this is a very stylish restaurant located in the basement of a boutique hotel on the north of 3.3 in sanlitun. the service is quite good, with the waiters speaking english and chinese interchangeably depending on the customer's ability.
the business lunch consists of a 2 or 3 course meal. 2 course is 108 and 3 course 138. on face value, given the good quality food it's probably worth it. but there are a few gripes.
1) the servings are really really small. for example, if you order the duck, then 5 slivers 3mm thick are put on a large plate with 1 wedge of potato, 1 wedge of orange and drizzled with gravy. the taste is quite good for a sampler, but leaves you with the feeling that you've just forked out 100rmb for 10rmb of duck. the oxtail soup with ravioli is the same. if you thought the W 'Wine and dine restaurant' was cheap giving only 4 pieces vegetarian ravioli on a plate, then this place is even cheaper. at least in wine and dine the 4 pieces of ravioli are larger than average. in this restaurant, they only give you 3 pieces of ravioli and they measure 2cm x 2cm.
2) service tax. now i'm sorry, i know this place has english speaking waiters, but does that mean they should lump an extra 15% loading on top of it? No... it's certainly not worth 15%. if you want good service then you go to maison bouloud where they give you silver service.
ok... so is there any saving grace? well.. the desert is fabulous... chocolate tart with vanilla bean icecream... mmm... delicious!
overall... based on taste.. yep.. they are doing good. based on portion size... you will be bitterly disappointed. based on service, you'd think they are ok. based on value for money.. you'd think you were cheated.
so... think about it before you go... a 3 course lunch for 138+20.7 = 158.7rmb. Don't be fooled if you want a full stomach.
PS: if you do go, fill up on the complimentary foccacia bread they give.
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