Capital Bites: M's Holiday Menu, French Michelin Stars & What to Eat at Shimao
Across dinner the other night, myself and some fellow scribblers and editors discussed the Bacon-Cake dichotomy. The premise is mighty simple on the face of it: BACON or CAKE? For the rest of your life. No cheating with pancetta, pork belly or any manner of brownie. Which one would triumph?
Most people want both. Personally, I'm still waiting for someone here to pick up on bacon-crumble cake doughnuts, bacon-peanut-butter cupcakes, and, ah, massive cakes of bacon. If you're on the fence, maybe the above will sway you: Capital M's roast suckling pig, from their holiday celebration menu. The skin's even crispier in real life! The set holiday menu is RMB 488+10% per person, twelve-person minimum. Book for twenty and get their sumptuous private room; call Jay on 6702 2727 if you're interested.
The Sofitel Wanda Beijing has brought in two-Michelin starred chef Fabrice Vulin to Le Pré Lenôtre. I'm told Fabrice usually cooks in a castle on the French riviera, which is both envy-inspiring and pretty freaking awesome. Five- and seven-course tasting menus (RMB 688+15% and RMB 1088+15% respectively) are available from Dec 8 until Dec 14, and you can book on 8599 6666 ext 6528). I'll be checking it out later today!
Grinders is offering two-kuai chicken wings every Tuesday. Four flavors and available all day but keep in mind that you need to order in 10s. Still a bargain! They're also doing some quiet renovations upstairs for some booth seating.
Obentos have extended their delivery areas! Click here for the new map. Their menu has also been extended somewhat, with new winter specials.
Ssam have a new winter menu; we'll be trying it shortly and reporting back.
We checked out the new Shimao department store yesterday and showed you their Hello Kitty restaurant, but there are plenty of other options for dining. With two floors (B1/F and 4/F) devoted the food, a good feed is ridiculously easy. Here are some standouts.
The Wondermilk store on 4/F offers a comprehensive range of products, including their Wonderwobble, frozen yogurt and also gelato. The latter comes in snack-size RMB 8 shot-glass-sized portions. They also stock cartons of Wonder Yogurt (plain and sweetened) and whole/skim Wondermilk. The prices for cartons are a little higher than at Jenny Lou's.
Across the way on 4/F, a new branch of super-popular Nanjing Dapaidang is already a hit. Until Dec 12, receive a RMB 20 voucher for future consumption for every RMB 100 spent. I'll let the Dianping.com reviewers do my raving for me, but just FYI, the Zhongguancun location is a favorite of many of our editors.
If our Peking Duck feature left you peckish, you'll be happy to know that Bianyifang is now open on 4/F. As an opening bonus, all roast ducks are half-price!
Other Shimao openings include Wings Caffe, a Yunnan hotpot franchise, Papa John's and Beard Papa.
Finally, if you're as much of a sammich fanatic as me, you'll be pleased to know that Chef Too's secret menu contains two warm sandwiches. The Izzy (grilled cheese with ham and cheese) and the Meimei (BLT plus avocado, on an English muffin). Unfortunately, I found this out after brunch, so I had to content myself with their excellent Texan eggs. Not a hardship, I promise you.
Photos: Susan Sheng & Courtesy of Capital M
