Foreign Restaurants in Beijing 

cctv.com 04-01-2005 16:51

Hi, I am Maximal, from Italy. I’m living in Paris. A wonderful time in Beijing. I have Vietnamese food, which is quite good.

Hi, I am Isabella form Spain. I have different dishes in Beijing. Pizza, stake, Japanese food and all kinds of western dishes.

I am Wang, from Dalian, a north city of China. I Beijing, I have Italian Pizza, Brazilian food, Italian, Thai food and Chinese food of course.

I am Laurel Bennett, and I am form the United States. I Beijing, I had everything from Korean to Middle Eastern to French. Welcome to this edition of Rediscovering China. In Beijing, you can find almost every kind of Chinese food. As the city developed into a world-class city, foreign food has also made their ways into this old capital’s cuisine as well as many people’s appetite.

When you mention dining in Beijing, many foreigners can’t help but think of Beijing duck, hot pot, and the various kinds of traditional Chinese snacks. However, with the city quickly becoming an international metropolis, you can easily find pockets of foreign eating cultures all over this ancient capital city. In fact, the first foreign restaurant in Beijing was established in the 1950’s.

Moscow Restaurant was the first foreign restaurant established in Beijing. It not only added Russian flavor to the Chinese diet, but also attached Russian architecture to this city.

In 1954, the former Soviet Union built the Moscow Exhibition Center complex, including the Moscow Restaurant, in order to display the “economic and cultural achievements exhibition of the Soviet Union”. After the exhibition, Moscow Restaurant started its business to the public. Because of its different architecture and cuisine, Moscow Restaurant quickly earned a good reputation around Beijing. People affectionately call it “Laomo”, roughly translated “old Moscow”.

In 2000, the Moscow Restaurant renovated and redecorated, but still preserved splendid style of the Russian building. It resembles a small palace with its two or three-storey-high ceilings and ornate fixtures. It’s really quite stunning. The business area covers 1,300 square meters, and can accommodate 600 people at a time. But what is really charming to the many Chinese patrons is the Russian culture that is reflected here.

Attracted by the exotic food and elegant atmosphere, Beijingers lid to come here to have a different dining experience here. In 1950’ s and 1960’s especially, to have a dinner her was to be the envy of all your friends.

Over the last 50 years, Moscow Restaurant has developed a lot. However, people can still taste the same traditional foods that they did 50 years ago.

Nowadays, with its authentic Russian dishes, Moscow Restaurant is still a favorite choice for many people who like the Russian dining and culture. You can often find people with gray hair coming here to recreate memories of their younger days spent here.

This restaurant, as I know, was built in 1954. I came back form abroad to Beijing that year, 1954. One has to have a memory. This is my schoolmate. After leaving Beijing, after 50 years, this is the first time they come to Beijing. I take them here to make a memory. This collection is the same as 30 or 40 years ago.

So many people harbor this kind of warm affection toward the restaurant that the feeling even has a name: “Laomo Complex”. It’s a condition that affects more than just these three. In 2000, Moscow Restaurant collected several articles to commemorate the restaurant. Many people contributed to the effort. In this anthology, I found several peoples’ expressions of deep fondness for this restaurant.

One day in 1956, my father took our whole family to have a foreign dinner after we watched a performance in the Beijing Exhibition Center. Here, we used a knife and fork instead of traditional Chinese chopsticks, and the coffee in the cup with a silver cover had s a very special flavor. After the dinner, we had the sweet ice cream. I was very impressed with the Russian food, which had a different taste from Chinese food. Later, “Laomo” became a place we often went to.

Here, I also find the old picture of a family taken in 1964 in front of the Moscow Restaurant. At that time, the two daughters were quite young. 30 years later, when the two daughters came back from abroad, they took this picture in the same place and with the same positions.

Besides Moscow restaurant, there are some other restaurants also serving up a Russian flavor, such as this one called “Kiev Restaurant”.

I am now in the Kiev Restaurant. Kiev is the capital of Ukraine. I am very impressed by the authentic Ukrainian flavor here. I even hear that there is a first-class singing group which performs here every night.

Although much smaller and younger than Moscow Restaurant, Kiev Restaurant has its own style with the Ukrainian Vodka and oil paintings. Ukrainians love singing and dancing. Many of the members in Kiev Restaurant’s singing group are well-renowned and respected in the Ukraine. At 6:30 every evening, they begin their performance.

Maxim’s was first founded in Paris at No.3 Imperial Avenue at the end of 19th century. Over the last 100 years, it has attracted nobles, high officials and celebrities and become a place where political and business moguls gathered. In 1983, the Beijing Maxim’s, established by Pierre Cardin, was opened to the public.

Maxim’s offers authentic French food. Coming here, I was immediately impressed by the beautiful atmosphere here. The oil paintings, the stained glass windows, and evern the lights are elegant pieces of art.

The Maxim’s in Beijing keeps the style of Paris’ Maxim in both its architecture and interior decoration. The classic wood carvings, the delicate tree-shaped lights and the traditional frescos fill the restaurant with a romantic and mysterious atmosphere. Coming here, you can almost feel the 19th Century Paris air, and imagine you are actually in the old city you’ve read about in books. With the authentic French food and classical music, you can escape from the noise of the city, and take a quick trip to France in your mind.

In order to keep the authentic flavor of the food here, Maxim’s Executive Chef, Alain LeMeur, is a Frenchman himself. With his skills in preparing French food, Alain once worked in the Paris Maxim’s and Brazil, and later came to Beijing in 1999 as the Executive chef. The lunch and dinner hours of every day are the busiest periods for Alain. After Alan presents his culinary preparations to his customers, he visits them at their tables.

This year is Maxim’s 20th anniversary. During the last 20 years, Maxim’s has served many celebrities, politicians, important businessmen, and artists. And over the course of time, they have seen a shift in their overall clientele.

Nowadays, Maxim’s has become a place where many people have special parties or celebrations.

Since the Maxim’s was established in the 1980’s, foreign food market has expanded rapidly. If Maxim’s French food is a bit formal and fancy, this Italian restaurant is just what you need for a quiet and casual evening at home or some place like it. It even got a “I never want to grow up name”----Peter Pan.

Located near the foreign embassies, Peter Pan is often filled with people from different countries. The simple but very friendly decor shows the Italian people’s love for nature and home. The owner of Peter Pan is Italian expatriate, Claudio Bonfatti. For him, Peter Pan is not only his business, but also the place where he can make and meet friends. Of course, he also helps in preparing the food. In 5 minutes, he can make a pizza to perfection. The pan pizza accompanied with the Italian wine, I really understand how the Italian people enjoy their lives. When I ask him where he came up with the name for his restaurant, Claudio looked a little bit shy.

It’s one of my favorite fairy tales. I think as a lot of people, every person is a young boy who never wants to grow old. Also Peter pan is a symbol. He used to collect lost kind to one place to have a easy life, good life. We used to think the restaurant, the table is the best place to make people happy. Chinese say during the meal, you can settle business and problems. In another way, we relax and take it easy and have a good time and fun and pleasure on the table.

On the outskirts of Beijing, Claudio Bonfatti also has an Italian farm called “Agtiladia”. Out here, the smell of the fresh vegetable and fruits fills the country area. The farm not only provides food for the restaurant, the novelty also attracts people all over form downtown Beijing.

Agrilandia was established in 2000. It covers more than 20 hectares, or 50 acres of land, with over 20,000 trees imported from Italy. In the green house, they grow some Italian vegetables and herbs. It’s the first time that I have seen the wild herbs that go in to my tomato sauce before it comes to the table. With them, Peter Pan and the restaurant in this farm can get the fresh seasoning to make their authentic Italian pizza.

Here, you can choose to dine in the house or in the backyard. When the weather is nice, people usually choose to eat out on the grassland to enjoy the warm sunshine and fresh, country air. It’s busy here every day, but especially on the weekend. People come here to relax and let children get closer to nature.

The Bonfatti’s have two daughters. One is four and the other just a year old. The farm is their little piece of paradise. After lunch, they like to have fun in the yard with their mommy and daddy.

Beside the western restaurants, there are also some Asian ones. On East Third Ring Road there is a Japanese restaurant called Mingge. Here, you can choose how you want eat, whether sitting as usual or kneeling on Tatami. The waitresses here wear the traditional Japanese kimono and zori sandals and walk by taking tiny steps.

This is the first time that I have sat on Tatami, so I didn’t quite get it right.

But Japanese people do not do that way.

The food here is beautifully presented. What impressed me most was how king sized the King Crab is.

It can be toasted, steamed and also eaten as cold dish.

Some restaurants are located in the very old Chinese part of town, such as Nuage in Houhai. Here, you can see the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, symbols of Beijing, but the food is Vietnamese.

Nuage is a French word, which means “the cloud”. With its exceptional decoration, the Vietnamese cuisine and the beautiful scenery of Houhai, it attracts a lot of people, both Chinese and foreigners. The restaurant began with just two floors but now has expanded to all four.

If people would feel fresh when they saw a foreign restaurant 50 years ago, then now it is very common that more and more foreign food start their business in Beijing. Having Chinese food for a long time, people like to change their food for a while. Them foreign restaurant are their best choice. From the Thai food, the American snack to the well known Korean Barbecue, all of them add to richness of Chinese food culture.

As we see the process of globalization evidence in many aspects of Beijing, including its eating and drinking. These foreign restaurants are great for internationals like me when we want a little bit taste of home and also add more variety for the Beijing diet. The development of Beijing’s economy continues to offer a bright future for these restaurants. Thanks for watching this edition of Rediscovering China. I am Kerry Brogan. See you next time.

Editor:Hu  Source:CCTV.com