LEO by FLO is Beijing's Fresh-Made Pasta Dream Come True

If anyone understands the need for constant adaption in the ever-transforming culinary culture that is Beijing, it’s Groupe FLO, whose diverse array of restaurants cover everything from burgers at Miam Miam to the fine French dining at Maison Flo. Much as the group had done converting its Parkview Green location of its signature Café FLO into European pot-seafood joint, Cocottine, they saw that it was time for a rejuvenation of Café FLO in China World Mall.

Thus, LEO by FLO was born – a restaurant whose name, according to Group FLO Asia managing director Jimmy Loh, is derived from the courage that got us all through the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter your birth month, “During COVID, everyone should be a Leo,” says Loh.

Though the bistro-like aspects of dining that regulars of the Café were fond of are still on the menu for dinner, the lunchtime crowd comes seeking something that they can’t get anywhere else in the city: Italian pasta made from scratch daily at a reasonable price.

Lunchers on the go can grab their nosh in a flash with the window service where, beyond the chef preparing the pasta before your eyes, a salad bar and selection of light eats like the mushroom on fried tofu and baked pumpkin await, along with fresh proteins to be fried up to perfection on demand, with options of beef, salmon, and tiger shrimp. These can be enjoyed by themselves or popped on top of a pasta dish of your choosing.

Inside, where classic and subtle French style dominates, the wait staff grates fresh cheese over just-served pasta. Diners will often opt for the signature dish, the Bolognese. If there’s one complaint about this dish, it’s that it is a bit light on flavor, but at RMB 69, it is an opportunity to chow down on the unique texture of hand-made pasta that is unmatched in the capital.

Moreover, flavor-seekers won’t find fault with the pesto on caserecce (best paired with seafood), nor especially with the rigatoni carbonara with a poached egg – add on the parma-ham (total RMB 88) and the creamy flavor will be just short of completely overwhelming. In all, there are seven types of pasta noodles and no shortage of appetizers, soups, and sides, from fried squid to crispy chicken wings.

In all, the opening marks not just another fine enterprise by Groupe FLO, but also the filling of a gap in the market – and in our stomachs – with freshly made pasta that heretofore Beijingers could lay their lips on only by crafting it in their own kitchens. For those of us who are daunted by the idea of such a task, LEO is a welcome addition.

LEO by FLO
1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, China World Mall South Area, basement level SB124， Chaoyang District
朝阳区建国门外大街1号国贸商场南区下一层SB124

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Images: Joey Knotts