazzy decor. In terms of ambiance, Cravings strives for a slightly more reserved vibe, thanks to its mostly muted design that is punctuated with flashy paintings and an even more colorful mural stretching across the ceiling.

Much of the food is just as aesthetically pleasing, especially the RMB 72 Yunnan cheese salad we started our meal off with during a recent visit to the newly opened restaurant. Topped with salty Katsuobushi flakes that curled and shimmied before our eyes (we tried something similar at Frost a few months back), it made for a visually compelling dish that's likely to grace more than a few WeChat Moments. Its Yunnan cheese chunks had a tangy aftertaste and their cushy texture reminded us of tofu, making for a tantalizing ingredient in a salad that was rounded out by roasted greens and pine nuts that gave it a fresh kick. We gulped it up quickly but had a harder time swallowing the price, its portion being enough to serve as an appetizer for a peckish patron, but not big enough to amount to a meal unto itself.

Our order of lamb chops was a far bigger flop in that regard. Priced at RMB 88 (pictured at top), the dish amounted to two midsized lamb chops that were juicy and hearty enough, but shockingly lacked sides to round it out or quell our hunger. Sure, there were some clumps of yam and salmon sashimi in a semicircle along the plate’s rim, but they amounted to little more than garnish and we'd hope to see this one filled out a little in the future. The flavor however salvaged the small portion thanks to its creamy thick, smooth and slightly sweet sauce and a sprinkling of herbs under the sashimi.

Thankfully our RMB 198 pan of seafood rice was far more generously heaped. We managed to finish the sizable dish, though just barely, its salty sticky rice soaking up the juices of the seabass and mussels dotted throughout the pan. A minor gripe: some of the mussels weren't open, indicating that they were already dead before they cooked, and thus stealing this dish away from being as fresh as it could have been. However, this was otherwise a flavorful and filling dish that impressed.

The dessert was even better: a gooey fried marshmallow touted as a house specialty on the menu and served with a side of pickled berries. It was sumptuous, sticky, and delightfully sweet, and was a real bargain at RMB 48. If the kinks in the dishes that we tried earlier were smoothed out they'd be as successful as this dessert (or as sizable and flavorful as the seafood rice), and would help Cravings satisfy our hankering for healthy artisan eats.

Cravings
Mon-Sun. Brunch: 10am-2pm; dinner: 6pm-11pm. 50 meters west of Park Avenue Compound's south gate, Chaoyang District, Beijing (a few doors down from Pizza Saporita; across the street from Napa's old location) (5719 2684)
北京市朝阳区公园大道生活广场喷泉北侧

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Photos: Kyle Mullin, Cravings