UD Beijing Diaries #3

Eric Pateman, president of Edible British Columbia, continues his Beijing journal this afternoon. I found the You Tube video of Maison Boulud’s kitchen to dovetail with this dispatch. As I mentioned previously, all of his entries will be archived in a special “Olympic Diaries” category, accessible in chronological order by clicking the headings under each entry title.

Once again, enjoy!

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With Daniel Boulud set to open DB Bistro Moderne and re-open Lumiere under his direction (along with Chef Dale McKay) in the near future, I thought it was prudent to enjoy lunch at Mr. Boulud’s recently opened Maison Boulud to get a sneak peak at what us lucky Vancouverites might expect in a couple of months…

Maison Boulud is located in the old American Embassy compound which is being turned into 5 high-end restaurants and is conveniently located directly across the street from the British Columbia Canada Pavilion – how is that for a coincidence!

The room was simply stunning, especially by Beijing standards, and the service staff was impeccable.

The food was excellent and we enjoyed dishes such as duck confit on local mushrooms, with roasted potatoes and the most perfectly cooked Norwegian salmon with baby vegetables and a horseradish cream. The best part was actually the price, with a 3-course lunch for around $30 Canadian, it was a steal! I am sure the prices in Vancouver will be a wee bit higher, and even if they had been, it would have been worth the price of admission.

All things considered though, I would not say the food was any better than that already found in many of our city’s finer restaurants, the difference was the service staff, which is where I believe Lumiere and BD Bistro Moderne will distinguish themselves in Vancouver’s dining scene. And while we Vancouverites think that we were overwhelmed with 100 new restaurants last year, Beijing is in a league of its own, with more than 100 restaurants opening and closing every single day of the year. For a city that is roughly nine times the population (2 million vs. 18 million), they kick our ass in restaurants per capita with more than 60,000 (roughly 30 times the amount in all of BC (which I believe is approx. 5,000)!