Capital Bites: South Beauty Exposé, Happy Birthday Lily's and How to Eat a Mooncake
Yet another food scandal! South Beauty, known for their upscale locations and kicky Sichuan food (not to mention multiple wins in the "Best Sichuan" category in our Reader Restaurant Awards), was investigated by an undercover reporter, with disturbing results. Lack of utensil sanitation, passing off dead fish as live, "fresh" juice made from concentrate and waitstaff stealing food are just some of the distasteful details revealed. Better to opt for Chuan Ban, methinks.
Lily's American Diner is turning two! To mark the occasion, they're giving away a free birthday cupcake to every customer on September 3. If you can't make it on that day, don't fret – there's a free glass of imported house wine with every order of a daily special until the end of the month. If you're particularly enthusiastic, you could even go on Saturday (Sep 3) and take advantage of both offers. Booze and cupcakes ... A-plus worthy!
The Westin Financial Street's Hats Off event is going off for third time in as many years. On September 8 & 9, French-Vietnamese master Didier Corlou will cook up a storm, and Stephane Tremblay takes the stage on September 15 & 16. Chef Tremblay brings with him five sous-chefs from all over the globe for a six-course menu. September 29 & 30 features Julien Bompard of Le Saint Julien and his traditional French cuisine. Having a restaurant named after yourself must be such an ego boost. Chefs will cook one dinner per night – six up in total. Try one dinner for RMB 800, three dinners for RMB 2,000 or go the whole hog with six dinners at RMB 3,600. Give Prego a call if you're up for it.
The Outback Steakhouse is ditching the terra Australis image and rebranding as William Steakhouse. We're not sure what this means as far as decor goes, but fingers crossed that we won't have to dine next to photos of the Duke of Cambridge. Their Gongti branch is moving to a space between the east and south gates of Gongti, opening at the end of October. It's business as usual at their Wangfujing location.
Dear Dongsi residents, you should feel blessed. Taiwan-based bakery chain 85 Degrees has opened a new 24-hour store in your hood, at 485 Dongsi Beidajie, mere steps from the subway station. True, there are other branches in Beijing already (click here for the full list of locations as featured on Dianping.com), but unless you're me, you probably don't want to schlep to Xidan for a muffin. Our Copy Editor is particularly pleased – she recommends the ginger milk tea and the multigrain loaf ("satisfies like a pastry!").
A couple of quick moving notes! Peter's Tex-Mex in Lido has moved to Jiangtai Xilu, next to SALT and Frank's. There's a 15 percent discount off all orders (except dessert) as an opening bonus. Pakistani restaurant Khan Baba, which closed its original location a few months ago, is setting up a new branch in Sanlitun Soho; they should be open sometime in October.
Create Asian Gourmet has opened up in China World Summit Wing, right above Page One bookstore. From the looks of the menu, they'll be serving up Hong Kong favorites, with a few Southeast Asian dishes thrown in. They also offer free deliveries to offices in the Guomao area – any further than that, and they'll add taxi fare. I'm just excited about the buttered pineapple bun. More on this later.
And finally, mooncake fever is well and truly upon us. I'd like to take the time to pass on a few tips for cake-consumption this season.
- A good salted egg-yolk mooncake is actually the best thing this side of September. Fact.
- Mooncakes are meant to be sliced and shared with others. That means you don't eat one by yourself. No complaints if you can't figure out serving size!
- Extensive testing (read: all of my twentysomething years) has proven that mooncakes keep until at least Christmas. Caveat: I make no promises about the ice cream varieties. If any of those are around in October, the Beijinger's editorial team will gladly eat them.
Photos: Gogobot & Flickr user Superfinefeline
