Portable Mind: A sort of travel guide

mànmàn chī! Dining in Beijing

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More suggestions for dining in and around Beijing...

Lan Club

An over-the-top, Phillipe Starck-designed bar and restaurant housed in a corporate tower, Lan Club is 60,000 square feet of aesthetic hedonism. Imagine the Hudson/Delano/Clift x100. The food is flavorful Szechuan, with just enough exotic dishes on the menu to keep it interesting. Pricey, but worth visiting if only for drinks. This is the type of place where you can get into trouble (last time I was there, I "accidentally" crashed a Josh Harnett party).

4/F Twin Tower, B12 Jianguomen Waidajie, CBD/Guomao (T) 5109-6012/13

The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu
and Xiao Lu Mian Noodle Shop

It goes without saying that while in Beijing, a visit to the Great Wall is top of the list of things to do; but while the masses usually hit the Badaling section, I strongly recommend a visit to Mutianyu, with stops at the Schoolhouse Campus in Mutianyu Village and neighboring Yingbeigou Village. The Schoolhouse is a lovely respite from crowded Beijing, and features an excellent restaurant (food is homemade, Western-style cuisine), an art gallery, glass shop (they have a studio onsite) and gourmet shop where you can pick up items to take with you on an excursion to the Great Wall.

Xiao Lu Mian (where the above photo was taken) is a simple noodle shop housed in a former farmstead building, situated in the village of Yingbeigou. Both The Schoolhouse and Xiao Lu Mian have perfect views of the Great Wall, and are particularly fantastic to visit at night, when you can sit outside under the moon and stars.

The Schoolhouse: 12 Mutianyu Cun, Huairou  (T) 8610 6162-6506

Xiao Lu Mian: Yingbeigou Village, Huairou Beijing (T) 8610 6162 6506 *Directions are on both websites

Commune By The Great Wall

This was the scene at Commune By The Wall the last time I visited. They were preparing for a wedding, which was scheduled to take place at sunset. Breathtaking. Commune is a Kempinski resort and spa, with several restaurants, just south of the Mutianyu section, about an hour +1/2 outside of Beijing. Each "hotel room" is a unique villa - there are 42 in all, designed by 12 Asian architects. Behind the Cantilever House, a hidden pathway turns into a steep, 20-minute hike that lands you atop a little-known section of the Wall. The rarely visited section is precarious and overgrown, but stunning nonetheless; and, you will likely be the only one there taking in the view.

at The Great Wall Exit No.20 at Shuiguan, Badaling Highway, Beijing (T) 8610 8118 1888    

10 Great Restaurants in Beijing

photo from Face Beijing, Thai restaurant

Perhaps it's due to the upcoming Olympics, but lately I've gotten a lot of requests for dining recommendations in Beijing. I was there one year ago, working on The Games, and had the incredible fortune of dining out practically every night. The 'jing is now one of the most exciting dining destinations in the world, and it was difficult to keep this list down to a manageable number. Another post will follow shortly, but in the meantime, some of my recommendations...

Pure Lotus - Best vegetarian in Beijing, run by Buddist monks. English-speaking staff.
10 Nongzhan Nanli,
Chaoyang Park
in compound below the JVC Tower, 6592-3627
Open 11am-11pm
Price Y200-Y299 per couple

Cepe - High-end Italian
1 Jinchengfang Dongjie, The Ritz Carlton,
Xidan/Financial Street
6601-6666 ext. 6288
Open 11:30am-2:30pm; 6pm-10:30pm
Price More than Y400 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Barolo - Italian, inspired by Italy's Piedmont region
Ritz Carlton Hotel, China Central Place, A83 Jianguo Lu,
CBD/Guomao 5908-8888
Open 11:30am-2:30pm, 6pm-10:30pm
Price More than Y400 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Aroma - Features 5 open kitchens, each specializing in a regional cuisine: Japanese, SE Asian,  Indian, Chinese + a Western Grill.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, A83 Jianguo Lu,
CBD/Guomao 5908-8777
Open 6:30am-10:30pm; 11:30am-2:30pm; 6pm-10:30pm
Price More than Y400 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Face Beijing - Features several different restaurants within one building. Thai, Indian, Chinese, & Cantonese. Face was one of my favorite restaurants while I was there, I especially loved the Indian & Thai restaurants.
26 Dongcaoyuan,
Gongti, behind the Cervantes Institute
6551-6788 www.facebars.com
Open 12am-2am
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Green T House –  The most amazing, unique restaurant I have ever been to. Simply poetic.
6 Gongti Xilu,
Gongti, behind Worker's Stadium
6552-8310/11 
info@green-t-house.com
Open 11am-2pm, 6pm-12am
Price Y300-Y399 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Mare - You might not expect to get great Spanish food in Beijing, but this was one of my favorite restaurants. Excellent food and lovely ambiance.
Ground Floor, E-Tower, 12 Guanghua Lu,
CBD/Guomao
6595-4178, 6595-2890 Open 12am-10:30pm
Price More than Y400 per couple
Great local, ex-Pat hangouts

The Tree - Really good pizza and a good beer selection.
43 Bei Sanlitun Nan,
Sanlitun District, 100 meters west of Sanlitun North Bar Street 6415-1954 
Open 10am-2am
Price Y100-Y199 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Café Sambal - Malaysian food in a hutong. Very local, and very good.
43 Doufuchi Hutong, Jiugulou Dajie,
Gulou 6400-4875
Open 12am-12pm
Price Y200-Y299 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards 

The Rickshaw –  Popular ex-pat hangout, always a soccer game or cricket match on, with a pool table and an excellent DJ.
Sanlitun District, Corner of Sanlitun Nanlu and Gongti Beilu
6500-4330  Open 24H
Accepts International Credit Cards 

Faux-ture

In Beijing there is a place called Silk Alley, a 6-story building filled with stalls of clothing, bags, shoes, jewelry and pretty much everything else you can think of. Sales girls in red vests talk to you incessantly- "Lady, pretty lady... Prada? Gucci? Want to buy a bag?" trying to entice you into their stall, poking at you as you walk by. I was so irritated on my first trip - there is no such thing as personal space in China - I thought I was going to get into a fight, punching the next girl to poke me on the shoulder (just a reactionary punch, really... I mean, I'm from New York). I swore I wouldn't return but everyone told me to keep going, get used to it and I would soon understand... as if I was being lured into a secret underground Style cult. I went back several times and slowly, I started to tune out the girls in red vests. I began to watch the bargaining with fascination, wondering how well I would do at it. I inspected the products closer, to see how fake they really look. And then without even realizing it, I crossed over.

In one afternoon (admittedly, after several margaritas) I had a Chanel coat ($50), Michael Kors red heels ($40), Rock and Religion jeans ($12) and a Marc Jacobs bag ($10). Totally pathetic. But so much fun.

Mooncakes and crickets

In my last post I meandered through the idea of tour group vs. independent travel, landing on the side of the independent and the unexpected. I conveniently forgot that I, in fact, have a guide who is always available to me while I am in China.

This is Jay. He is 24, very hip and knows pretty much everything there is to know about Beijing. If he doesn't know, he finds out. Over the last month I have learned to appreciate the value of a good guide - especially when dining out. Navigating a menu in China is an adventure to say the least, as the translation from Chinese to English often does not make any sense; or a menu item that sounds quaint - like a bird's nest, for example - is something you might think twice about ordering unless you have a truly adventurous palate.

Jay negotiates for us when we want to buy knock-off bags, tells us where the best tables in town are, leads us to the posh nightlife. He answers our calls when we are in a taxi with a driver who doesn't know where to go and doesn't speak any English (even if he did threaten to tell the taxi driver to send us to the airport when we speed-dialed him one too many times). I like to think of myself as resourceful and able to figure out any city, anywhere; but China is just so different that it helps to have someone around who can help me navigate through the culture I am visiting.

Through a mutual acquaintance, I met a women named Adlyn who has started her own culinary tour company in Beijing. She tailors gourmet dining experiences for visitors and last night, met my colleague and I for dinner. It was the mid-autumn festival in China, everyone was out celebrating under the full moon and tables were very hard to come by. One phone call from Adlyn and we were in a quaint, hard-to-find, very local hutong restaurant called Dali. There isn't a menu; you are served whatever they are cooking that day. It is cuisine in the style of the Yunnan province and the food is rustic, slightly spicy and delicious. We washed it down with a cabernet from Chile, seated in the courtyard under cool night air with a mixture of locals and foreigners, a cricket providing the soundtrack (seriously, it was the loudest cricket I've ever heard. I began to think that in China, crickets are professional musicians and this one was hired to be the house band at Dali). I know we could have stayed there all night, it was one of those experiences you just want to hold onto for as long as you can. Adlyn promised us more local experiences in the near future and, as with Jay, I felt very lucky to know her.

So. I still believe in researching and planning your own trip, leaving room for the unexpected; but I cannot deny the value of a good guide. Even if it's only for one day, hiring someone to lead you around a foreign city who can translate the history and culture of a place, order a fabulous local meal for you and tell you stories over a good bottle of wine is truly a luxury. God, re-entry is going to be a bitch.

Look at more stuff

Over the last few weeks I've met many seniors who are traveling through Beijing with a tour group. I've admired their tenacity and desire to use their retirement/leisure time to explore the world and see places that have probably been on wishlists for years. Yet many of them have said to me that they have 'seen enough temples'. One woman who I was chatting with at dinner the other night said, when I asked her about her trip to Tibet (insert NY accent here) - "Eh, monks and missionaries. Skip it."

So when we travel, what is really important? Is it spending all available time visiting historic sites, which is often what most tour groups focus on; or is it finding a way to quickly immerse ourselves in the local culture, which requires nerve but usually leads to a bit of adventure? (Full disclosure: I am somewhat anti-tour group, but I do understand that it's a safe way to travel.) The woman from NY was having a tour group-free night with friends at Green T House and they were fascinated, appalled and confused by the food presentation (goat cheese, mustard & pear appetizers served around a goldfish bowl with a live fish swimming inside; black sesame ice cream served on ice cubes piled high over steaming dry ice; a green tea martini garnished with a weeping willow branch; beer infused with oolong tea and served, not in a beer glass, but in a bowl) but were having the time of their lives in a place that no tour group would ever lead them to. They'd found it by doing their own research and jumping ship for an evening.

Because it is my job to explore while I am here, I have had to pony up some courage even though I travel a lot. I have had to accept the fact that I might get sick from the food or water and that I am breathing in extremely polluted air; I have watched a little too closely a woman protest for human rights while holding a baby in her arms, surrounded by army men who ultimately dragged her away, baby screaming; I have been lost in a taxi, completely unable to communicate with the driver in anything other than hand signals. I have also been amazed by the Temple of Heaven and the philosophies behind Chinese architecture.

It makes me wonder whether the seniors who have made comments about 'another damn monument' are figuring something out - that it's learning about the history of a place in concert with immersion into daily life, i.e drinking in the local pub, which results in the best travel experience. You shouldn't just look at what someone else tells you to - you need to look beyond, at whatever catches your eye. And let everything else go.

photo of the tour group in Forbidden City taken by Jay Liu, my amazing Beijing Guide from CITS

Moxie

Walking on the Great Wall this morning, I was thinking a lot about potential and fearlessness. It is an appropriate place to think about those things and try to wrap my head around the fact that this structure was constructed by human hands and willpower. If you ever feel that you cannot do something, just take pause and consider for a moment...

And in this photo...

Over the last week I have emailed several photos to my mom and all she wanted to know was why I am not in any of the pictures. Aside from the fact that I hate to be in front of the camera, I can hardly compete with the scenery. But here is a picture (mom), with me in it. This photograph was taken at Green T House Living, the most unique event venue I have ever been to.















China has been sensory overload. It's all I can do to try and capture Beijing as it changes right before our eyes. I feel as though I am running behind a car that has long since taken off, trying desperately to jump in the back seat to find out where it's headed.

No Name

Outside No Name bar, in a Hutong alleyway

Lotus Lake section, Beijing

Avant Garde Beijing

798 Space, Dashanzi Art Zone

Hutong ride

Posts from Beijing are probably going to be published slowly. I've been here for three days and it is overwhelming. The best way for the story to unfold is through photographs, although in some places it is difficult to get in without drawing much attention when I am carrying a Nikon D70. Like at Maggie's, a notorious bar in the Embassy district designed in hooker-red decor... for a reason. The only photo I could get was of my male colleague, who was forced to change out his flip-flops for a pair of socks and shoes provided by the doorman before entering the bar (because obviously, flip-flops would indicate that you do not have enough class to be in a bar with prostitutes). Inside Maggie's, it's very clear - a name-tagged girl is there to provide conversation, while a girl without a nametag is there to provide whatever you like. All for a price, of course. And no, I can't tell you how much. But that was only Day 1.