Dining Extra: Vineyard Expansion, New Duck de Chine, Fish Nation and More

A few more notes to add from the wonderful world of Beijing dining, with lots going on this week.

Vineyeard Cafe owner Will Yorke is set to open a new "beer and food" joint called The Vine Leaf on Jianchang Hutong, just a few minutes' walk from the Vineyard. Those familiar with the area might also know Jianchang Hutong for the excellent Western food store Chez Gerard. The Vine Leaf will sell Yorke's home-brewed beer (along with other craft beers) and the menu will feature pasties, pies and other dishes well-suited to enjoying with beer.

The venue will also feature The Vineyard Too - essentially a delivery kitchen preparing dishes from the Vineyard's menu solely for delivery - Yorke is keen to expand this side of the business.

Fish Nation owner Jay tells us he is working on opening a new branch of Fish Nation in Wudaokou.

The new Duck de Chine is now open for business at 1949-Jinbao Jie. We'll have a full writeup on that for you next week.

We've spotted a big new restaurant named "Beijing Legacy" right outside the northeast exit of Beixinqiao subway station. The purple sign features a picture of a giraffe and a bat. We hope neither are featured on the menu, but will report back when we've had a chance to find out more.

A load of new commercial property developments will be coming onto the radar over the next six months. These things are invariably plagued by delays, and none more so than Gong San Plaza. Six years ago, this was a hole in the ground. By the time of the Olympics, almost no progress. Finally though, the huge hoardings surrounding the site have come down, and Xindong Lu suddenly feels like a different street. At the moment, we've heard very little in terms of what we'll see opening in Gong San (apart from "China's first Hello Kitty store"), but it looks like Gong San will be ready for business before the end of 2011. Fingers very tightly crossed.

Another one that's been slow to get off the ground is the Guoson Mall next to Dongzhimen bus station. A recent look around revealed nothing apart from one coffee shop beside the entrance, and lots of construction still going on. However, the huge basement food court has a few places almost ready and some signs up, including a Burger King, a big ice-cream place called Dairy Fairy (which looks like a Dairy Queen knock-off), the usual chain mala xiangguo and Korean bibimbap places, a “Jade Kitchen Taiwan Braised Pork,” a branch of iTea and some more coffee places. While we're on the subject of iTea, they appear to have given up their branch on Gulou Dongdajie - at least, the name has changed, though the store itself is exactly the same.

Other developments to keep an eye on include U-Town Phase 2 (where a new branch of Blue Frog is already under construction), Parkview Green (if you didn't see our recent report on Parkview Green and the Eclat Hotel at Dongdaqiao Lu, take a look here), Swire's Indigo project nearby 798, and the East Avenue apartments on Xindong Lu (west of the Village North). There's also Tun San Li, another Sanlitun project long in the construction. It's looking more or less finished, but we're making no more predictions about when this might open.

Finally, new "Irish" bar The James Joyce and the adjoining 24-hour chuan'r bar are now open on Xindong Lu, in the space formerly occupied by Mare and Swensen's. We know this because Beijing Boyce told us last night. He was there for the opening. We weren't. So hat tip to Boyce, who will give you a proper writeup - check out his blog in the next few days for more info. We promise we'll deliver a writeup soon as well. In the meantime, the best we can manage is a photo ...

Photos: Iain Shaw