Wangjing's Lush Japanese Restaurant Life As It Is Will Send You Into a State of Zen
If someone asked us to think of Wangjing five years ago, the first things to come to mind would be mushrooming highrises and fried chicken galore... not so anymore. The once-a-small-village-now-a-new-CBD deserves more credit than that, with a spate of new openings that puts it side by side with any of Beijing's other burgeoning areas.
Now we've found yet another example of Wangjing holding its own with Life As It Is, a sprawling Japanese restaurant and gallery space.
Designed by award-winning Beijing-based Dutch architect Martin de Geus, the interior of this three-floor restaurant is a spectacle in itself. Tastefully decorated in a minimalist style, concrete beams and modern design elements meet welcoming and traditional Eastern aesthetics.
The first floor hosts a reception counter and exhibition space showing a small collection of stylish pottery and glassware, setting the scene for the main dining area on the second floor. Bookshelves demarcate the hall, adding a sense of privacy between tables as well as some light reading to keep you occupied before the food arrives. Finally, the third floor has some gorgeously decorated private rooms as well as additional exhibition areas encompassing paintings and photographs.
Life As It Is' chef has previously studied and worked with both Japanese and Western cooking methods, which comes through in the well-crafted and creative Japanese-Western menu. It features everything from Japanese classics like fresh sashimi and sushi rolls to Western salads and desserts.
More crucially, the menu promises to remain fresh each time you visit and is adapted according to the seasons and seasonal ingredients available. For a restaurant that woos and promises so much, we were happily surprised to find the prices have been kept in check.
The sashimi platter (RMB 388), for instance, with its neat cuts of fresh tuna, fat-lined salmon, and fresh prawns rates among those that you'll find at similarly swanky Japanese restaurants. The tempura sushi rolls (RMB 88) are packed with roasted eel, prawns, and avocado, and topped with a healthy sprinkling of roe and a light unagi sauce.
Great for sharing, the assorted Japanese skewers (RMB 88) have a mixture of grilled vegetables and meat that has something for everyone, as do the assorted prawn, okra, and mushroom tempura (RMB 68), battered and deep-fried for a crisp overcoat that gives way to a soft and steamy center.
The splayed yellow croaker (RMB 98) is both chewy and crispy thanks to having been grilled after an overnight smoking. Add a rich teriyaki sauce and you have a deep combination that you won't want to wash away. Speaking of which, Life As It Is have collaborated with craft brewery Peiping Machine to select a beer menu to fit the dishes on offer.
To end an already indulgent meal, we had a slice of an indulgent cheesecake. Luckily this one is made the Japanese way and so is light as air, the slightly crisp skin perfectly complementing the delicate inside, an apt metaphor for Life As It Is as a whole: intentional, controlled, and beautifully presented. Fed to bursting, we left in a food-induced state of zen, feeling all is well in the world.
Life As It Is
Daily 10.30am-10pm. 1-1, Seventh Community, Wangjing Dongyuan, Chaoyang District (6475 9839)
朝阳区望京东园七区1-1
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Photos: courtesy of Life As It Is
