Surviving is hard but oh so much fun (sometimes)
On Saturday 17 December Renaat Morel organized a great lunch for some friends, yes the chef celebrates his birthday too. He is the owner of the Morel’s Restaurant on Gongti Bei Lu, with his wife Susan.
I found him a real special red wine, from my collection:
CHATEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE 1947
GRAND VIN MARTILLAC
Happy birthday to our friend Renaat!
Thierry Beer Mania shaved or not? That was the bet for the Maovember action. Guests could put money in either the shave or no shave container. I had put in the no-shave. Well, I lost!
But no panic, Thierry has decided to grow his beard again. I gues, will take some time to reach his previous record…
A charity event that teams bars, restaurants, vendors & customers in Beijing. This year’s charities: Library Project and Good Works. Beer Mania was one of the participating bars and raised a total of far over the 20,000 RMB of just for the shaving event.
See: http://www.maovember.com/
For Beer Mania:
http://www.beermania.asia/
Beer Mania has not only Belgian beer: also snooker and more.
As Legend Beer has great food, and impressive girls, and is next door to my home, reasons enough to have a dinner with friends.
Good to meet an old friend from Belgium, Professor Alphons (“Fons”), who visits China regularly and is also a great photographer (and travels a lot).
See here some of the great dishes: roasted lamb, avocado with shrimps, crispy pork knuckle, German sausages, German potato salad. And more.
As a friendly help to the manager Adam I also function At times as the “professional photographer” (haha) to make pictures of the customers. And yes, beautiful girls ( and handsome boys), see also earlier posts.
Yes I know, I actually have a number of “my favorite hang-outs” in Beijing. They are different in their own way.
Here only a few of them.
One is is Beer Mania, in Sanlitun Nan Lu. Great for beer and some snacks, and mostly a lively place with a series of bands playing. Or a disk jockey. Always great to chat with our Thierry (and I put money so he won’t cut his beard). Happy to see Alexandre has now joined the crew.
See previous post (among others):
Another place I go, especially for their gorgeous burger is Great Leap Brewery (close to Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Chunxiu Lu,). Mostly very packed, noisy but one of the best burgers in Beijing.
See:
It happens to me from time to time. You start chatting with someone, lively conversation, the other person has no business card. I give my card.
Then never comes the promised email. That evening in Great Leap I had a long discussion with a guy, I think from Venezuela. He hoped sooo much to keep in touch, he said repeatedly. Never heard back.
And there are others. Maybe I am just to “educated”, that is, when I promise to send the mail I really do. Otherwise I take the card, say nothing and then end of story.
Oh well. Maybe they lost the card, or got run over by a truck or are in prison.
Thanks to a ticket I won in the British Ball, I had a voucher for a (modest) discount at ” Arrow Factory Brewing”, a place I had no idea about.
It is a bit off the beaten track, along the Liangma River north of Canadian embassy and north of that big DRC compound.
Downstairs, the microbrewery. Second floor the main restaurant/bar, not too large and cozy. Looks like an old factory. Then upstairs what I call a “creative” terrace: overlooks the river but now in winter there is a tent with some heaters, making it a discreet place to have a meal and drink.
We could say, Arrow Factory Brewing is known for its beers and its sausages. The “Dutch sausage” was very tasty. They make them somewhere in a hutong.
Beer I had was also good. Nice manager, from … Iceland!
I tried their “Brazilian Cachaça”. The bottle seemed genuine (marked “51” but not sure it is that brand I know). However disappointed as it had zero taste from the famous Brazilian alcohol made of sugar cane – I love that stuff. You can get the real one in some Beijing locations (e.g. Bar Revolution). I wonder if it is a (well done) fake. Next time I should tell the manager to drop that one for a real pinga. Otherwise the caipirinha will totally miss its true taste.
Nice place and reasonable prices, away from the Sanlitun crowds.