Beijing Western Food Association Announces Top 20 Restaurants

The Global Times reported earlier this week that the Beijing Western Food Association (BWFA) has published their first annual list of Beijing’s crème-de-la-crème of foreign dining. According to the Association’s secretary-general Xu Meng, these “20 restaurants best represent the foreign flavors that Beijing has to offer.” Really?

"Those restaurants are not close to being voted the best in the city,” the Global Times quoted former Beijinger dining editor Tom O’Malley as saying.

We can’t even figure out where or what some of the places on the list are, such as the “Beijing Love Shannon Catering Company.” The incomprehensible Google translated list directly off the BWFA site identifies the restaurant as “Beijing Ai Shang Shannon Catering Management Co., Ltd.” There seem to be a lot of “companies” as opposed to independent restaurants on the list.

A side link on BWFA’s site partially solves the “Shannon” mystery, taking you to a catering management site where the latest news is an announcement about their new Western dishes: “Champagne steak” and “Whisky milk chicken.” No details on where the actual restaurant is, but some horrible translation suggests its somewhere in Beijing’s Changping District (where the Ming Tombs are).

According to the Global Times, “Although some members [of BWFA] are foreign – like the German owner of Der Landgraf – most are Chinese.” We’re sure it’s entirely coincidental that Der Landgraf made the Association’s top 20 list. In fact Xu Meng acknowledges that most of the establishments on the top 20 list are members of the Association.

Apart from membership of the BWFA, the Global Times reports that the criteria for the top 20 list were “qualification, management, service, and food quality.” Exactly what “qualification” means is uncertain.

A couple of Beijinger Restaurant Award winners did manage to make the top 20, namely Phrik Thai and Han Na Shan, Outstanding Thai 2010 and Best Korean 2009 respectively.

In any case, if you’re after a full list of non-Chinese restaurants that foreigners actually value, you need look no further than the Beijinger’s 2010 Restaurant Award results from March – you can see all the winners here.