Hunting Down the Elusive Prey: a restaurant that still exists.

As warned by the travel guides, restaurants come and go with such frequency that by the time of print, they may no longer be there.  Since D is old-school, and armed with a printed Time Out Beijing guide, I knew it would be hit or miss.  I tried to hedge out bets by cross-checking restaurants on the internet, but even that is not quick enough for the elusive prey... the Beijing restaurant.

We were initially looking for a restaurant called Hot Loft, which was said to have awesome hot-pot.  After a confusing cab ride, where even the driver had to ask for directions twice, we finally found the exact address... of where they had been.  In its place was a very brightly lit seafood place (why are so many restaurants here lit like hospital rooms?  trust me, you don;t always want to see you food in that detail).  Not what we had in mind.

On the way, however we passed some very pretty alternatives, so I convinced D to wander back on our path where we passed an intriguing single-malt scotch bar, which was nicely designed (and reminded me of the commercial scene with from Lost in Translation with Bill Murray). Then we came to The Green T House, hidden behind glowing green light, white curtains and an impossibly high thin door.  No windows and very secretive (you have to ring the bell for entry), it has a very exclusive ambiance.  It gets mixed reviews from locals,mainly due to bad service, but everyone agrees that its a feast for the eyes.

The restaurant was the creation of a woman named Zhang Jinjie, a chef, calligrapher, artist and musician (and now, restauranteur).  Apparently she is China's only female master chef and plays yang qin (Chinese Dulcimer) and gu zheng (Chinese table harp).  The design was very NY art loft and gorgeous (although showing a bit of wear and tear).  A long white room lit at the far end with cool green spot lights across a tangle of branches suspended from the ceiling. On one side, along the windows) there were tea-house style seating on white banquettes and in the center tall (like Alice in Wonderland tall) dark wood chairs seated around a communal table.  On the opposite wall they projected arty animations accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack that included everything from European classical music to Chinese classical music to jazzy electronica (which was a bit too loud at times, but cool).  Over all it was more stage set / performance art than restaurant, which made up for the "mama huhu" (so-so) service.  (See? I'm learning Chinese ! ;P)

Of course they don't allow you to take pictures there, or anywhere here other than public spaces (so you will have to look at their pretty flash images on their website).  I think because they are all paranoid about getting copied.  A valid fear given that this is the land of knock-offs.  But I managed to sneak a snap of D before the waitress told me to stop ;)  So aside from the pics I took of myself in the multi-mirrored ladies room (they cant stop me in there !) where I recreated (in my head) the closing scene from All About Eve, I am relegated to pulling pics of the interior from the internet.  

Food-wise it was yummy.  Even though they brought me the wrong dish (I am pointing on a menu, how hard can it be?), it was all still super yummy!  Being that it is a tea house, many of the dishes include tea leaves or tea oil, which has a lovely bitter and piquant aroma.  The table breads are served from a basket with chopsticks and are tiny little knots (I called them belly-buttons) of dough, they taste a bit like a profiterole or croissant dough, but not flaky, more doughy.  You dip them into a green tea pesto (I will definitely have to try making this at home!), yummy!

The drink list was printed on clear plastic, I ordered a non-alcoholic mocktail (a lot of mocktails here, I guess a lot of people don't drink), called Bitter Lemon, which was like a bitter lemonade over tea leaves. D refused to order my suggested drink for him (the "Beautiful Boy Martini", why not?) and had the Green T Martini.  Both cocktails were served in the kind of crockery you normally see tea or miso served in.  beautiful, hand made pottery and presented on a long tray with bamboo leaves, which was beautiful, but takes up a lot of room on a small table.

We started with these amazing little fennel (and tea leaf?) dumplings, steamed and briefly pan seared. The insides looked to be packed with leaves and that lovely bitter licorice aroma, so different from many dumplings with their mystery meat interiors ;).  The laowai (foreigner ;) behind D ordered a dish served on a bed of rose petals: veal with black sesame?

Then we were served, what turned out to be a dish called "Autumn leaves" which were like those Vietnamese lettuces rolls, a butter lettuce leaf filled with shredded vegetables, what could have been some kind of pickled vegetable or meat, fennel seeds and what might have been chrysanthemum petals.  It was yummy and we ate it even though I ordered something else.  They then brought another dish I hadn't ordered and this time D still felt the order mix up required some telling-off so he marched up there in stocking feet to straighten it out (we were sitting shoeless on the white banquette seating, like Bed in SoBe).

Whatever he said did the trick and they removed the dish and brought him the spare ribs he ordered which were super yummy, but so rich we had to fake-finish the last ones (only take a bit or so out of each).  No room for dessert! 




With all the rich food and huge portions, the only way I am not gaining weight here is due to all the walking, and walking, and walking...