Al - Safir - Arabic/Middle eastern
The restaurant is quite hard to find and the first time we decided to go we took a long time to find it and when we did find it was closed. The restaurant is only open from Monday to Saturday.
The second time around we didn't eat at the restaurant as we had just joined our friends after an early dinner. But we ordered some food for take away.
We ordered the Hummus and Pita bread, Filafel and Couscous for take away.
The Hummus is quite cheap at just 20 rmb and the portion was quite good too. The Hummus is the best we've had, very authentic and is quite a competition to the one served at Biteapita in Sanlitun.
Filafel was nice and crispy and the Couscous with Lamb was quite good too.
There's no place to sit inside the restaurant and they have outdoor seating. The weather is perfect for Al-fresco.
There was another restaurant called Jerusalem in Sanlitun we used to frequent because of the authentic food but it suddenly shutdown. We hope this small little place survives because it has such affordable authentic Arabic food.
Born and brought up in Kuwait Food is what I miss the most. When I crave some hummus we land up at Biteapita for some affordable Middle eastern food or Rumi when we are feeling indulgent. It's good to have another option so close to us.
Address: Xiaoyun Lu - as you're walking down Xiaoyun lu, you will see a Hollywood restaurant on the roadside. Enter the lane inside inside on your left walk in for a bit and turn right where you see the lights. This stretch of road has many restaurants , keep walking down the road and towards the end is where you'll find Al - Safir. It's right next to a Xinjiang Restaurant that serves noodles and chuanr.
You can also enter from a small alley behind Bellagio the 24 hour Taiwanese restaurant on Xiaoyun Lu, Walk straight inside passing the Tea house into a very tiny alley, as you walk in you'll come across a green gate. Once you enter the gate, the restaurant's the first one on the left.
Meal for two: within RMB120
**Managed to click a pic at Alsafir this time - the food is sooo authentic! We are now regulars there.
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| Pita bread, Hummus, Filafel, Fattoush and the Turkish Chicken |
Very Siam - Thai
When we think of Thai food, we always head to Sanlitun as there are so many options - Sukho thai, Serve the People, Purple Haze, Bali Thai...
Very Siam has a couple of branches in town including one in Sanlitun and one near the Gongti stadium.
One Friday evening , we decided we'd go and try the branch at Wangjing which is walk able distance for us
We ordered the Tom Yam clear Vegetable soup, which was nice and tangy. The Mango Salad was quite good, but expensive at 68rmb...the Green chicken curry medium spicy , was a little more than medium spicy but we had told the waitress that we like spicy food.
The fish fillet wrapped in banana leaves - a bit of a disappointment at 128rmb as it was small portions and a little bland. They charge 6rmb per person for unlimited portions of white rice.
The food is average and a bit on the pricier side.
I feel most of the Thai places like the Indian restaurants in Beijing cater to Chinese taste buds and have lost the authentic touch. Very Siam is a good choice if you're in an area with not many other Thai Options, and probably the only choice for us for free home delivery.
Address: Futong Dong Dajie, New world Shopping mall
Meal for two: RMB 200 +
Spicy Sichuan Fish at your local Chinese restaurant
There are two types of fish we could choose from, not knowing the difference we randomly picked one. Make sure you check the price before ordering as most fish dishes are usually charged based on their weight. They also bring the fish live to you to see if you think it's fresh...we usually tell them not to bring it to us and just bring it once its cooked. This one was 38rmb/jin (per 500gms) and the fish was about a kilo.
You can also tell them if you like it medium spicy or really spicy. We usually ask them to make it really spicy and not to add MSG.
We ordered the fish to have with the "caomao bing" similar to our Kerala Parathas.
Another fish dish we order is the shuang jiao yu tou. The fish is divided into two and one one side they have it with the red chillies and the other with green chillies. It's really tasty.
The thing about ordering the not so popular dishes at restaurants is that you're not sure what you'll get...and usually the food they bring hardly resembles the picture on the menu. I'd say just go for it. Most times you'll be surprised in a good way and you'll probably find a new favorite dish to order the next time...
Toast Box - Singaporean Chain
Most shopping malls have a couple of cafes that serve some really good fast food. Not the burger or pizza type...but really tasty noodles or dumplings.
One such place is the Toast Box. They have set meal options which are quite affordable.
I had the beef noodle set which comes with Passion Fruit tea and Bread toast.
They also have Rice dishes and sandwiches which you can order ala carte.
Toast Box is a good place to grab a quick snack while you're window shopping at the malls.
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