Beijing 9

SETTING

Located in the basement of an office tower next to the Intercontinental Hotel, the restaurant has a cosy ambience with a mute colour scheme, plush chairs and stone tile floor.

FOOD

The chef specialises in the cuisine of Beijing and Sichuan, but the food here also reflects Mongolian influences long incorporated into Chinese cuisine. The menu isn’t large but features impressive varieties, with some quite exotic dishes to palates more accustomed to the flavours of Cantonese cuisine. There are some extraordinary starters including Beijing five-spice beef cold cut, which features tender slices of stewed beef redolent with Chinese spices and Beijing tortilla; fried chicken, cucumber and onion wrapped in lightly toasted pancake and hot-and-sour soup, which is especially flavourful and big enough for two. Meat entrees abound, from the highly popular goat’s leg, which comes in a whopping 1-kg size and takes two days to prepare, to Beijing stewed pork ribs, carefully cooked so the meat is flavourful and tender. Seafood is creatively prepared; try prawns coated in egg yolk and stir-fried or garlic-rice wine New Zealand mussels. Finish the meal with red bean mochi or assorted beans in longan syrup.

WINES

A good list for a Chinese restaurant, with offerings from California, Australia and France in a moderate price range.

SERVICE

The kitchen is impressively fast and the Thai serving staff is polite, attentive and reasonably knowledgeable.

PRICE

Two can dine well for under 1,500 baht.

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