WHAT’S NEW restaurants
UN LIVRE
TAKE A LEAF OUT OF THEIR BOOK Daily 10am-10pm. W103, World City, 9 Jinhui Lu, Chaoyang District (158 0114 0099) 一书咖啡：朝阳区金汇路9号世界城商业街W103商铺 700m south of Dongdaqiao station (Line 6)
F
30
Should you stay into the evening and require something more substantial, the main course food offerings are unexpectedly refined for a café. A sizeable platter of cold cuts (RMB 116) offers good value; although it’s a shame they don’t currently have any French wines to wash it down with. The smoked salmon and fennel salad (RMB 68) comes artfully dressed on a piece of slate, a telling sign of the chef’s previous experience in the kitchens of high-end hotels. We didn’t get a chance to try the small selection of pastas, but we noticed that they are already garnering good reviews on Dianping. It may have opened just a few weeks ago, but with its enthusiastic staff and Gallic atmosphere, we can’t help but feel some of Beijing’s other cafes could stand to take a leaf out of Un Livre’s book. Robynne Tindall Also try: Café Flatwhite, Café de Sofa
August 2014
photo: mitchell pe masilun
rench café culture is the stuff that romantic dreams are made of. What visitor to Paris’s famous cafés (Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots to name but a few) hasn’t imagined themselves sipping a café au lait or better still a glass of absinthe with Hemingway or Sartre? It’s fitting then that new French-inspired cafe Un Livre is located in World City, since the Parisian feel you get once you are sitting at one of their alfresco tables with the strains of accordion music drifting by is worlds away from Beijing. Tucked away just off the clamorous main drag, the peaceful, high-ceilinged space was opened by a couple with a passion for all things French. For morning visitors (they aim to start opening at 8am soon), competent espresso-based drinks (RMB 22-39) are complemented by a daily selection of pastries (RMB 12-28) that live up to their continental roots.