Ku Chifai's Beijing Kitchen is a Celebrity Restaurant Worth Making a Fuss About

Normally, we're not fooled by the cult of celebrity chefs but when we heard about The Beijing Kitchen, created by Ku Chifai, we knew it was going to be good. That's because Ku has been sharpening his culinary skills since the age of 15 and has since gained such accolades as 14 years at Beijing's prestigious Lei Garden Restaurant, followed by 11 years as executive chef at Beijing's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, before opening his own restaurant in late 2016. We enjoyed our first visit during their soft opening back in late 2016 and since then the restaurant has beckoned us back with a number of new treats.

Located on the sixth floor of SKP, Beijing Kitchen has a traditional Hong Kong-style ambiance with large comfortable orange sofas, solid wood tables adorned with pristine white tablecloths, and an open kitchen. The servers are attentive and always keep an eye out if you need a tea refill.

Don’t be fooled by the name – the Beijing Kitchen serves up classic Cantonese dishes such as cha siu (Chinese barbecued meat), various slow boiled soups (RMB 58-580), traditional dim sum (RMB 29-36), fried rice noodles with beef, clay pot rice with cured meat (RMB 48 per person), roasted crisp pigeon (RMB 68), egg tarts, chilled mango sago with pomelo (RMB 38), and other goodies. Despite that traditional pedigree, its menu also features creative items like chilled cherry tomatoes in plum wine (RMB 58) which are boiled, peeled, and chilled and then soaked in plum wine to give them a sweet tanginess, not to mention enough of an alcoholic aftertaste to leave you buzzing.

The cha siu here is impeccable and we advise you order a platter (RMB 148) for full effect. Thanks to deft slow roasting, the pork is given a gorgeous glaze, while the wasabi-infused sauce and the pickled ginger helps to cleanse the palate.

Our favorite dish, however, is the lobster soup with cooked rice (RMB 48). The big individual pot of fragrant orange broth is accompanied by a plate of cooked crispy rice, which when tipped in, tickles your eardrums with a cacophony of crackles that is almost as delightful as the moment they pop on your tongue.

Nip your hunger in the bud with a large and succulent tangbao (literally soup bun, RMB 39) filled with crab meat and lobster. The rendition here comes with a skin so thin that you can see the color of the slopping soup inside, which itself needs 30 minutes to boil. When you carefully open this steamed bao, the soup will ooze out along with fresh crab meat and shrimp and the sweetness of the seafood with the savory broth makes this dish downright addictive.

This modern restaurant is perfect for groups so that everyone can try more dishes. However, we also spotted several solo diners nibbling away at their dim sum contentedly during our visit. It may not be an inexpensive restaurant, but you can't go wrong when treating yourself to the wares of Beijing's best chefs.

Beijing Kitchen
Mon-Fri 11.30am-2.30pm, 5-10pm; Sat-Sun 11.30am-3pm, 5-10pm. 6/F, D Area, SKP, 87 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District (6530 7995)
北京厨房：朝阳区建国路87号SKP商场D区六层

READ: Furongji Serves Modern Dim Sum on Baochao Hutong (Just Don’t Call it Fusion)

Photos: Tracy Wang