Palazzo, Chaoyangmen's Latest Opening, is a Contender for Beijing's Strangest New Restaurant
If the Beijinger had a restaurant award for strangest new eatery, Palazzo would be a strong contender to win it.
Opened earlier this month in the U-Town mall neighboring Kuntai Apartments, this restaurant's overly fancy decor seems to strive for Victorian England vibes, thanks to its overuse of white linen, its stiff backed chairs and the fake Renaissance style paintings on the walls of its second floor (the ground level is just a small entryway café). The third floor is better, with lighting as soft as the leather-backed chairs, giving it a decent enough date night vibe for the relatively limited Chaoyangmen area restaurant scene (which is mostly dominated by chain restaurants and local mom and pop operations).
If you were being nice, you'd say Palazzo's menu was eclectic, but we'd err more towards calling it haphazard, including everything from an Italian-style seafood spaghetti (RMB 48) to Spanish ham and smoked salmon (RMB 58), Taiwanese meatball pastries (RMB 58) to stewed lamb and steamed rice (RMB 98), and a Hungarian style sausage dish (RMB 42) to a Malaysian chicken roll (RMB 38).
The Malaysian chicken roll was made with chewy tortilla-like bread, and its sweet-yet-sour chicken was quite tasty. However the stewed lamb was less satisfying thanks to its bland flavor, though we did enjoy its tenderly juicy texture. The Hungarian sausage option, meanwhile, was an outright letdown, thanks to its mushy meat that was entirely absent of flavor.
Driven to drink by the proceedings, we turned to the thankfully robust cocktail menu and ordered a whiskey with bitters that was well-mixed and went down smooth. The rest the cocktail menu was rounded out by several other standard options (Singapore slings, Moscow mules, and so on) that can be found anywhere, though we liked the high number of choices (more than two dozen) and the prices (RMB 38-58). But that didn't make up for the biggest gaffe of all – the complete and total lack of a wine list (seriously, how does that happen at a place with such uppity decor)?
Sensing our lack of satisfaction, the manager brought us a complimentary chocolate lava cake that was warm, wholesome, and satisfyingly sweet. We appreciated his efforts, and Palazzo's overall laudable ambition and attempts to be eclectic. Together, those elements make the restaurant a cheap and at times on-point oddity that curious foodies should check out if they're in the Chaoyangmen area, mostly because of the novelty factor. However, Palazzo by no means a strong enough draw to make anyone make a special trip to the Kuntai building to give it a try.
Palazzo (红殿西餐厅)
22 Kuntai Apartment, 12 Yi Chaowaidajie, Chaoyang District (5879 7599, 133 1126 8884)
北京市朝阳区朝外大街乙12号昆泰公寓底商22号
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Email: kylemullin@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
Photos: Kyle Mullin
