Capital Bites: Tainted Tea Scandal, Yi House Oysters, Modo Earlybird Dinner and Niajo's New Menu

Getting ready to pour yourself a cup of tea to wind down into the weekend? Hold your horses, because we're here with news of yet another food and drink scandal ...

A Greenpeace report came out this past week alleging that leaves from some of China’s biggest tea chains, including Tenfu and Wuyutai, tested positive for as many as 17 different banned pesticides. This comes just six months after a haul of Lipton Tieguanyin was pulled from supermarket shelves when samples failed to meet national standards. Our recommendation: Drink more hot water.

Yi House at Grace Beijing starts up its jazz nights again tonight (Apr 20), with a seafood dinner and live music in the garden. Dinner costs RMB 498/598 (three/five courses). That also includes an oyster tasting in the lobby from 6-9pm, where you can try North American oysters along with a glass of bubbly. If you only want to attend the oyster tasting, the cost is RMB 248.

We already told you about Mosto's new "Mosto at 6" deal for earlybird diners (two or three courses for RMB 218/258 from 6-7pm). They've also just added a new 6-8pm happy hour, with buy one get one free deals on selected drinks including cocktails, house wines and local beers.

Meanwhile, sister restaurant Modo's happy hour is now running 5-8pm, offering buy one get one free on selected drinks including house sparkling wine, white and red wines, cocktails, local beer and soda. And they're also getting on the earlybird dining train with two or three courses for RMB 148/168 every day from 6-7pm. I'd heartily recommend going along and trying this one if you've never been to Modo before - it's a straightforward and inexpensive way to sample the restaurant for first-timers.

Time to try something new at Niajo? The Spanish favorite thinks so, shaking up its menu with a new selection from chef Alex Sanchez including everything from rice and paella specialties, to tapas, premium canned seafood imported from Spain and homemade deserts.

Carrefour’s wine fair begins tonight (Apr 20) and continues with 20 percent discounts on bottles all through the weekend. Stop by for a look. For full details, see our post here.

Finally, we congratulate David Yeo, owner of the Aqua Restaurant Group (Agua's parent company), on being declared “Restaurateur of the Year” at Singapore's “World Gourmet Series Awards of Excellence.”

PHOTO: Ghulmil.com