As a New Yorker, I enjoy my morning bagel. After living in Beijing, I've practically given up on finding good bagels in this town. That changed after I checked out Moss in Chaowai Soho after reading the review in The Beijinger. I went for lunch and took advantage of the 38 kuai lunch special (coffee, soup, and bagel sandwich). The cream of carrot soup was excellent and exactly like my grandmother used to make, seriously. The bagel sandwich with feta cheese and cucumber was equally excellent. On the way out I grabbed several bagels to take home. The real test is how they taste coming out of my toaster, slathered with cream cheese. They easily passed the test and, though not the best I've ever had, are the closest I've had to the bagels back home. Moss will now become a regular part of my weekly shopping circuit as I stock up on bagels for my morning meals.

Maybe its not fair to give this place one star, because we didn't actually eat there.
We arrived at 2pm on a weekday after seeing all of these great reviews, we made a special effort to go to Chaowai Soho especially for bagels.

We went in and sat down and the waitress looked nervous. The menu looked promising, we wanted the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel set with soup and a coffee for 38rmb.

The place was empty except for one other table, we began to order and the waitress kept yelling things at the kitchen, we asked her what was wrong and she admitted that they might not have any soup, we waited for the kitchen to confirm that they might only have one serve of soup..... OK.... so we began to order again, the waitress still looked nervous, we asked what was wrong, she hesitated then told us that they only have 2 kinds of bagels left, only cinnamon raisin and date and grain. Neither of those sounded very appropriate for a savory topping, but i thought date and grain might be ok but then we were told that actually there was only 1 date and grain left.

I went to see the bagel selection in the glass cabinet and yup, there were about 20 cinnamon raisin and 1 date and grain. The menu offers about 7 different kinds of bagels. Also the bagels on display were really small. We gave up at that point and decided to go elsewhere for our late lunch. I don't know what went wrong today but to be out of food at 2pm is pretty ridiculous, perhaps we just happened to stumble in on their busiest day of the year and they had sold out unexpectedly at lunch time but they need to get that issue worked out.

We might go back again if we happen to be in the area, but certainly wont make a special trip or recommend it to anyone.

FYI, we ended up at Nola for lunch instead and im SO glad we skipped the half-assed bagels:
http://www.thebeijinger.com/reviews/2010/03/24/The-most-flawless-meal-I-...

I am one of THOSE bagel snobs mentioned in the original write up of Moss. Nothing makes me more suspicious than things described as "New York Style" and nothing disappoints me more than crappy versions of my favorite carbohydrates. Lucky for me, Moss is not a crappy bagel place. While the bagels may not be hand crafted by Lady Liberty herself and may lack a little bit of chewiness (it seems that the bagels are toasted before being served), they certainly made my heart melt upon the first bite. I had the lunch special which came with a coffee, soup, and bagel sandwich, all of which came to 38 RMB. Not too bad! The service was good, the atmosphere was chill, and as I said, the bagels were pretty darn good for Beijing. I will be back here again to try a few of the other sandwiches and recommend you try them too (unless the post below has permanently ruined your appetite).