Not Great

My friend and I went to Hulu for dinner, a few weeks after the opening.

The venue looked nice, and the service was very warm and welcoming - all in English. All good so far, the problem really came down to the food. We are not exigent customers, we enjoy our company more than the food. But the disappointment was so great that the poor quality of the fare made our conversation. We had 8 dishes and two drinks for a little more than 800RMB, we left hungry and had to have a little encas elsewhere before parting home.

Portions are really small, even the mains like pasta or steak are gone after a few bites. Pictures on the menu are deceiving - everything looking at least 25% larger.

As to the quality itself:

• the burger sliders were obviously not seasoned - somebody forgot the salt,
• they didn't forget slat in the margarita though - where a little pile of salt at the bottom gave a really unpleasant taste to the drink,
• the foie gras came melted on the bread - very likely stored in an inappropriate place,
• the chocolate soufflé was - I think - a minute-microwave soufflé which you can make at home - very dry, overcooked on the sides, not the kind of soufflé you find in restaurants.
• the cheese was served with 5 tiny crackers - while 3 types out of 4 were spread-like cheeses, the waiter explained that we could eat the rest with our spoons *shok* or order bread from the menu. We took the second option and 5 minutes later, got a super dry - likely baked/frozen/rebaked rosemary, saltless bread - unedible.

On the plus side: the ideas and recipes are sometimes casual, sometimes innovative and always attractively presented. Some of the combinations were interesting and the Hulu Colada was a pleasure to drink - a sweet not of summer in this cold Beijing.

Overall I recommend this restaurant if you are not hungry and simply want to have a drink and canapés before you go elsewhere for dinner. I might give it another try in a few months, while the portions' size won't change, I think that not messing with the basics (keeping foie gras away from heat, not overcooking souflés, seasoning the burgers, serving bread baked the same day, and asking patrons beforehand if they would care for some bread to accompany their cheese) will very much improve the quality of this place.

As for today, Hulu is not great.