First Glance: Caravan, Guanghua Lu

Cuju mastermind, Badr Benjelloun is at it again with his new restaurant Caravan. Situated in the old digs of Casa Brasil, across from the Brazilian embassy, he will be serving up a wicked rotating menu of Moroccan eats for dinner (RMB 150 for a three course meal) and a set business lunch during the day. We had a chance to go by and check it all out before it opens next week.

The bar itself was constructed from an old hutong door that was stripped down and revarnished, giving the space a sharp but rustic look. While it's still in the process of being filled with Moroccan and other appropriately themed flair, Caravan has the potential to be both comfortable and cozy.

Badr started us off with a nice bowl of olives and Carrots Sharmula, a fresh carrot based salad mixed with mint, parsley, greens, black pepper and a Moroccan style vinaigrette dressing. It was a fresh mix and pleasing to the eye, with gigantic slices of carrots protruding from the bowl.

Next up was a main course of desert leg of lamb, with prunes and almonds over red rice pilaf. The lamb meat was deliciously tender and fragrant, mixing perfectly with the sweetness of the prunes and raisins. It was great to mingle the pilaf with the natural juices of the lamb. Needless to say the plate was clean, with only a bone and prune pits remaining.

Finally, for dessert, he served up a flambé banana with rum raisin ice cream and cracked black pepper. If you know Badr’s MO, no meal is quite complete without putting a little rum in the mix. So why not a rum raisin ice cream? A deliciously sweet combination of hot and cold that rounded off the meal perfectly. 

Caravan is set to inject a little color into this embassy area, where the only signs of life seem to be a couple Russian restaurants and Maggie’s Bar. After 7pm this end of Guanghua Lu, near the second ring road, turns into a ghost town and Caravan has the chops needed to not only shuttle in the embassy crowd but also people who wouldn’t normally venture into this diplomatic wasteland at the south end of Ritan Park.

Photos: Kipp Whittaker