A Closer Look at Beijing's Best Salads

A Closer Look reviews the winners from our 12th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards, which were announced March 16. Here we take a look at the winners of the Best Salads category.

Long gone are the days when Beijingers would avoid uncooked veggies like the plague – Beijing circa 2015 has become a salad-lover's paradise. This closely contested category of our Reader Restaurant Awards resulted in four outstanding mentions, as opposed to the the typical two, because so many venues have top-notch renditions of this healthy menu item. Below, see our rundown of Beijing’s best destinations for uncooked leafy greens:
 

Best: Element Fresh
This popular chain’s spring and summer menu has 13 salads served in generously heaping portions. Some of those options are familiar, including the classic Cobb (their best-seller), Greek, and the ever-essential Caesar. But what puts Element Fresh over the top is its less conventional salads, especially items like the Chilean beef and Lebanese king prawn salads. Another of the popular salads is the laffa bread salad, which features strips of grilled chicken, a bed of chewy dough and a dose of creamy goat cheese, making this salad not so much a side as meal in itself.
 

Outstanding: Annie’s
Healthy eaters delight in the shockingly affordable salads at this Italian chain. A mere RMB 18 will buy you a small Caesar salad, though the menu is not without its extravagances (the most expensive option is the papaya – and prawn-laden Insalata con Papaya e Gamberoni goes for RMB 68). And while the low prices may bring those customers in, they’ll be coming back for more thanks to the variety that lies between the extremes of the papaya prawn and the caesar – from the feta-topped Insalata Greca (RMB 38) to the heavier, beef, chicken, and ham sporting Insalata dello Chef (RMB 45).
 

Outstanding: Gung Ho!
This designer pizza joint is much more than gourmet pies: in fact its salads in some ways exceed the creativity and appeal of their pizzas. Gung Ho!'s salads prompted TBJ dining editor Robynne Tindall to rave: “The generously portioned salads strike a balance between healthy and hearty. Order one of these as a main course and you will not feel like you are scrimping.” Among the most popular of those menu items are the rocket pear salad (which features shaved parmesan and sunflower seeds with juicy sliced pears), a roasted veggie salad, and the meatier paleo, Thai beef, and teriyaki varieties.
 

Outstanding: Moka Bros
Healthy eating is a tenant of this popular restaurant, which is part of the Mosto Group’s burgeoning F&B empire. For proof, look no further than their recent collaborations with personal trainers for their power bowls. But even without those elaborate measures, Moka Bros’ salads would be more than enough to draw conscientious foodies looking to bring balance to their diets. The Protein Rush – complete with quinoa, spinach, tomatoes – is an obvious winner in this regard. But aside from such practical healthiness, Moka’s salad options are also rounded out by some highly creative items (in terms of ingredients or monikers) like the curry chicken, lentil yellow and corn, and the impeccably named Al Green, which is captioned on the menu as “just greens with your choice of dressing.”
 

Outstanding: Tribe
Upon opening this past fall, the Tribe became an instant hit with local foodies that craved organic grub. The burgeoning Sanlitun eatery’s menu features a range of salads that sport quinoa, kale, fennel and radicchio, while their innovative grain bowls – lentil, tofu, and asparagus and snow pea – are served over mixed grains. One of our faves is the creative Power Plant, which features marinated eggplant, mizuna, pear, walnuts, parsley lebneh, and olive oil with lemon vinaigrette.

Hungry for more? Follow all of our 2015 Reader Restaurant Awards coverage here.

Photos courtesy of the venues