A Very Long Tea Party: Waiting Around for Green Tea Restaurant

There are lots of things that Chinese people are good at doing. These things include, but are not restricted to: hand-pulling noodles, bargaining and cracking sunflower seeds. 'Queuing' usually has no place on that list. However, in the case of Zhejiang-style Green Tea Restaurant, this is not the case. On every single visit to Shimao Department Store, be it Tuesday evening or Saturday morning, we've seen a long line of patient, puffy-jacketed queuers snake down the length of the mall. Naturally, we had to investigate.

Picture this: Tuesday evening, 7.30pm. A mounting sense of dread. A refusal to accept our booking ("We're booked out for the next week. Why don't you come wait?") And upon arrival, a ticket that estimates our waiting time at two hours. Thirty-five tables ahead of us. Assuming nobody dining alone is that silly, there were at least 70 people waiting for a table on Tuesday night. Gosh.

Here, have some gratuitous pictures of people waiting. Their Dianping.com page has hundreds of reviews from people like these.

So we did the reasonable thing, and went to Bianyifang across the way for dinner (bad idea!) and came back at 9.15pm for dessert. This is their star menu item, what the masses are all waiting for: the "Bread Allure" (RMB 28). A highly unseductive block of white bread, sliced into cubes, buttered, warmed and topped with ice cream. It's about as wide and long as a standard CD case.

Doesn't look particularly alluring, yeah?

Look, I don't know what peculiarly evil alchemy occurs in their kitchens, or whether I'm just a terrible person, but this was consumed in under five minutes. There's something incredibly plush and comforting about its squishy, ultra-refined nature. Something I probably wouldn't admit to enjoying, but can't stop eating. If you grew up on Wonder White and only accepted the deities of sourdough in adulthood, expect willpower to crumble and sensibilities to depart.

In comparison, the chocolate fondant (RMB 28, listed as 'fondue' on the menu) was rather unimpressive. Green Tea obviously doesn't use artisanal ice cream, but it's far more noticeable in this dish. Still, the fresh mango cubes were a nice touch and the cake itself had a pleasant sturdiness about it.

Drinks-wise, a lime/grapefruit juice was RMB 15 and unimpressive. From the scents wafting a table over, they also do a roaring trade in char-grilled skewers. The interior looks a little like an unimaginative bordello (red lights, odd tapestries and too-ornate chairs) but I can see the appeal. It plays a crucial (and underfilled) niche in the restaurant scene: a well-priced but still-presentable place with what seems to be reasonably tasty food. But worth a two-hour wait? Probably not.

Green Tea Restaurant
4/F, Shimao Department Store, 13 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (8895 8388)
绿茶餐厅，朝阳区工体北路13号世茂百货4楼

Photos: Susan Sheng