Pu Yue Ren Jia
浦月人家苏杭食府
朝阳区,霄云路和亮马桥路之间,东方东路6号
Chaoyang qu, xiao yun lu he liang ma qiao lu zhi jian, dong fang dong lu liu hao
6 Dongfang Donglu, between Xiaoyun Lu and Liangma Qiao Lu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 010-844808800
Hours: 10.30am-10.30pm

Directions:  Adjacent to and just north of the West Gate of the new U.S. Embassy complex, Pu Yue Ren Jia is on Dongfang Donglu, a short street connecting Xiaoyun Lu at the north end, and Liangma Qiao Lu at the south end. From the Third Ring Road, exit at Sanyuanqiao Dong/East at Xiaoyun Lu (note: this is not the same exit as Sanyuanqiao Xi/West, or the same area as Sanyuanqiao subway stop), take your first right at the small traffic light (the Hyundai Building, or Xian Dai Da Sha, is on the corner to your right), and the restaurant will be on your left, about 150 meters down the street. You may also exit at Yansha Qiao/Bridge, go to the first major intersection with a traffic light (at Maizidian Lu), make a U turn, and then turn right onto Dongfang Donglu directly across from the Kempinski Hotel; the restaurant will be on your right side, immediately after you pass the U.S. Embassy.

What we think

Pu Yue Ren Jia is a pleasant and unpretentious restaurant that serves up reliable, reasonably priced, and at times impressive southern style food.  Often billed as Shanghainese, the restaurant’s menu more broadly encompasses both the lighter more refined flavors and preparation styles of Hangzhou and Suzhou’s Huaiyang cuisine, and the stronger and sweeter sauces of Benbang (本帮) cooking, Shanghai’s own homestyle fare. The simple, modern dining room includes a row of window-side alcoves that offer a bit more privacy.

If you are not afraid of fatty pork, their Grandmother’s Style Braised Pork (waipo hongshao rou) is the best we’ve tasted in Beijing. Each succulent piece of pork belly is braised to savory perfection, with the layers of fat, meat and skin silky soft to the tooth. You can also opt for additions of ribbons of tofu skin or bamboo shoots in this dish.  Nian gao (年糕), a glutinous rice cake (imagine a sticky-rice based chewy gnocchi here), is another Jiangnan specialty that Pu Yue Ren Jia makes two classic ways: our favorite preparation minimally sautés thick batons of nian gao with thin wisps of pork and is flavored gently with chopped jicai (荠菜), a bright and slightly spicy wild herb from the south; the other approach is brash Benbang style, combining round little nuggets of nian gao with a gaggle of other ‘precious’ morsels such as mushrooms, pork belly, baby shrimp, peas and peanuts, all in a rich, dark, sweet sauce. 

There are usually a seasonal southern green or two you can order sautéed simply—perhaps a ji mao cai （鸡毛菜), baby chicken feather greens, or ta cai (塌菜), another baby green whose leaves droop on the ground, or cai xin （菜心), little tender heart of greens. For a sweet finish (or to open up your appetite), try the surprisingly textured and tasty dried dates stuffed with soft glutinous rice (xin tai ruan).

Recommended dishes

北京朝阳区麦子店枣营北里32号
Chaoyang qu Maizi dian jie Zao ying bei li 32 hao
Chaoyang, Yansha location (燕莎店) south of Lady Street (Nu Ren Jie)
Tel: 010-6502 1568; 6502 1537
$:  Dinner for 8, 683rmb
MAP

Directions:  From the Third Ring Road, turn right on the small street just after the National Agricultural Exhibition Center (Nong Zhan Guan); at the first traffic light, turn left onto Mai Zi Dian Street.  The restaurant is on your right side (lit up in bright neon at night) before you go over the small canal, and south of the Long Bao Da Sha building on your left).  OR, you may get off the Third Ring Road at Yansha/Lufthansa Center exit; continue east on Liangmaqiao Road, and turn right at the first main traffic light onto Maizidian street (if you turn left you will head toward Nu Ren Jie/Ladies Street and Laitai flower market).  The Somerset is on the southeast corner at this light.  Once you turn down Maizidian, the restaurant is on your left, after you cross over the small canal.

What we think 

Wu Ming Ju is another Savour Asia favorite.  Jiangsu cuisine is known for its fresh mild flavors as well as for richer flavors that emerge from slow cooking.  Wu Ming Ju has good examples of both tastes, and has the added advantage of having only private rooms and booths, even for just two people. It’s a place to come for an intimate meal of with a group of friends where you can chat and enjoy your food undisturbed by the usual cacophony of a large Chinese dining room. 

Our favorites among the lighter dishes are 清汤狮子头 - shi zi tou, or lion’s head meatball, because they are as large as tennis balls, and 鱼米之乡 - yu mi zhi xiang, composed of tiny fragrant tender morsels of fish shaped liked grains of rice.  The 水晶虾求 (shui jing xia qiu) or crystal shrimp is also good.  For slow roasted goodness, try the Beggar’s chicken, 推荐菜:叫化鸡 (jiao hua ji) and 黄泥煨蹄 (huang ni wei ti), a slow roasted leg of pork. As these specialties take a long time to prepare and often sell out, in particular the roasted pork, you'd better reserve them in advance when you call for a table. Pass on the Lion’s Head meatballs if you prefer them Taiwanese style, which are usually a hong shao 红烧 preparation, braised in soy until it is dark and rich. The Jiang Nan meatballs are tender and light, and served in a clear broth.

Recommended dishes (see photos)

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孔乙己 – Kongyiji (Zhejiang > Shaoxing)

Chaoyang Park West location:  朝阳区朝阳公园西门8号公馆内南侧
Chaoyang qu Chaoyang gongyuan lu 8 hao gong guan nei nan ce
No. 8 Chaoyang Park Road, inside the Block 8 Complex
Hours: 11AM-2PM, 5PM-midnight
Tel:  010-6508 2228/7878
$:  Dinner for 6, 543rmb

Dongsi location:  东城区东四北大街322号
322 Dongsi Beidajie (20 meters south of Dongsi, lane 6, west entrance)
Dongcheng qu Dongsi Beidajie 322 hao (6 tiao xi kou nan 20 mi)
Tel:  010-6404 0507, 6401 3855
Houhai location if you must, and also Temple of Heaven/Tiantan location, among others

What we think 

Our tasters are always skeptical of places that try to up sell a mediocre kitchen with fancy décor, so a group of us were reluctantly dragged to a meal at the new Kongyiji in the upmarket Chaoyang Park West Block 8 Compound.  We were already not very impressed with the two other (very popular) Kongyijis, and when we saw garden and pond setting, the goldfish and the beautiful plating of the food, we thought “here we go again.”

Then we took a bite.

There was momentary silence while we all tasted, and savored, the food.  Never mind why we hit the kitchen’s sweet spot; perhaps it was the Master of Ordering with us, who knoew even which local seasonal green to order which was not on the menu but had been flown up from the Shaoxing region.  It doesn’t matter.  This Kongyiji does Shaoxing right.

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