Cravings Restaurant Scratches the Itch for Family Friendly, Quality Dining

It’s hard to define a good neighborhood restaurant, but it’s usually the kind of place that has something for everyone. During a recent return visit to Cravings, which opened near Chaoyang Park around a year ago, the wide spectrum of guests enjoying Wednesday night dinner certainly suggests that they have that aspect covered.

Cravings positions itself as family-friendly (yes, there’s a children’s play area), but don’t let that put you off if you don’t have kids in tow. The food is resolutely adult, as is the drinks list, which includes a very competitively priced French house wine (RMB 168 per bottle/RMB 40 per glass). The restaurant has always espoused a globetrotting culinary style, one that can’t easily be summed up by one or two cuisines, and the same can be said of the recently revamped menu. For example, a salad of new potatoes and broad beans (RMB 68) brings to mind Japanese cuisine thanks to a finishing sprinkle of bonito flakes and a rich mayonnaise flavored with mentaiko (salted pollock roe), although the latter also evokes the flavors of Spanish patatas bravas.

The new menu has stronger pan-Asian influences than previous offerings. The star dish on the dinner menu is a deconstructed riff on grilled fish, or kaoyu (RMB 198). In traditional kaoyu, a whole fish is drenched in spicy oil and then served in a metal chafing dish, but for Cravings’ creative version the fish is filleted and grilled over charcoal before being served over smoked hay. However, the real treat here is the spicy “secret sauce,” which is mixed table-side (secret or not, it’s reminiscent of a Cantonese-style chili oil). Another dish from the dinner menu, chicken lollipops with Sichuan pepper (RMB 58), demonstrates a deft hand with seasoning, the Sichuan pepper presenting as a pleasantly citrusy back note rather than an overwhelming hit of numbing spice. Cravings is also open for brunch and lunch, the latter featuring some good deals on noodle and rice dishes, making it a great spot for any time of the day. 

Photo courtesy of Cravings