Chintz and Crushed Velvet: New Restaurant/Patisserie in Nali Patio

Quietly and amiably, Carlos Chordi is building his Sanlitun empire. Following on the success of Bocata and Carmen, Velvet is an eatery that aspires to comfortable elegance. The large room is hung with chandeliers and high-backed, crushed velvet chairs. The general aesthetic might be called “off-kilter French farmhouse,” with its lacy doilies and wood painted a mottled white.

The food echoes the atmosphere. Menu choices skip around Spain and Italy with Mediterranean-influenced soups and salads, seafood and meat, and pasta and rice dishes.

The arugula salad with cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, raisins and Parmesan cheese (RMB 66) offers a welcome change of greenery from the wilted lettuce of your usual dabancai. In the fettuccine a la crème (RMB 85), the heavy cream sauce predominates. Though it’s brightly punctuated by bacon and mushrooms, and the delicate fettuccine eases the sauce’s impact, after a few minutes, it all began to gum together. This texture unfortunately repeated in the hot chocolate soufflé (RMB 75), although it was tempered here by a fresh passion fruit ice cream.

Velvet features a patisserie counter at the front. Assorted cakes and macarons can be ordered for the table and eaten in comfort over coffee and conversation. The rye bread (RMB 40), with a soft crust and crumb, was a bit light for my taste, but made excellent toast the next morning.

When I returned a few weeks later, the restaurant was bustling and Chordi greeted me warmly. Among the chintz and crushed velvet crowd, Nali Patio’s newest seems already to have found an appreciative audience.

Also try: Carmen

Velvet Daily 10am-midnight. 1/F, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District (5208 6199)
绒, 朝阳区三里屯路81号那里花园1层

By subway: 900m west of Tuanjiehu station (Line 10)

Photos: Mitchell Masilun