Expat Mainstay Annie’s Goes Upscale With Fine Dining Venture Ponte

More than two decades after opening their first restaurant in Beijing, the team behind Annie’s has just thrown the doors open on another venue. But instead of yet another cozy-pizza-and-pasta venue in the style we’ve come to know and love, they are branching out into new territory with fine-dining restaurant Ponte.

The team intends Ponte – which means bridge in Italian – to be the cultural and culinary bridge between the Middle Kingdom capital and the proud European nation, not only via the restaurant but also via the new neighboring Ponte deli.

This more casual space will offer patrons not only breakfast, lunch, and dinner (the made-fresh-before-your-eyes pasta bar certainly has our attention), and also an extensive range of wares such as imported cheese and cured meats, Italian extra virgin olive oil, freshly baked bread, and viennoiserie. Everything, in short, that a good Italian pantry should have. 

While the deli will certainly appeal to homesick Italians and the kind of connoisseurs who turn their noses up at Balsamic vinegar from anywhere but Modena, the real challenge for the team may be convincing existing customers, who are used to Annie’s unpretentious and tasty fare, to shell out extra for the elegant ambiance and mix of vintage chic that the team says, “will make you feel like [you are] on a movie set.”

You can read more about Ponte and see pictures from their opening night here. Watch this space for a full review soon.

Ponte
106, Bldg 15, Zone 1, 6 East Fourth Ring Road North, Chaoyang District
朝阳区东四环北路6号1区15号楼106号

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Photos: Ponte