Wudaokou Restaurants and Cafes

[roddy]

I've taken to heading up to Wudaokou now and then to work, for the sake of a change of scene. Used to be up there a few times a week back when Scuplting in Time was in its original location (where the Bridge Cafe is now), but ah, it was all green fields then. I'm wondering where people are eating and drinking (coffee) up there.

My current favourites are:

The Korean bakery at the Wudaokou Shopping Center (the new one right next to the railway) which does some very nice cheapish (10-18Y) sandwiches, has wireless and a few power points. Bit hard to settle in for a long time as there's a constant stream of people coming and going, but it's not too bad.

Grandma's Kitchen up on the fifth floor gets brilliant sunlight in the afternoon, and again is laptop-friendly. Also has some nice sofas. Not expensive if you stick to the 16Y coffee (free refills till 6pm), but get tempted by a burger and a milkshake, and you're not getting much change back from 100Y. Food is good though, and equally importantly, consistent. They don't seem to mind if you settle in for several hours on the back of a single purchase, and weekday afternoons they aren't busy.

Other places:

The wraps at that Greek fast food place next door to Grandma's Kitchen are delicious (not to mention well-engineered, haven't had one fall apart yet), but the noise from the arcade makes it a bit hard to enjoy them.

Korean place the next floor down is pretty good for a quick meal, but the greeters just don't stop shouting.

Bridge Cafe, Sculpting in Time, Cava - all much of a sameness I think. Cava's pretty dingy. Wouldn't really eat at any of these places unless I really had to. Never taken to Lush.

Thinkers' Cafe a couple of bus stops down at 蓝旗营 is worth a visit for anyone complaining about Wudaokou being too foreigner heavy, has good light and comfy sofas. Always seems to be full of heavy smokers though, and the no-smoking section is dark and sofa-free.

I'd love some recommendations for standard Chinese restaurants in the area. Since the place at BLCU's west side (四海乐？) bit the dust I haven't really known any up there. In fact the only Chinese place up there I could name would be 永和大王 i think. Oh, and I guess 东来顺 at the shopping center again. Now I think of it there's a few generic-looking places up there I haven't tried, not sure if any of them are any good.

Edited May 28, 2009 at 03:59 AM by roddy

[sunyata]

aight, let me throw in my two mao:

there is a whole new complex, located right behind or to the north-east of the Lotus supermarket (more precisely behind the 清华宾馆, on 清华东路). It includes a few Chinese restaurants, a 7-11, a KFC, and a neat cafe. I suggest you check out the 面香 place, which is basically 刀削面, but also has plenty of other affordable dishes. It's is probably the cleanest Chinese place around WDK with good service and excellent value.

The cafe (I think it's called "ten years"?) is decent, but only stays open till midnight.

Right next to 双马 (the Japanese curry place), they've opened a 云南米线 place which is worth a try. When you are hungry and desperate, can go to the adjacent 成都小吃. U-center is great, as long as you don't mind busting out the cash. Greek place - perfect for meat-eaters, agreed.

later

[Moving_away]

I would like to add two more:

Gan1Guo1Ju1: A chicken restaurant across from Lotus in the Sohu building. It is on the first floor and should be able to see the windows from the street. Very nice restaurant. Little high- end but very nice. Keep in mind that it shouldn't matter to you if you find the complete chicken in the dish. When I had dinner there for the first time with my roommate (now GF ) in one of my first days in Beijing, i almost put the head of the chicken in my mouth because I wasn't expecting it. But I think that most of the people living in Beijing posting here are already used to such "surprises" (like I am now ). But, as I said, very nice restaurant.

The second one I don't have a name for (and since I'm for the moment nowhere near Beijing i can't check) but it is a very nice Japanese restaurant near the subway station. If you exit from the station and head towards Lotus, but do not go there but immediately go right after you crossed the street. You pass a karaoke and a backery (I guess this is the sandwich store roddy mentioned) and at a certain moment you can move to the left where you can find a very nice Japanese restaurant. Very nice sushi that they prepare in the shop (you can even sit on a bar in front of them preparing. Beautifully decorated and dishes are presented with great care. I went there quite many times. Eventhough it is only morning here I am actually getting quite hungry talking about these two ...

[roddy]

Thanks for these, folks, will (almost) certainly check a few of these places out.

That Japanese place sounds like 一心？Perhaps I don't know enough about Japanese food, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed a Japanese meal so much as several I had at the place on campus at BLCU, opposite the Sammie's sandwich place. 桃花。。桃园。。。？forget the actual name, but it was pretty cheap and great eating. Was once able to take a friend who was on expenses . Sadly long gone. 一心 is very good though.

That, incidentally, isn't the bakery I'm mentioning. Come out of the subway and head towards BLCU and there's a great big (and new, might not have been there) shopping center pretty much immediately. This place is on the ground floor, towards the back.

[Moving_away]

With the name 一心 I was able to search about it, and indeed that is the one I meant. But apparently you already have experience with it

B.t.w. the name in hanzi for GanGuoJu is 干锅居, might help finding it.

[ajax]

I spent a few months living in Wudaokou at the end of 2008...

For Chinese, I agree completely about Ganguoju/干锅居. It's apparently a Shanghai based chain, but Guizhou food and not as pricey as it looks (was 100rmb for two). The six pepper chicken gan guo was one of the spicier things I've had in Beijing.

Also, about a 10 minute walk south of that intersection on Zhongguancun Dong Lu is an office building with some decent lunch options (just north of the 4th ring rd). Usually found myself at 味蒸湘 for Hunan 蒸菜. The place next to it has tasty and cheap 红烧肉.

I planned to try every Korean restaurant in the area but ran out of steam after 12 or 13. I kept going back to 熊家 near the Xijiao hotel. Not sure it has the best food, but there is something about the place I really like -- most likely the service, but also the beef set meal is a great deal for solo dining. I also really liked 炸酱面真棒 on like the 3rd floor of the korean food center next to the Wudaokou theater.

[yueni]

一心 is really amazing Japanese food.

In the same shopping centre with Grandma's kitchen (people at BLCU call it the U-Center), there's also a pretty delicious Vietnamese-style/Asian fusion restaurant, Phodaiz. Expect to spend as much as you would at Grandma's kitchen. There's also a place that serves awesome 麻辣香锅 on the same floor. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, unfortunately.

The Japanese restaurant on BLCU's campus... is it called 桃屋? If so, it moved to the second floor of the cafeteria building. There's a good-sized Chinese restaurant (风味儿) up there (that's not too bad), and a small section is set aside for the Japanese food restaurant. It's not bad, I guess. There's also a restaurant by a similar name at the XiJiao hotel. I've not tried it before though. There's a whole bunch of restaurants on BLCU's campus. The one at the Conference Center's not half bad. The Muslim restaurant's pretty decent too. If you walk through 风味儿 and go into the huge canteen on the second floor, there's a pretty large and cheap-ish selection of food for you to choose from. I personally like the 麻辣汤.

There's an Indian restaurant called Ganges around the 五道口 area that comes highly recommended, though I have yet to check it out. I hear it's near Lotus? Could be wrong though.

My favourite hole-in-the-wall Chinese food down by the 五道口 area is directly opposite BLCU's west gate. Cross 成府路 and just keep walking straight past some old apartment buildings. A primary school and a mini 超市发 should be on the left. Directly opposite the primary school is the hole-in-the-wall. We affectionately call it Close And Dirty, but I believe it's actual name is 禾地. The 圆锅豆角 is good, and they have a 铁板牛柳 that's pretty delicious too. If you like sweet stuff, try the 干脆日本豆腐. I'm not much a fan of 饺子, but if that's your thing, they have them too, though you are only guaranteed to get them during Chinese meal times, so if you go during an off-peak time, you might not get any.

[sunyata]

and the newest addition to the list has to be BEER GARDEN!!! (right next to the subway station)

open all night, this place serves up a good and cheap mixture of your standard Chinese cold dishes, 烧烤、麻辣烫、等等

as a bonus, free entertainment is sometimes provided (think: repetitive name-calling and other drunken drama)

[zerolife]

It's been three years since I studied in Wudaokou so I've forgotten a lot of the names.

For Korean food:

The "Korean street" at the hotel near the Tsinghua DongFang building. It's a hidden germ as the little street itself is crappy looking but from what I heard from my Korean friend, they have some of the best Korean restaurants in BJ there. A rule of thumb I learned is to look for who is eating in the restaurant. If it's all Korean then it is most likely good while all Chinese probably mean bad. I've been to the restaurants in the "Korean street" like five times and only saw a Chinese eating there once. The menu is even in Korean.

For Chinese (especially Sichuan food):

There aren't a lot of good Chinese restaurants in the Wudaokou area (not a whole lot Chinese people except students who don't have the money for restaurants anyway) but Peking University's Yi Jia is by far the best in my opinion. It's inside PKU campus and a bit hard to find. You will have to ask the students. FYI there is another restaurant below the foreign student dorm which is crap. Don't bother going there...

The restaurant inside Tsinghua University are all very good too. Personally, I love Taoyuan ... cheap and good, but not high class. A higher class but more expensive one is the restaurant near the park ... they have the best Peking Duck I had.

For Japanese:

As someone already mentioned, the Japanese restaurant next to the beer garden is one. Or if you prefer curry, then you have to try the little restaurant around the corner on the way to Lotus Shopping Center. It's cheap (~30 kuai for a full set) and very good.

For Italian:

Bravo is good, clean and super cheap. A spaghetti dish starts at 9 kuai (probably slightly more now). It's to the right of Lotus entrance (same building actually with a seperate entrance).

In the back of the building (walk down the small street on the right of Lotus) is Tafi. Lunch buffet is terrible but their dinner dishes are terrific (not the best in BJ but one of the top I think). fyi the owner is actually Japanese

For American:

Definitv Grandmom's Kitchen. Even through the ones in Chaoyang are much better than the new one in Wudaokou. Lush (second floor of the bookstore right at the corner of the crossing) is so so.

Sculpture & Time and Cava are a rip off.

Also a recommend place is Bifentan for it's 18 kuai 24h "teahouse buffet". You pay 18 kuai when you enter and can order unlimited number of tea, bubble tea, coffee, ice cream, pop corn, juices and a bunch of other things. They are open 24h so in theory, you could stay in their for days. Some board games are available for free.

[roddy]

I have to confess I don't think I've tried any of the recommendations yet. I tend to stick to places I know, and order the exact same thing. What can I say, I'm dull.

I did, however, try the new place on the fifth floor of the shopping center, 姑姑宴, where the Indian place used to be. Not bad at all - there's a bit of a fast food feel, as although it's table service you write numbers on a form to order, and the food comes really fast. Tasty, portions aren't massive (I never think they are though), and they do a nice range of fruit juices and fruit on sticks (which will make the whole affair terrible value for money, whoever thought of putting watermelon chunks on a stick and charging 4Y wants a Nobel Prize for economics). Spent 109Y for two to eat and drink well. Have also eaten at the one at Xizhimen, where they also give you vouchers for the arcade next door - and they've got Time Crisis

[greenarcher]

How's Babela's Kitchen inside U-Center?

Restaurants to avoid:

Big Pizza - SMALL and tasteless "pizza", bolognese which tasted like tuna compounded by their staff not knowing what cheese is in mandarin, english and in description.

Sushi place inside Lotus - not very great quality / value for money. You are better off at the japanese place near BLCU's Dong Men (above KFC).

Not bad Restaurants:

Chinese restaurant inside BLCU's #2 Shi Tang (Canteen) 2nd floor. I love their Hong Shao Japanese Tofu.

Muslim restaurant inside BLCU.

The 58RMB eat-all-you-can Japanese restaurant on the 2nd floor of a commercial complex also near BLCU.

For fastfood, Yippin and Yong He are better than Mr. Lee. Still haven't tried 'Bruce Lee'.

The Tonkatsu place in front of Hua Qing Jia Yuan is kinda expensive but the serving is huge. The curry is good.

Bridge's american breakfast is OK.

[flippant]

There's a 东北 restaurant behind the Lotus Centre off Chengfu that has an amazing leg of lamb (羊肉腿). It's about 50rmb and is enough food for 2 hungry guys. The rest of the dishes aren't superb (avoid the duck!) but the leg of lamb is reason enough to return.

[david2885]

Phodaiz:

The place in U-Center. I don't know why some people seem to love this, but this is the worst Vietnamese food I've ever tasted. Every Vietnamese restaurant I've eaten at back in Thailand has been much better than the bland, overpriced fare they served when I ate there. But some people seem to love it *shrugs*

Lamb on a Stick:

To the left of the entrance of U-Center (if you were facing the building) is this group of stalls that sell food. There's one stall that sells 羊肉串，but the chunks of meat are thicker than the usual ones you get in Beijing, if I heard the seller right I think it's because this is 阿拉伯羊肉串 rather than just normal 羊肉串。I like these more than the one outside the West Gate of BLCU.

The Cheese-Chicken Place (I don't know the actual name ):

It's right across from the Japanese restaurant called Higeoyaji I think, nestled in between several Korean restaurants. If you don't know how to get to these Korean restaurants, when you walk out from XiJiao Hotel and 熊家 (Panda's) is on your left, you turn right and keep walking straight til you reach the intersection. If you cross that intersection and keep going straight you should see a whole bunch of Korean restaurants right on the other side of the road.

The restaurant I'm talking about is maybe the 3rd-5th one on the right, the place with the flat Korean BBQ grill plates in the middle of every table and everyone sits around. You order some portions of meat, add noodles or topoki if you want, and they grill the stuff in front of you. My friends and I always order the Cheese Chicken. I find the portions large, so usually we split about one portion between two ppl or two portions between three ppl, but I also found the portions in US restaurants large when I went there so...

When the chicken is about done they throw on the cheese, cover it all for a while til the cheese melts, and then.... Mmm....Cheese Chicken.....

Here's a pic from my phone, you should be able to tell which restaurant I'm talking about by checking if the tables look like this:

http://img2.tinypic.info/files/gs3l2ncq6t5920377srm.jpg

[greenarcher]

Babela's Kitchen is crap. Small servings, food tastes bland. Even the drinks are bland. You are just paying for the ambiance.

If I had known better, should've just went to Grandma's Kitchen instead.

[kayro]

Does anyone have suggestions for restaurants that can hold big dinner parties with 15-20 people, where people can eat, drink, talk and stay in the restaurant for 2-3 hours?

Only place I can think of are the Korean restaurants (in the same building as Pizza Hut) by WDK Station.

[roddy]

麻辣诱惑 will, I think. Grandma's Kitchen could, but you'd need to rearrange the tables and if you all order at once the kitchen might be a bit overwhelmed. Bridge Cafe would section off an area for you, although it's obviously not ideal for food.