Eat the World: Your Guide to French Cuisine in the Capital

Beijing ain't all Peking Duck, as you know! It's a rich and diverse landscape of culinary culture from around the globe – so diverse that it can be hard to keep track of! So we're helping out with our new Eat the World column


Fancy a souffle, quiche, duck confit, foie gras, or even a spot of caviar? This week, we're rounding up French restaurants around town so you'll know where to go when you're craving cuisine française.

Casual and mid-range


La Maison Lyonnaise

Highlights: Compared with the slow-cooked Parisian cuisine of your typical bistro, this Embassy-district diner focuses on the heavier home-style cooking of Lyon.

Must-try dishes:

  • French-style braised escargot (pictured)
  • Quenelles au Sauce Nantua – creamed fish, seasoned and smothered in a crayfish sauce

Price Range: RMB 280+ per person


Panorama

Highlights: One of the latest additions to the French family in Beijing, Panorama has made a splash in Sanlitun with it's quiche and crepe brunches and all before it's even begun to open for dinner. 

Must-try dish: Salmon crepe.

Price Range: RMB 90+ per person 


Maison Flo

Highlights: The flagship restaurant of Groupe Flo in Beijing, Maison Flo is popular both for it’s indoor fine dining and more affordable terrace menu.

Must-try dish: French Oysters

Price Range: RMB 250-750+ per person


Roti by Flo

Highlights: A recently opened Flo restaurant, Roti focuses on the grill. For the good-weather months, they've got beautiful outdoor seating to boot. 

Must-try dishes: Grilled mushrooms, roast chicken with foie gras stuffing

Price Range: RMB 400 per person


F Bistronome

Highlights: Another one of the Flo family, F Bistronome offers homestyle cooking crafted by their team of "French Mamans." They've also got a great view of the Guomao area.

Must-try dishes: Orange souffle, "Rougie" duck leg confit

Price Range: RMB 400+ per person


Bistro 108

Highlights: More on the casual side but with plenty of french classics to choose from, Bistro 108 has garnered its share of regulars over the years.

Must-try dishes: Confit dumplings, bucket of mussels

Price Range: RMB 200+ per person


Bistrot B

Highlights: Bistrot B likes to add creative twists to traditional Parisian dining while also serving up pastries by morning and crepes by night.

Must-Try Dish: Foie Gras Burger

Price Range: RMB 300+ per person


La Taverne

Highlights: A restaurant and bar that's become a favorite of Sanlitun winos and lovers of affordable French cuisine.

Must-try dish: Fondue Bourguignonne

Price Range: RMB 200 per person


O’steak

Highlights: Focusing on the meatier side of French food, O'Steak offers steak, burgers, and skewers in addition to more familiar french dishes.

Must-try dish: Argentinian beef tartar. 

Price Range: RMB 280+


Chez Soi

Highlights: It may be more known as a bar than a diner, but the management has been slowly rolling out French-style dishes onto the menu.

Must-try dish: Básque Chicken

Price Range: RMB 80+ per person.


Fancy and fine

TRB

Highlights: Is this the best restaurant in the world? That’s what Trip Advisor users said in 2019 when they voted it their hutong location to the top of their global list. Founded by Ignace Leclair, TRB offers fine-dining style French cuisine with typical “indulgences” and seasonal menus in a contemporary architectural setting.

Must-try dish: Pickled Salmon

Price Range: RMB 1000+ per person


Les Morilles

Highlights: Another fine dining option, Les Morilles is Black Pearl award-winning restaurant.

Must-try dish: Langoustine

Price Range: RMB 1000+ per person


Fudao

Highights: An art gallery turned fine dining establishment, Fudao's French-Italian menu is crafted by famed chef Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex.

Must-try dish: Foie Gras

Price Range: RMB 500+ per person

READ: New in the Neighborhood: Chicken Tenders, HK Hot Pot, and Waffles

Images: courtesy of the venues, Joey Knotts, Dianping

Comments

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Giovanni Martini wrote:
BauLuo wrote:
Giovanni Martini wrote:
BauLuo wrote:

I think I may have toenail fungus. I have heard that in certain tribes in South America, toenail fungus is considered a delicassy. I would gladly contribute my toenail fungus to help your research into this topic. Do you know of any restaurants in Beijing specialising in toenail fungus soup?

You're Canadian, no? Isn't that cultural appropriation---Ulster Scotch offscouring transplants of the timbered wastes hijacking the broth once sipped by the god-kings of Paititi? Though, yeah, that might amount to a certain je ne sais quois...a certain borrowed elegance. And fungus soup IS "plant-based"

I believe my toenail fungus was legitimately aquired, in Canada, sloping throu the crick, looking to aquire bloodsuckers, which I could salt and cook up on my Sterno stove. Inadvertently, i may have aquired, also an unexpected toenail fungal infection which I have come to love and adore. Howso, I wish to expand the world's populace's appreciation of cuisine, especially tribal and disenfranchised groups in the upper reaches of the Amazon, hence my magnanimous offer of toenail donation. You gots a problem wit that buddy?

Let me guess. In order to show I have no problem with this, I have to lick your bare feet? Better that than eat 4th Grade school lunch again, I allow.

Well, not both, just one. And only in the tickly spots. Not between the toes, where some fungal plasma may yet be residing.

I am Doktor Aethelwise Snapdragoon.

Giovanni Martini wrote:
BauLuo wrote:

I think I may have toenail fungus. I have heard that in certain tribes in South America, toenail fungus is considered a delicassy. I would gladly contribute my toenail fungus to help your research into this topic. Do you know of any restaurants in Beijing specialising in toenail fungus soup?

You're Canadian, no? Isn't that cultural appropriation---Ulster Scotch offscouring transplants of the timbered wastes hijacking the broth once sipped by the god-kings of Paititi? Though, yeah, that might amount to a certain je ne sais quois...a certain borrowed elegance. And fungus soup IS "plant-based"

I believe my toenail fungus was legitimately aquired, in Canada, sloping throu the crick, looking to aquire bloodsuckers, which I could salt and cook up on my Sterno stove. Inadvertently, i may have aquired, also an unexpected toenail fungal infection which I have come to love and adore. Howso, I wish to expand the world's populace's appreciation of cuisine, especially tribal and disenfranchised groups in the upper reaches of the Amazon, hence my magnanimous offer of toenail donation. You gots a problem wit that buddy?

I am Doktor Aethelwise Snapdragoon.

Giovanni Martini wrote:
BauLuo wrote:

I think I may have toenail fungus. I have heard that in certain tribes in South America, toenail fungus is considered a delicassy. I would gladly contribute my toenail fungus to help your research into this topic. Do you know of any restaurants in Beijing specialising in toenail fungus soup?

You're Canadian, no? Isn't that cultural appropriation---Ulster Scotch offscouring transplants of the timbered wastes hijacking the broth once sipped by the god-kings of Paititi? Though, yeah, that might amount to a certain je ne sais quois...a certain borrowed elegance. And fungus soup IS "plant-based"

NoNoNo. it is simply acceptence and appreciation of our collective toenail diversity. Aintcha been schooled yet?

I am Doktor Aethelwise Snapdragoon.

I think I may have toenail fungus. I have heard that in certain tribes in South America, toenail fungus is considered a delicassy. I would gladly contribute my toenail fungus to help your research into this topic. Do you know of any restaurants in Beijing specialising in toenail fungus soup?

I am Doktor Aethelwise Snapdragoon.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

"It's a rich and diverse landscape of culinary culture from around the globe "(unquote)

Whatever happened to words like "different, mixed, various, assorted, miscellaneous, sundry, motley, manifold, heterogeneous, assorted"? They all mean something on the order of "diverse." Which lattermost term is in a dead heat with "innovative" to die from overuse. Odd, innit? The biggest diversity pimps are boy-toys in bondage to a deadingly monochrome verbiage. One has to plumb Soviet-era state organs to find a correspondingly constipated style of expression.

Well, we don't speak, or think, for that matter, in words, but collections of words, i.e. phrases, chunks of words. Of course many phrases are overworn, because the writters don't have the chops to think or write outside of well-worn cliches. But heck, this ain't highbrow shit, whatcha expect? It's not like ya can just pull out your Roget's Thesaurus and plug one word in place of another. Of your list of proposed alternatives, the only one that would work in that phrase would be `assorted', (which for some reason you listed twice, perhaps unconsciously [or consciously] knowing that that is the only word that would work).

I am Doktor Aethelwise Snapdragoon.