August 23, 2007
那家小館
We were first-time visitors, so our Beijing manager was obligated to take us some place for dinner. But we didn't quite rate the super-luxe places that the boss likes. This restaurant is located behind the Twins Center (a.k.a. the LG towers) near the office, so we were able to walk over there early and get a table without too much waiting after work.
The restaurant is decorated like an 18th century Manchurian inn. They offer a big tome of a menu in three languages complete with colorful photos. But it's much more awesome to order old-school style from the tray of wooden slats, each inscribed with the name of the dish and its price.
Nominally Manchurian/north-China food. Good ingredients. Always thought salads in Chinese restaurants were abominations drenched in Thousand Island trying to please foreigners. Turns out that salad is actually a pretty typical cold-dish in Beijing, and there were some very nice greens dressed with a standard soy sauce vinaigrette. The meat-jello starter was good, too, but then I'm used to eating it at home. The third cold starter was sweet mashed potatoes with red-bean sauce. Apparently that's a Beijing thing, too.
The signature dish is the soup, with a rich stock made richer (and yellow) with egg yolks. Lots of abalone chunks and other seafood bits. Glazed prawns was oily and sticky but tasty, miles ahead of the icky stuff served up in American Chinese restaurants. Kung-pao chicken was amazing, with lots of dried peppers, Sichuan peppercorns for the extra kick, and flavorful walnuts instead of the more pedestrian peanuts. The fish was cooked (fried?) before the brown sauce drenching, keeps the sauce from overwhelming the seafood flavor.
那家小馆
东城区建国门外永安里新华保险大厦南侧(119中学西侧)
010-65673663