Capital Bites: New Yunnan in the Hutongs, Kebabs, and Ramen

Yunnan options in Gulou just got more plentiful – look out for Hani Ge Jiu by Sue Zhou of the catering company Food Muppet. They're offering a daily set lunch menu for RMB 68, with one medium bowl of rice noodle soup or a cold rice noodle salad, plus mint salad, Yunnan goat cheese, Hani potato balls, fried mushrooms and your choice of a soft drink.

Catch them daily 11am-10pm on 46 Zhonglouwan Hutong to the east of the Drum and Bell Tower. You can count on us to be by there this week so that we can let you know what we think.

And now, for new bites in Sanlitun, of which there is much:

New kebab joint Mash opened this past Saturday in the old space of Big Live. It's behind 3.3 at the north end of Sanlitun Houjie (the tiny mess of a bar street). They have a few half-off deals (5-10pm) to get started: Mondays for kebab platters; Tuesdays for appetizers and salads; Wednesday for burgers; Thursdays for main dishes including pastas, chicken tikka masala and fish & chips, among other offerings.

More Middle Eastern cuisine and more meat is around the corner. Simon Ge's – the BBQ place next door to Two Guys and a Pie – was a short-lived venture and will be turning into a gyro spot.

On the west side of Gongti (the stadium itself), a restaurant called Puerta 20, that we heard of this past spring, looks to have actually flung open its doors as planned and is serving Spanish cuisine priced at the higher end of the scale.

At the north gate of Gongti, the third Beijing outlet of ramen shop Wu Xin (舞心拉面) has opened. It looks to be inside of the Vic's entrance and what we've seen of the interior looks quite classy (pale wood and rice paper – very Japanese) with prices running around RMB 60-70 a head. Once we have a taste – or a slurp, rather – we'll be back with our take.

If you enjoy the Let's kingdom of seafood and burgers, their new expansion into noodles should be satisfying enough. Or at least Let's hope so ... (groan). Let's Pasta looks set to open soon next to the cinema in the basement of Taikoo Li South. The exact date remains unconfirmed but they are holding tastings this week so it seems their kitchen is well into preparations.

Enoterra in Nali Patio is extending their happy hour (4-8pm) into the weekend. Buy one glass of wine, get one free. If you swing by for the Sunday happy hour, the deal applies to anything (bottles, tapas, etc – your choice).

Photo courtesy of Hani Ge Jiu