Japanese restaurant who cannot be named....

The one thing that has always baffled me about some restaurants in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, is their unwillingness to either advertise or put their name in the kings English (Elvis, not the ponces) on the sign, given the fact that it is one of the largest homes to English speaking expats in china. Even more baffling are the ones that are located in large expat shopping malls. 
 
No matter, we like to eat, so in the course of cruising the Sanlitun mall opposite International Wonderland, we wanted food, and we were set on a Japanese restaurant that one of our friends recommended, but couldn't give us the name of, because of the aforementioned English problem. We would not be denied.

Now, you have to realize that these Beijing mall food courts take up whole floors, football field sizes, entire fucking city blocks of restaurants, almost all of them Asian in one form of another, and because of the mall factor, are packed with rabid consumers, also mostly Asian.

We found one restaurant that we took for our quarry, and we sat down in front of the flat grill. It was busy and large, and reminded me of Japanese TGIFridays The clientele were a rabid bunch of families on an eat and go shop mentality, well mannered businessmen and wives, with children who bit the heads of 9 inch pan seared shrimp that would make Ozzy cower.. 

The food was good, reasonably priced, and even tho they messed up our order, we counted it as an adequate win, like going to Africa trying to bag the white rhino, but coming back with a couple of gazelles instead... you don't get the money-shot, and although you came out ahead, you never got your blood lust out.

But unbeknownst to us, our real quarry lay one door down, at the very end of floor three, tucked away in a dark corner, like the bastard stepchild who had so much more to offer, but never had the chance. It wasn't our fault we didn't get her on our first try, we were bedazzled by the lights and sounds of the marketplace and a cheap jeweled hooker.

We spotted it on our loop around the floor to get to the escalators. The heard and masses would never given this place a second glance. A door, but nothing descriptive other than a sign you cant understand unless you are Chinese., with windows, but unassuming. no maitre d', no neon blaring sign.


THE QUARRY
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We returned the next day to find the place quiet, and seemingly empty except for staff at lunchtime. and the mall insanity outside the doors. We sat at the bar-ish section, in front of the cone fire pit, complete with the obligatory red hot cylindrical ceramic cones where the grilling is done... this, my friends, was where all the magic was gonna happen.

The atmosphere was warm, dark and cozy, a safe and assuring break from the circus like insanity that was the rest of the food court. Although the staff spoke no English it was clear that we were there on intent to eat well. I will give you a little trick on eating in foreign lands where you barely speak the language.. be bold.  grab a menu if its not proffered in the first 5 minutes.

The menu was impressive and easy to understand, offering roughly half of the standard Beijing Japanese restaurants including the obligatory sashimi with a wide variety of dishes only found in higher end places such as grilled fresh oyster on the shell with tobiko garlic and scallion.

I went for multiple dishes, including the aforementioned oyster, fresh grilled sea salt and pepper lamb, octopus and scallion salad, and varieties of sushi and sashimi. I was going to order much more, but kat reminded me of our tendency to over order, and end up racking a tab larger than our stomachs, so I backed off at that, although we both agreed that ordering a seaweed salad with cucumber would be a good idea.

My wife is all about the noodles. Kat chose the beef miso ramen with vegetables and the avocado maki, deciding to stop at that, reasoning that while not a fan of lamb or the oyster offerings, we could share the rest.

Our decision of seats was perfect to witness the art of grilling over the coals, and the cold dishes came in quick order. The presentation of each dish was immaculate. We lingered in conversation and exceptional food, perusing Chinese real estate guides, for locations just as immaculate, but could never afford.

Alas, the time had come to pay the piper, and since it was our anniversary, I would pick up the check. Our final delight in this hidden restaurant gem was the tab. 107rmb, with tea and my 16oz beer included. That's a little less than 20 bucks for two. 

Needless to say, we will be back. So too should you visit this hidden jewel amongst the madness.